Dirk to Northwestern?

By now, we all know the ending of the story.

Dirk Nowitzki, the NBA's newest hero after he led the Dallas Mavericks to the 2011 NBA title over the villainous Miami Heat, has forever changed the image of the European superstar. Instead of simply being thought of as soft jumpshooters with a knack for flopping when they get touched, Dirk -- yes, he has reached single name status -- is leading the push for change. You don't have to be a product of the American basketball system to be an NBA champion. Dirk is officially a superstar, a top 20 player of all-time and arguably the most indefensible player currently in the NBA.


But before he was a champion, Dirk was just some seven foot German kid that happened to be able to shoot when he was spotted at a tournament in San Antonio prior to the Final Four. Shooting around early one morning, he happened to catch the eye of David Kaplan, a broadcaster for WGN-AM 720 in Chicago. Kaplan was so impressed with the display that Nowitzki put on -- in a simple shooting session, mind you -- that he called up then-Northwestern head coach Kevin O'Neill and asked him if he could offer Nowitzki a scholarship on the spot. From the Chicago Tribune:

"Kap called me saying there's this 7-footer making all these 3s and wanting permission to offer him a scholarship for Northwestern on the spot,'' O'Neill recalled Monday. "I said, you gotta be kidding me … but OK.''

Empowered, Kaplan did just that after finding out from Nowitzki that he wasn't a member of the Spurs — as some assumed — but in Texas with his German basketball club playing in a Final Four-related event. Nowitzki mentioned he was looking for an American college to showcase his skills for the NBA. Kaplan's quick recruiting pitch on behalf of Northwestern sold the idea of Nowitzki feeling comfortable amid Chicago's heavy German population.

"He told me, 'Sounds great, I'd love to set up a visit,' '' Kaplan said. "Then everybody saw him play, and there was no doubt he was going pro.''

We all know what happened next.

Dirk was picked 9th in the 1998 Draft by the Bucks, promptly traded to Dallas for the rights to 'Tractor' Traylor, and after 13 short years of tearing up the NBA, he became an NBA champion.

Imagine what would have happened if Dirk had, say, suffered a high-ankle sprain during that tournament. What if the largely unknown-at-that-point Nowitzki hadn't had the opportunity to showcase his talent in front of NBA scouts and GMs? Could he have actually ended up a Northwestern Wildcat? And if he had, would we no longer be able to talk about the fact that Northwestern has never made an NCAA Tournament?

As much fun as it is to speculate about what Dirk could have done in college, that isn't the strange part about this story. Kaplan was a professional journalist that, conceivably, since he worked for a Chicago radio station, covered Northwestern. And he not only tipped off O'Neil to the fact that there was this seven-foot German with ridiculous range on his jumper, but he offered Nowitzki a scholarship on the program's behalf.

Journalistic integrity, huh?