Before the Toronto Raptors faced the Dallas Mavericks, Raptors forward CJ Miles showered Mavs legend Dirk Nowitzki with high praises and gave him a ton of credit for his contributions in revolutionizing the forward position.
“I mean he changed the position. (At the time, there was) nobody like him,” CJ Miles told Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. “And now there’s a lot of guys who have grown and been able to kind of take his pathway and do some of the things he was doing.”
Dirk Nowitzki, 40, is playing in his 21st and most probably, final season in the NBA, meaning that this could also be the last time that the Raptors will be seeing the legendary forward.
Before players of today started jacking up 3-pointers at a ridiculously high rate, Nowitzki was one of the players who perfected that shot — back when most of the teams in the league preferred to score from the post. Miles, who is a veteran himself, has witnessed how Dirk stood out in that era.
“He was an animal. It was insane the way he played,” Miles added
“And the way he has always played. He was just hard to guard. He shot the ball from behind his head at seven feet (making him nearly impossible to guard). It didn’t hit the rim.”
Nowitzki has been torching the Raptors pretty much since they officially joined the league. He has 21.6 points on 43 percent from beyond the arc in 32 career meetings with Toronto.
While Nowitzki has never really said that he plans to retire after this season, his decreased playing time, struggles in playing and injury issues could eventually push him to call it quits after this season.
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