With the Dallas Mavericks prepping for a huge home test against the Miami Heat tonight, Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle has added a Dallas Mavericks legend-in-his-time to the theoretical list popularized by the visiting LeBron James.
Speaking with Dallas Mavericks insider and beat writer Brian Gutierrez, Rick Carlisle made it quite clear where he thinks 12-time NBA All-Star Dirk Nowitski fits when talking about the greatest NBA players of our time--
Carlisle on who is on his NBA Mount Rushmore: "Other than Nowitzki? ... Time takes care of all of that."
— Bryan Gutierrez (@BallinWithBryan) February 18, 2014
Despite making it clear that he feels that talks about the "greatest NBA players ever" will sort themselves out in time, the Dallas Mavericks head coach made a point to name LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, and the Dallas Mavericks' own Dirk Nowitski as the faces of Mount Rushmore for the "modern game."
2012-13 broke a 12-year streak for Dirk Nowitski of averaging 20 or more points a game, as he finished at just 17.3 points per game for his lowest total since in rookie season of 1998-99 (8.2 ppg). However, Dirk has righted the ship this year for the surging Dallas Mavericks, averaging 21.7 points and 6.1 rebounds in 32.2 minutes per game.