Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki Out Several Weeks Longer Than Expected

I used to call Dirk Nowitzki "Dirk The Jerk" solely because it rhymed, but if you're a fantasy owner of Mr. Nowtizki this year, you clearly have a better reason for considering him a jerk (although it's mostly misplaced aggression on your part).

Although I'm certain Dirk is regarded as one of the nicer players in the NBA, fantasy owners have to be uttering profanities under their collective breathes about the news that Nowitzki's right knee injury is coming along a little bit slower than initially expected and that he could be out much longer than the four to six weeks that was initially announced.

But before you go ahead and replace Nowitzki on your fantasy team and change your desktop wallpaper to remove any trace of his face on your computer, understand that you can't just dump him off on someone else. Firstly if you did that you wouldn't get fair value in return and secondly, injuries are just as much apart of the fantasy world as they are in real life basketball so you've got to find those suitable fill-ins in the meantime. Also, it would be really mean of you to hold it against a grotesquely tall individual who can run like an ostrich and drain a three pointer for having knee problems. There aren't too many freaks like Dirk in the NBA that can do that, even if he is getting older now.

Just a quick look at the statistics will show you just how invaluable the smooth shooting German has been to fantasy owners throughout his career, even as he ages and head into his 13^th NBA season. Although his minutes have decreased to around 33 per game as of last season, Nowtizki still averaged 21.6 points per game in 62 contests to go with just under seven rebounds. His 36.8% success rate from beyond the arc is just under his career average of 38% and he shot close to 90% from the charity stripe. If you're going to replace Dirk, you're going to have to do it at the shooting guard position, because you won't find a free agent power forward who can shoot the lights out the same way he can.

My best suggestion is to stash him away on your bench. The Mavericks are not going to be a championship contender for the foreseeable future and they organization is still a few years away from grooming a Nowitzki replacement if that's possible. The good news is that once he recovers he's a sure bet to play most of the team's remaining games and have the ball in his hand whenever the game is on the line.

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