Dirk Nowitzki is one of the greatest players in NBA history and you’d think he’s a fairly recognizable figure when in public. When Dirk recently went to a restaurant, though, a fan hilariously mistook him for Rik Smits.
“Walked into a restaurant yesterday and guy comes up and says: ‘Aren’t you Rik Smits?’
Not quite but I appreciated his hoops knowledge…”
Walked into a restaurant yesterday and guy comes up and says:” Aren’t you Rik Smits?”
Not quite but I appreciated his hoops knowledge…
— Dirk Nowitzki (@swish41) December 2, 2023
You certainly do appreciate the basketball knowledge this fan has, to even know who Rik Smits is. I assume he had to be an older gentleman, as the chances of a younger fan knowing that name but now recognizing Dirk seems very slim.
It also appears Dirk isn’t the only former German player who has gotten mistaken for Smits. Another former Dallas Maverick in Detlef Schrempf shared how it has happened to him as well while also hilariously saying he gets mistaken for Shawn Kemp.
“I have been called Rik many times but also Shawn Kemp.”
I have been called Rik many times but also Shawn Kemp 😀
— Detlef Schrempf (@Dschrempf) December 2, 2023
While I can get someone confusing Schrempf as Smits, it is wild how anyone thought he was Kemp. The two were teammates on the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1990s, and it could be that the casual fan knew only Kemp from the Sonics and hence somehow mistook Schrempf for him.
Who Is Rik Smits?
Smits hails from the Netherlands and was selected with the second pick of the 1988 NBA Draft by the Indiana Pacers after a stellar college career at Marist. He earned the nickname “The Dunking Dutchman” but never quite became the superstar that the Pacers might have hoped he’d be.
He had a solid career, though, and in 12 seasons in the league, all with the Pacers, Smits averaged 14.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.4 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game. He made his only All-Star appearance in 1998 and was also the starting center for the Pacers team that went to the NBA Finals in 2000, after which he retired.
Dirk Nowitzki Revealed The Origins Of His Iconic One-Legged Fadeaway
Getting back to Dirk, he probably turned out to be far greater than even what the Dallas Mavericks had hoped he’d be. While there are many great things to remember the 45-year-old for, there is one that will always stand out, the one-legged fadeaway. Recently, Nowitzki explained the origins behind his legendary shot.
“I think I started shooting that later. In your twenties, you have the power if somebody’s crowding you to try and rip through and get to the basket, get fouled a lot. As I’d gotten older, I lost a step and I didn’t want to do all the grinding so I looked for a shot that I can do without a lot of effort. I’m tall, it was just one or two bumps and lean back and you know, nobody can get to the shot. So that’s really how I started shooting it a little bit at the beginning. I had the support of the coaches, of course, because not many people wanted to shoot a one-leg fadeaway.”
This is actually a great lesson for every player in the league. Dirk was constantly trying to find different ways to dominate on the court as he grew older and the result was creating a shot that defined his career in many ways.
The German didn’t rest on his laurels considering everything he had achieved and that shot played a significant role in cementing his status as one of the game’s all-time greats.
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