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NBA ALL-STAR WEEKENDFebruary 15, 2008Dirk NowitzkiNEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA Q. What are your thoughts about the Olympics? DIRK NOWITZKI: It's definitely going to be a beating. It's going to be a battle. I saw the groups. It's actually not too bad. I think Brazil is very dangerous in our group. Q. In your stage, you have the bigger problem. DIRK NOWITZKI: Yeah, we've got Greece, and who is in the other group? Greece I mean, really to get through it's going to be a hard job. But being part of the Olympics is still one of my biggest dreams. So we're going to be there hopefully, and hopefully we're going to make it. Q. What do you think about your team in Spain? DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, last year I think we had kind of an up-and-down tournament. We had some good games, good halves. But really if you look at the top teams, they were just way more consistent. If you want to finish in the top four in the other tournament they're going to be a very good team for weeks. They've had good games and some bad games. It's kind of up-and-down. So to finish fifth is actually very good. Q. If you could pick three teams for the Olympics from the qualification group, which team would be it be? DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, hopefully Germany is one of them. And I mean it's tough. Greece is probably the heavy favorite in their home country. Then I guess the rest is wide open. Croatia is really a young team, fun to watch. Q. Is it your last competition for the National Team at that level? DIRK NOWITZKI: If I make the Olympics, I said I was going to have a break. I didn't say I'm going to retire nationally. You never want to say, you know, that this is it. I always want to keep the future open. If I may have a break one or two years, I might miss it that much that I want to play. It all depends on how the future plays out, how my body holds up. I always love representing my country. I've always had a blast. So hopefully we can go to the Olympics and take a little break. Q. How tough are the last two days on your team, Dirk? DIRK NOWITZKI: Yeah, it's been definitely a weird couple of days. Everything kind of hanging in the air, and nobody really knew what was going on. And when they basically said the deal was done, then all of a sudden it wasn't, the team said okay. They didn't know if they were going to dress or not, and then they ended up playing. So it was definitely a weird feeling. But we as a team made the best out of it. We tried to stay focused and tried to keep the group together. I mean, it's really all you can do. Once everybody goes in their own direction, then the chemistry's going to get messed up, and we won't win anything. We want to make sure we keep everybody together. And whoever puts the uniform on will give it their best. Q. The players understand trying to maximize his value, and is there an understanding between athletes to try to maximize? DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, in a way, obviously, this is a team sport. A lot of it is about individuals, too, in this league. We all know that. When the Mavericks play, whatever, L.A., it's Dirk against Kobe. Over here it's not promoted as a team sport the way it is in Europe. Where it's always five on five, always moving here. It's always individual-based. So I guess Devean is looking out for himself, and that's what you're used to over here. I understand. I can't say anything bad. It's been great ever since he got to Dallas. He always played hard when he was out there. So it's just one of those things where somebody's looking out for themselves. Q. Are you worried if the deal doesn't go through it could split the locker room? DIRK NOWITZKI: Well, I think that's where the leaders of this team have to make sure it doesn't happen. If the locker room gets separated, there's no way we're going to achieve our goal. So, you know, deal or no deal, we've got to make sure that the troops are ready to go. They're fired up. They stay together. And we still want to have fun together, and share good times on the bus, because we spend so much time together you don't want to have distractions in the locker room. We'll just see what happens here next week, and hopefully we can move forward with good locker room chemistry. We always had good chemistry since I got to Dallas. It's always been fun to be around. End of FastScripts |
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