'Dirk Is Not A Franchise Guy.' Do I Really Need To Debate This? Yes, I Do.

Mike Fisher -- DB.com

   There it is. Right under the official banner of NBA.com:

   Dirk Nowitzki is not a “franchise player.’’

   This opinion – billed with nonsensical brazenness by author Vince Thomas as “the definitive list’’ – barely merits my counterpunching. Indeed, it is with great exasperation that all of us note that this dismissal of Nowitzki is yet another repackaging of a fake-deep view that (and I can say this “definitively’’) is shared by literally no agenda-free NBA player, NBA coach, NBA scout or NBA executive that I’ve ever heard speak on the subject.

   But the fact that this is supposedly “the definitive list’’ and that it is barnacled onto the NBA’s official website? OK, I’ll take that bait.

   Franchise Guys are the game's transcendent athletes. Not only do they leap over the normal confines of productivity and skill and bank accounts and all that, they more importantly transcend competition. They have innate qualities, hard-wired into their essence/swag/will that they impose upon the games they play, the teams they play for and the poor lames that were punished to play against them. Franchise Guys are usually supremely gifted, but they are always transformational.  Franchise Guys … can transform a team and its players and routinely alter games by the sheer mix of their talent, will and whatever that abstract thing is that lets teammates know, "We're in good hands."

   I’ll buy most of that. (Even as I semi-privately object to the inclusion of the word “swag,’’ a “street’’ thing that a 31-year-old man from Germany might not understand. Seriously, Mr. Thomas, “swag’’? Defined illiterately as “the way one carries their self’’? All I know about “swag’’ is that according to the Urban Dictionary, some people who use that word don’t know how to spell.)

   On he goes, noting (definitively!):

   There are Foundation Guys and Franchise Guys ... This is the definitive list...

   And then NBA.com gives us that Franchise Guy list: Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett.

    Care to pick and prod at that list? CP3 has gotten out of the first round of the playoffs once. Timmy and KG maybe should be mentioned here in the past tense. But otherwise, nah. That list is solid enough.

    (Another semi-private objection that might seem nitpicky to some: If Mr. Thomas is going to “definitively’’ offer the list of the league’s franchise players, could he either rank them or at least arrange them alphabetically? You know, just to be definitive and all.)

    Now to what NBA.com calls the “Foundations [sic] Guys’’:

   Chris Bosh, A'mare Stoudemire, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Gilbert Arenas, Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Al Jefferson, Baron Davis, Derrick Rose, Pau Gasol, Brandon Roy, Kevin Durant, Danny Granger, Joe Johnson, Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, Deron Williams: Dwight Howard.

   Oh, and Dirk Nowitzki, of whom Mr. Thomas writes:

    He's had plenty of Franchise moments, but he was dreadful in the four straight losses in the '06 Finals and submarined the next year, his MVP year, while his 67-win Mavs were getting bounched [sic] in the first round. Those two postseason series define Dirk right now. Hall of Famer? Yes. Franchise Guy? No.

    For the most part, I’ll let Mr. Thomas contradictions strangle the logic out of each other. (Dirk’s a HOF’er but NOT a Franchise Guy? Um, OK. Makes perfect sense to me.) Dirk’s accomplishments and talents and “what he’s defined by’’ dumps him into the same second-class cabin with Joe Johnson, Danny Granger and Rajon Rondo?

    Dirk Nowitzki = Danny Granger?

    But, as half-witted observers continue to repackage the same horsecrap about Dirk being ‘dreadful’’ in the 2006 Finals:

     Dallas never would’ve gotten there without Dirk, of course. And would never have won the first two games in Miami, either. But then came what Mr.Thomas terms his “dreadful’’ stretch that “cost’’ the Mav the title and of course, “cost’’ Dirk his chance to be a “franchise guy.’’

    For the record (and for the millionth time):

    In Game 3, Wade shot 18 free throws and Miami won by two points but Dirk scored 30. Dreadful?

    In Game 4, Dirk shot poorly -- 2-of-14 for 16 points – in an aberration of a performance and a loss.

    In Game 5, Wade shot 25 free throws and Miami won by one points but scored scored 20. Dreadful?

    In Game 6, Wade shot 21 free throws and Miami won by three points but Dirk contributed 15 rebounds, two blocks, two assists and 30 points.

     Dreadful?

    The main reason some NBA watchers keep thinking Nowitzki is “defined by playing dreadfully in the 2006 NBA Finals’’ is because people like Vince Thomas keep defining him with misinformation.   

    Let me pose three simple questions:

    1. Earlier in this column, I wrote that while many people say these sort of things, there is no “agenda-free’’ NBA expert who shares this unfortunate view of Dirk. To clarify: Barkley says stuff, but in reality he wouldn’t know Shawn Marion from Shawne Merriman. Charley Rosen writes stuff, but he thinks this year’s Mavs might start Tariq Abdul-Wahad at the 2-guard. Point being, if you write something like this, you are quite possibly drunk (Barkley), ignorant (Rosen) or purposely trying to stir it up.

    2. What, exactly, Mr. Thomas, would you like Dirk Nowitzki to accomplish individually in order to be bumped up from being Grangeresque?

     He’s been the best player on a playoff team, a 67-win team and an NBA Finals team for nine straight years. How many years of that does it take to be a “franchise guy’’?

    He’s been an All-Star for eight straight years. How many All-Star selections does it take to be a “franchise guy’’?

    He’s been All-NBA for nine straight years. How many All-NBA selections does it take to be a “franchise guy’’?

    He is perennially a finalist in the MVP voting, with a couple of third-place finishes and in 2006, an MVP award. How many MVP votes does he need to become a “franchise guy’’?

     3. While this sort of debate is fun for some observers (especially the drunk and ignorant ones), how can this appear as “the definitive list’’ under the official NBA.com banner?

     Oh, wait, I’ve got it.

     At the very bottom of the column, in the fine print, there is this disclaimer:

    The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA …

   Damn right they don’t.