As you probably get from the title, this post is not going to be kind on Dirk Nowitzki, so if that is not something you can tolerate, you should walk away. You have been warned.
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First let me get this out of the way, I think Dirk Nowitzki is an absolute living legend. The greatest European player to ever set foot on an NBA court. I admire him greatly and I think the Championship he won as the sole All-Star in his team against the loaded Miami Heat team is the best performance I have seen in an NBA Finals ever. So please be clear I am not here to slander Dirk for no reason.
But here are his quotes today in the light of Commissioner Adam Silver’s statements about social media being the direct reason for the players’ unhappiness in the league. As ridiculous as that was its a story for later.
Dirk’s comments on NBA players and social media
Here’s what Dirk said on the current players and social media:
“I don’t know if it’s about winning as much anymore as it is looking good on Instagram, Twitter, having followers and having clicks and likes. I do agree 20 years ago people weren’t on their phones as much.”
“But I’m not going to blame everything on social media. We’re all competitors. I usually based my happiness on winning and losing. When we won it was fun. We would play music after games. When we lost we were pissed. That’s what I based my happiness on.”
Doncic tried trolling Nowitzki for his comments, commenting on the post with a ‘You don’t even know how to use Instagram or Facebook”
Dirk Nowitzki thinks players in the NBA, who put their bodies on the line every single day, dare to come back from one career threatening injury after another and try to win, are doing it to look good on social media?
Why Dirk is wrong?
It really irks me when an athlete from a different generation tries to retrofit their situation into those of modern day players. To say that James Harden dropping 40 points after 40 points isn’t being affected by wins and losses but instead its all about social media is ridiculous.
LeBron James, is on social media every single day and he’s still all about winning even though the Lakers seem to have married the tanking process and cant seem to walk away.
And its not even about whether a player who’s on social media is playing hard. The two aren’t related at all. This is a question of player power as much as anything else. NBA players are subjected to way too much scrutiny.
Why must a player be told, by another player or anyone else for that matter, that their focus on social media or anything else they do is affecting their game?
It’s a matter separate from their on court activities. No player misses a training in the NBA to spend time on social media. Nor do they let it affect their performances in game. So why must we question what they do off court to monetize their playing years?
40 years ago, wearing custom sneakers weren’t normal. Teams wore similar shoes and signature shoes were not part of the game. Ask a 60s player about player sneakers in the 90s and they would probably feel that was something their generation did not focus upon. Does that mean Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant did not get affected by losses as their focus was on sneakers?
The two greatest competitors ever, with their own brand of shoes were not affected by losses because they had shoes that they focussed on, off court? See how ridiculous that sounds?
What about Elon Musk, you think he is a less of an innovator because earlier generations of entrepreneurs did not tweet as much as Musk does? Oh you don’t think that, but NBA player spending time on twitter means they aren’t affected by winning and losing like Dirk Nowitzki was back in the day because their focus is on social media? Say what?
I will leave you with one line of scathing criticism that doest reflect how I feel about Dirk, but is an attempt at bashing, because of his senseless statement.
Dirk, if winning and losing is all you care about, you should be pretty depressed about how this Mavs team has been doing over the past few years. Dirk can barely move anymore. Sentiments aside (he doesn’t care for those, its only about wins and losses and NO SOCIAL MEDIA) The right thing to do would be to retire and let a young player get his minutes that he is lumbering around the court in. If winning and losing is all that has to matter, this is definitely not what should be happening after another loss.
So about that.. “I don’t know if it’s about winning as much anymore as it is looking good on Instagram, Twitter, having followers and having clicks and likes.”
Hmm..
