Dirk Werner Nowitzki (born June 19, 1978) is a German basketball player who stars for the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. The 7'0" (2.13 m) Nowitzki is an all-purpose forward with the skills to be a dangerous scorer from inside or outside, and to play any position on the front line (center, power forward, or small forward). He is said to be the best white basketball player since Larry Bird, one of the all-time greatest.

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. Later in 1998, he was selected ninth overall in the NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, but was immediately traded to the Mavericks.

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 kid 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 Dirk 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.

In 2001-02, he averaged 23.4 points and 9.9 rebounds and 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.

He suffered through nagging ankle injuries in 2003-04, but still managed to finish in the top 10 in the NBA in scoring, at 21.8 ppg, and added 8.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists. He was again selected for the All-Star Game, and again made the All-NBA team, this time on the third team. Nowitzki was one of the Mavericks' few bright spots in a five-game loss to the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the 2004 playoffs, averaging 26.6 points and 11.8 rebounds for the series.

On December 2nd 2004 he scored[1] http://www.nba.com/games/20041202/HOUDAL/recap.html a career-high 53 points against the Houston Rockets.

External links

• Nowitzki's official NBA player page http://www.nba.com/playerfile/dirk_nowitzki/index.html?nav=page