To no one’s surprise – certainly not BallinEurope’s, in any case – FIBA Europe today announced its men’s player of the year award would go to the longtime Team Germany/Dallas Mavericks superstar. Less than suspenseful, too, were the results of the top five finishers: Behind Dastardly Dirk came Juan Carlos “La Bomba” Navarro, Bo McCalebb, Pau Gasol and Andrei Kirilenko.
Official FIBA Europe press release and highlights follow.
(FIBA Europe) – FIBA Europe announced on Tuesday that Dirk Nowitzki of Germany has been voted the 2011 European Player of the Year.
Nowitzki was the winner of the expert panel vote ahead of Spain captain/EuroBasket 2011 MVP Juan Carlos Navarro, while he placed fourth in the public voting.
It is the second time Nowitzki lands the coveted FIBA Europe award, as he was the winner of the first edition, in 2005. He was also named 2011 Germany’s Athlete of the Year last December.
The highlight of the year for the German star came on 12 June, just a week ahead of his 33rd birthday: He led the Dallas Mavericks to their fourth win in the NBA playoff final series against the Miami Heat, conquering the title and earning Finals MVP honours.
Nowitzki, who has been playing for Dallas since the beginning of his NBA career in 1998, raised his game as pressure mounted in the playoffs to secure a historic first NBA championship for the Texas franchise. He averaged 27.7 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists in the play-offs, up from 23.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in the regular season.
The 2.13m forward responded to his national team’s call later in the summer and suited up for Germany at the EuroBasket in Lithuania; Nowitzki averaged 19.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists but could not avert a rather disappointing ninth-place finish for Germany.
The dedication of one the biggest basketball players of all time, though, especially after a long and exhausting NBA season, was never in question.
Nowitzki has represented Germany in six EuroBaskets, two World Championships and the Beijing Olympic Games, leading them to the silver medal at EuroBasket 2005 and the bronze at the 2002 World Championship. He is the EuroBasket tournament’s second all-time leading scorer, behind Nikos Galis of Greece.
“Dirk is not only a fantastic athlete and a world-class basketball player,” said FIBA Europe President Olafur Rafnsson. “He is above all a great person, honest, hard-working, loyal and humble. In my eyes, he is someone that young people, basketball players or otherwise, should look up to.”
“2011 was a landmark year for Dirk,” commented FIBA Europe Secretary General Nar Zanolin. “He finally achieved one of his dreams with millions of fans in Europe and around the world cheering him on. A remarkable person and a true ambassador of basketball, I could not be happier for him.”
Voting results were as follows. The ten nominees are listed by rank, with popular vote and expert-panel ranking following in parentheses.
1. Dirk Nowitzki (4/1)
2. Juan Carlos Navarro (2/2)
3. Bo McCalebb (1/3)
4. Pau Gasol (5/4)
5. Andrei Kirilenko (9/5)
6. Dimitris Diamantidis (6/8)
7. Tony Parker (8/7)
8. Dusko Savanovic (2/9)
9. Nicolas Batum (9/8)
10. Marc Gasol (10/10)
Tags: 2002 FIBA World Championship, Andrei Kirilenko, Bo McCalebb, Dallas Mavericks, Dimitris Diamantidis, Dusko Savanovic, Eurobasket 2005, EuroBasket 2011, FIBA, FIBA Europe, Juan Carlos Navarro, Marc Gasol, Miami Heat, Nar Zanolin, NBA, NBA 2010-11, Nicolas Batum, Olafur Rafnsson, Pau Gasol, Team Germany, Tony Parker
Bo McCalebb is a European player? Really? So I guess so is Chris Kaman and Serge Ibaka!
Gabe is an idiot? Yes, obviously.
Yeah he’s a European who was an American for the first 25 years of his life and only became a European citizen last year so he could be a ringer for Macedonia in Eurobasket.
Why do you think that is an issue, Gabe? Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing have both played for Team USA. I think naturalization is a great thing.
