Dirk Nowitzki Strange Stats

[Lord Cuban]

There's a lot to say about Dirk Nowitzki. You can talk about his game, and how he's the model for more than a few Jordanesque big-man scorers in the league today. You can talk about his effusive smile, and the joy that his fans can watch on a nightly basis when he takes the court -- very few players play the game with the kind of unfettered joy that Dirk does, and even if you aren't a huge fan, it's something that any NBA fan can appreciate. Some dislike him because they imagine him to be "soft", but that seems absurd to me -- Dirk plays through minor injuries as though they're nothing, and while people tend to forget about that because of his demeanor, that's more a testament to how he doesn't let pain and suffering impact his attitude.

I was surprised the day i saw that Dirk Nowitzki was founding member of the 25,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 1,000 blocks, 1,000 3-pointers club and I got curious about the other stats... What i saw is very strange to me...

NBA Leaders and Records for Defensive Rebounds

I was very surprised about this one because i saw people saying he could rebound but it seems now that his problem was the offensive rebounds (He doesn't play near the rim on offense)
He is number 37 in Rebounds in all time leaders.

NBA Career Leaders and Records for Defensive Win Shares

This was the most strange to me because seems to me that almost all were chosen to the NBA all defensive teams at least once in there careers and Dirk is the only one there who didn't have that recognition in his career.... Kobe have 12 NBA all defensive teams and Dirk none but Dirk had better Defensive Win Shares in every year...

NBA Career Leaders and Records for Offensive Win Shares

I was surprised to see Kobe, Shaq and Magic Johnson not above him.

[Uncle Mxy]

I'm sure Dirk's gonna worry about his defensive win shares when he's in the HOF.

[WhateverBro]

Well, he's a 7 footer who's played over 1200 regular season games and most of the time he's played heavy minutes. It's not really a surprise that he's up there in total defensive rebounds. You probably have to look at DRB % if you want a clearer picture of him as a rebounder and he's been hovering around 24-20 % for his career, which is pretty solid.

I also wouldn't put too much stock into defensive win shares. I don't like that stat at all. Not only is it box-score based (blocks, steals), it also includes a teams defensive ratings which kinda skews the numbers.

Also, Kobe doesn't deserve his 12 defensive teams, so there's that too. But anyway, not really surprised by the numbers. The ones you posted are based on totals, which means that longevity will play a big part of them, and Nowitzki has plenty of longevity.

[XTC]

Dirk has always been one of the top defensive rebounders in the league. Considering his longevity that stat doesn't shock me.

[He Filled it Up]

18th most minutes all time

[magicmerl]

His DWS is high because of his defensive rebounds. So those aren't two independant pieces of evidence you are citing.

Regarding his offensive ratings, Dirk is an underrated gem because he's been largely overshadowed by Shaq, Duncan and even Garnett for his prime. Those Dallas teams were never serious contenders and for many people you can't be a good player if you're not leading your team to championship contention.

Dirk's rep got a serious revision when they won in 2011.

[Winsome Gerbil]

Longetivity, really that simple. He came in young, he's played forever, perhaps his low impact game has helped him avoid most major injuries, or perhaps its luck, whatever. But in the end he's played half again as many games as a lot of guys on those lists, so any mere counting totals stats are going to start to reflect that sooner or later.

If Player A blocks 3 shots a game for 65 games a year for 5 years, then suffers a career ending knee injury, and Player B blocks 1 shot a game for 80 games a year for 15 years, well, Player B is going to be ahead of Player A on the all time blocks list.

[Texas Chuck]

yeah this is mostly covered--longevity is playing a big part in these totals. I will say that in his 20's Dirk amped up his defensive rebounding considerably in the playoffs so it goes a bit beyond just longevity.

But all these arbitrary, first guy to have some specific combination of stats really isn't all that interesting.

Great player, rarely missed games in his prime, had a prime that lasted more than a decade--he's going to put up some totals.