When you think about NBA big men who have a similar style of play, the last duo you'd probably ever come up with is DeAndre Jordan and Dirk Nowitzki. Well, apparently Jordan feels he and his new Mavs teammate are more alike than we thought.
DeAndre Jordan's first words to the Dallas media: "The black Dirk is finally here, guys!"
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) September 21, 2018
The irony of this statement is that these two bigs might have a bigger difference in their games than any other duo in the league.
Jordan is a classic big man, rarely moving more than a few feet away from the rim on either side of the ball. His value comes from his elite rebounding and finishing at the rim. He also is a solid rim protector on the defensive end.
Nowitzki is all about finesse (though he did joke about winning a Slam Dunk Contest). You'll rarely see him anywhere near the paint as he finds his success on the wings and behind the 3-point line.
Nowitzki is arguably the best shooting big man of all time, shooting 38.3 percent from 3 for his career. He had five seasons where he shot at least 40 percent from deep and he entered the exclusive 50-40-90 club in 2007.
Jordan, meanwhile, is always atop the leaderboard for field goal percentage due to his attempts all coming just a few feet away from the basket. He has never made a 3-pointer in his career and is one of the free-throw shooters of all time with a 44.6 percent clip for his career.
At least we know Jordan has a great sense of humor.
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