Ewing was 11 when he moved to the states. Olajuwon I don’t agree with. I think a player should have spent at least half his life in a country before naturalization. The FIBA Asia championship was basically the top teams playing with ringers. Glad China won because they are one of the few Asian teams that don’t use ringers and that’s what they basically are.
[...] the land of Dirk, David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of basketball. Read on to find [...]
[...] the land of Dirk, David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of basketball. Read on to find [...]
[...] the land of Dirk, David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of basketball. Read on to find [...]
Dominique Wilkins
Steve Kerr
Kyrie Irving
Rony Seikaly
Patrick Ewing
Hakeem Olajuwon
Carlos Boozer
None of them had any business playing for Team USA, using Gabe’s twisted and warped xenophobic logic.
Wait………..they all played for Team USA? What the freaking hell? How is this possible?
Put a sock in it Gabe.
Wilkins, Kerr, Irving and Boozer were all born American citizens. It’s a little different being born an American citizen abroad because your American parents are in the US army or some other job as opposed to players who have no connection to the country of the national team until they are nationalized to play on it. Ewing moved to America when he was 11th years old. I’m not even sure that Bo McCalebb ever even lived in Macedonia but he certainly didn’t move out of American until he was 22 years old. Yes, I don’t think Olajuwon and Seikaly should have played on the American teams. Trust me, as a fan of USA I don’t feel threatened by McCalebb and Macedonia but I think it takes away from the game. If a team’s best player is a naturalized citizen who spent his all adult like in a different country I think it takes away from the excitement and makes the national teams too similar to club teams.
Yeah, obviously I agree with you on American citizens who happened to be born abroad. That’s totally different.
I guess I can understand your point about national teams becoming too much like club teams. I still disagree with you, but at least you’re logically honest by saying that Olajuwon shouldn’t have played.
What if, instead of allowing dual citizenship, FIBA rules said that only players holding only one passport were eligible to play for national teams? That way, even if players hadn’t lived in their team’s countries for a long time, they wouldn’t be able to make decisions about these things without thinking long and hard.
That would help solve the problem and would have prevent Kaman for example. I think another rule should be they have to of lived in their team’s country team for at least five years. That would prevent that whore Ibaka.
This Gabe guy is a real jerk. “American born citizens”. I can’t believe the hypocrisy of this guy.
This is the same guy that trolled incessantly on the FIBA forums, claiming Greece’s national team used “naturalized American players”.
News flash, Gabe, Greece has ZERO naturalized players. You cannot play on the Greek national team unless you are a natural born Greek citizen. The Greek sport federation does not even allow naturalized players.
So, this Gabe guy says that if Greece uses “natural born players” they are “naturalized” and he makes fun of them and criticizes them and claims they should not be allowed to do it.
However, if Team USA uses “natural born players” then it is perfectly acceptable and reasonable.
Gabe, you are a huge hypocrite and a jerk.
I never said anything about Greece using naturalized players so that’s all bullshit.
[...] the land of Dirk – Nowitzki and Bauermann, that is – David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of [...]
[...] the land of Dirk – Nowitzki and Bauermann, that is – David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of [...]
[...] the land of Dirk – Nowitzki and Bauermann, that is – David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of [...]
[...] the land of Dirk – Nowitzki and Bauermann, that is – David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of [...]
[...] the land of Dirk – Nowitzki and Bauermann, that is – David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of [...]
[...] the land of Dirk – Nowitzki and Bauermann, that is – David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of [...]
[...] the land of Dirk – Nowitzki and Bauermann, that is – David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of [...]
[...] the land of Dirk – Nowitzki and Bauermann, that is – David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of [...]
[...] the land of Dirk – Nowitzki and Bauermann, that is – David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of [...]
[...] the land of Dirk – Nowitzki and Bauermann, that is – David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of [...]
[...] the land of Dirk – Nowitzki and Bauermann, that is – David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of [...]
[...] the land of Dirks Nowitzki and Bauermann – David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of basketball. [...]
[...] the land of Dirks Nowitzki and Bauermann – David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of basketball [...]
[...] Also Kirilenko, who’s got to be in pole position for the FIBA European Player of the Year [...]