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Dirk Werner Nowitzki (born June 19, 1978 in Würzburg, West Germany, now Germany) is a basketball player who stars for the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. Standing at 2. more...

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13 m (7'0"), Nowitzki is an all-purpose forward and a consistently dangerous scorer from inside or outside, able to play any position in the frontcourt (center, power forward, or small forward). He is widely regarded as one of the premier players in the NBA today, as well as perhaps the best European player of all time.

Early life

A native of Würzburg, Nowitzki came from an athletic family; his father was a handball player and his mother was a member of the German women's national basketball team. He first gained international attention at the spring 1998 Hoop Summit, where he scored 33 points to lead a team of international juniors to a surprise victory over a U.S. junior team.

NBA career

Early years

Later in 1998, he was selected ninth overall in the NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, but was immediately traded to the Mavericks with the draft rights to Pat Garrity for the draft rights to Robert "Tractor" Traylor. This is considered by many fans as one of the most lopsided trades ever; however, it was a pre-arranged deal between the two teams. Dallas could have taken Nowitzki at #6, but were able to pay him less and get an extra player by letting him slip to #9. Milwaukee had no interest in Nowitzki whatsoever.

Mavs GM Don Nelson touted Nowitzki as the sure-fire 1998-99 Rookie of the Year at the draft, a lofty expectation for a 19-year-old who was in the U.S. for the first time. Dallas fans were understandably upset, then, when Nowitzki looked lost when on the floor in mop-up minutes as a rookie. Determined to prove that he could be a force in the NBA, Nowitzki returned to Germany in the 1999 offseason, working hard on sharpening his total game. The summer of work helped immensely, as Nowitzki emerged as a starter and future star in 1999-2000, when he averaged 17.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists, finishing second in voting for the league's Most Improved Player.

The following season (2000-01), he averaged 21.8 points and 9.2 rebounds and became the first Maverick to be named to the All-NBA team, making the third team.

The All-Star

In 2001-02, Nowitzki averaged 23.4 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. He made his first appearance in the NBA All-Star Game. He was again selected to the All-NBA team, this time on the second team. In the following summer, he played on the German national team that finished third at the FIBA World Championships in Indianapolis and was named the tournament MVP.

Before the 2002-03 season, he was named in a survey of NBA general managers as the league's top international player. He met those expectations; he matched his 2001-02 rebound average and increased his scoring average to a career-high 25.1 points. He was again selected to the All-Star Game and the All-NBA second team.

Read more at Wikipedia.org