FanNation - The Republic of Sport

i really enjoy seeing players take international basketball seriously. i might be the only one that feels this way, but international basketball is by far my favorite sport to watch.

was he crying in Hasselhoffs arms?

Too bad the USA basketball players didn't take it this seriously. It's been an embarrassment.

it has been an embarrassment, but i think they are taking it seriously now. i mean team usa has its players commit long term with camps in the summers and what not and we have a national coach now, not a new coach for every tourney. there is stability for team usa unlike years past, and we are pretty much sending our best players. other than kg and duncan, there really isn't anyone i would like to see on the roster that isn't there already.

Nothing wrong with showing emotion, but I don't think this helps Dirk shed the soft image!

yeah this really helps him in the man card department.

look at his jersey name and remove the first " E " and the first " T " and i think that says it all.

of course he did not do any interviews his mascara was running.

sorry this is like hitting lobbed softballs with this story.

Unlike Yao MIng who puts the Chinese team first before the NBA, Dirk always have the passion to play hard for any team especially for Germany. Dirk had promised to bring Germany to the Olympics before he retires from basketball and his time was running out. Congrats Dirk. His consolation is to be in the same Group as USA and China. That will be a hard hill to climb.

vaughn9 you can crack on Dirk but he's still one of the 15 best players in the league easily

Talent wise the man is tough to stop, but if you get physical with him he will disappear. But this does not help him get out of being viewed as soft as cotton.

Keelee24.. that's a myth.. Dirk isn't soft.. Funny how one bad stretch can totally erase everything you did before and afterwards. Dirk is far from soft. He just lost his confidence in the playoffs last year (and Avery Johnson didn't do him any favors by not putting him in good situations). He saved Dallas down the stretch of the season after the horrible Kidd trade. He came back from injury and took them to the playoffs.

Dirk is a first class person and a great player. You never have to worry about him getting into any trouble and he works hard at what he does. He played gritty games a few years ago against the Suns and Spurs to lead them to the finals. Those games were wars. Then against Golden State he went belly up. But that is the one and only time I have seen that from Dirk. He and Bass were the only guys who were getting it done last year against the Hornets. He is always willing to take it to the hoop and get hacked and plays hard. He is not soft. The problem with Dirk is his body is not built for agility. Kudos to Dirk.

Dirk is not soft. Soft is not a word for any player. Because he gets triple teamed a lot that's why you guys call him soft. If you call him soft then you would do the same w/ the likes of Kobe. The Mavs lost it their only finals appearance. That's because the team did not step up and refs are just being bias refs. Kobe did the same thing in the finals this year and were even up by 24 and they still lost. Would you call that "Soft"? If you say yes then Kobe is soft and Dirk is soft. So there is no such thing as soft. Mind as well call Duncan soft if he did not make to the Finals.

Dirk IS soft-
but he is a small forward- so the point is mute.

He is not a PF or a C that has to BANG all game.

And even though he is on the softer side....he does TRY

yup

Big deal. He cried, so what?