It seemed that basketball was in their genes, and Dirk considered attending many different colleges, including Pennsylvania State. But, his dreams of college were squashed when he was drafted into the civil service in Germany. Although he was allowed to play pro basketball on the weekends, he continued to serve in the German Military from September 1997 to June 1998.
His basketball career seemed to stay confined to Europe though, until a team of American NBA stars played the German team in September of 1997, and he was finally noticed by several of the players from America, which included Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen. Barkley even offered the tall, lanky teen any amount of money to go to America and attend his old alma mater, Aubrn University. But, Nowitzki refused, opting to stay in Germany due to his continuing military service
When Nowitzki declared for the 1998 NBA Draft, he had already gained a promise to be drafted in the 10th selection from Rick Pitino, who was the head coach for the Boston Celtics, but, the Dallas Mavericks drafted him before the Celtics could get their hands on him. Although Nowitzki had technically been drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks, there was a lot of trading and arrangements between teams for picks so he went to the Dallas Mavericks in the end, along with another young star, Steve Nash.
No comments:
Post a Comment