blastingas10

I completely agree with Dirk not being a good defender. But he's a pretty good defensive rebounder, which counts for something. Dirk has the game of a 3 with the body of a tall 4, (he's too skinny to ever be a good 5) which is what he is . But that's what makes him so hard to guard. There has never been a seven footer with a game like Dirk. He's agile enough to put the ball on the floor and take it to the hole; he's skilled enough to drive and finish with his left hand; he has such a great jump-shot and fade away jumper, when you combine that with his height it makes for a extremely difficult shot to guard.

I will take Dirk over Bynum and Gasol, any day. Sure, they may be better defenders and rebounders; but Dirk is much more deadly on the offensive end and he can pull down 9 rebounds a game. So, Bynum and Gasol just have a slight (2 or 3 a game) rebounding edge over him, and of course the defensive edge. But like I said, Dirk is the better offensive weapon and is one of the best in the league. It balanced out with guys like Tyson Chandler and Shawn Marion on the team to aide on defense and rebounding.

I'll take Dirk's offensive production and play making ability and go with a pretty solid tandem of centers, rather than one star at center, unless that star was Dwight Howard. For example, Tyson Chandler and Brendan Haywood. And as everyone knows, that makes for a good championship team.

Replace Dirk with Bynum or Gasol on last years Mavs championship team, and I don't think they would have won it. Neither of them could have carried the team and made those huge plays like Dirk did. He averaged 26 and 10 in the finals. Could Bynum and Gasol has been more effective on offense with Jason Terry and Shawn Marion being the next best scorers? Definitely. But as effective as dirk was that series? Highly unlikely.

Look at his career playoff numbers: In some 120 playoff contests, he has averaged 26 points and 10.4 rebounds a game, while shooting 46.5 percent from the field. The only other 100-plus-game playoff performers I can find who have averaged at least 25 points and 10 boards in the postseason since the 1976 ABA-NBA merger is Olajuwon and Karl Malone (and Malone never won a championship). Dirk averages more rebounds and points in the playoffs than Kobe. Bird and Kareem were close at 24 and 10. As was Shaq at 24 and 12. Jordan averaged 33 points per game but only six boards. Not saying Dirk is better than any of these players, especially Jordan. I'm just saying, his numbers rank up their with the best of em.

But he never has had a second star in his prime to take the pressure off him, as Jordan had Pippen, Bird had Parish and McHale, Magic had Kareem and Worthy, Shaq had Kobe and then Wade, Kobe had Shaq and then Gasol, and LeBron now has Wade and Bosh. Nash played with Dirk but didn't really become a star until going to Phoenix. Kidd is about as good as you can get for a 38-year-old guard, but Kidd didn't play with Dirk in his prime.

Dirk's playoff numbers are a step up from regular season in scoring and rebounding, as he averages 23 points and 8.4 boards in his regular season career. Clearly, he steps it up in the playoffs.