Early last year when giving his thoughts on Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki,  Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar referred to his style of play as “like a one trick pony.”

Once Nowitzki caught wind of the comments, he responded in disagreement although he preferred not to lash out, and chalked it up as just an opinion. Upon reflection, Nowitzki feels he's had a dominant career citing his 25 point and 10 rebound career average.

Abdul-Jabbar appeared on ESPN this week looking to clarify his comments about the Mavs' future Hall of Famer and says his comments were initially misunderstood, according to Dwain Prince of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

“I want to make a shout-out to Dirk. Some of the statements I made about him were misconstrued to make it seem like I was trying to knock him and knock his career.

“Nothing could be farther from the truth.”

While comments can be misinterpreted in the media from time to time, it's hard to misunderstand calling a player one dimensional.

“He helped the game evolve by stretching the court with his accurate 3-point shooting. Anybody that can lead the league multiple times as the leading scorer is awesome.

“And anything that I said that made anybody think differently, they got it wrong. And I wanted him to hear that from me.”

Maybe that was Abdul-Jabbar's way of apologizing or maybe he is trying to cover his own tracks after realizing his description was completely inaccurate.

Nowitzki led the Mavs to a 57-25 season before winning an NBA title over the high-profile Miami Heat Big 3 with no other All-Star's on the team.

He played at the highest level possible while winning the Finals MVP averaging 26.0 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game. Certainly, his shooting is his greatest and deadliest skill, but the Mavs never reach the NBA Finals without him playing an all-around game that season.

After selling Nowitzki's career short in his initial comments, he's unintentionally demonstrating what the root of the message should have been all along.

Nowitzki has not been given enough credit for what he has done in his career, but he will be in the Hall of Fame when he retires.