He's A Star(fish)!

The thought of writing fiction had been rolling around in my head for some time, and I even had come up with a fantastically interesting character when I stumbled across Dirk.

I was at Baylor when Dirk Nowitzki came to the States from Germany. I have vague memories of him and later, as he and Steve Nash developed their game, the two of them. I wasn't much of a NBA watcher though, so I confess I never actually saw him play. My information came only from the media.

Fast forward nine years, I'm thinking of fiction, Steve Nash plays for the Suns and Dirk is leading the Mavs to the Finals for the first time. All it took was one game. I realized I had been channeling Dirk Nowitzki in my character. It was eerie, really, but at the same time, inspiring.

If you saw the movie "Stranger Than Fiction" (which was fabulous, if you didn't) you'll have a picture of me when I saw Dirk for the first time. It wasn't that my character looked the same - and quite frankly, my character is not 7ft, tall and gangly. My character loves playing defense, and if anything, he's closer to Devin Harris than Dirk in a game of basketball.

BUT...but the personality is what was striking.

There's a book on the market called "The Spider and the Starfish". I haven't read it. Because when it was explained to me I was like, "I already believe that." But, the book is essentially about so-called "leadership" - which is becoming profanity in my world. (I have friend who says that he won't shop in a Christian bookstore until they have as many shelves labeled, "Christian Servantship" as they do "Christian Leadership" - I agree!) This book says that the greatest "teams" (whatever they be) are not led by an individual, or even a committee of individuals, but by ideology. The thought is that the longest lived groups are those who cannot be stopped or started or motivated or oppressed through and by their "leaders" but instead, these ageless groups draw their identity on a worldview, or an ideology.

So, if you want to get rid of a spider and his web, kill the spider and that's that. But if you chop up a starfish, it just reproduces itself - growing into starfish from the pieces. The ideology is in the DNA.

Now this ideology of course, may come at first from an individual's mind, but once it is accepted, adopted and spread, the ideology no longer belongs to one person, but becomes the group's "air they breathe", if you will.

So what does all this have to do with my character and Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks? Here's what a recent article said about him.

The Mavericks' torrid start (which is sixth best in league history), their 11-0 record in the second half of back-to-back games, and their 21-6 record on the road (a winning percentage of .778 that is superior to any team's record overall) is proof that Nowitzki at 28 has become the most effective leader in the league. He posts dominant numbers without exerting a dominating personality. He sets an example of hard work that defines the roster from top to bottom, while his humility creates an environment that allows teammates to express themselves in the locker room and on the court. In the crucial moments, Nowitzki is there to knock down sensational threes or fallaway jumpers that look routine in a Larry Bird sort of way.

"He is the same guy today as when I bought the team,'' owner Mark Cuban says. "There is never an element of himself over the team: He trusts his coach, the system and his teammates. His focus is on always learning, whether it's a new part of his game or watching tape or reading books to become a better student of the game.'' ~Ian Thomsen, SI, (read the entire article here.)

What kind of fantastic guy is this? You know? I mean, do you know how much money and fame are his? Do you know what kind of jerk he could be and nobody would think anything of it? And yet he shies away from the media, he doesn't have "shoe", there's no pictures of him wearing bling or grinning at a camara while passing out basketballs to amputees in hospital beds. His charitable organization is on the up and up legally, but nobody really knows what it does, because the media isn't invited to any big, flashy events.

That's why he's a star(fish)!

(Listen to an interview with Dirk during All-Star weekend. All of the All-Stars are listed under the photo, choose "Dirk" for his interview.)

posted by Headless-in-GR @ 3/07/2007 05:53:00 PM