For the 1st time in weeks, Dirk Nowitzki set out to let all of Mavs Nation know the prognosis on his return. The news was both good and bad, depending on what end of the spectrum you resided.

Dirk Addresses Audio & Coop & Nate’s Reaction

I always start off with the bad news first. It gives me a chance to close strong with the good.

The bad news is that it appears that Dirk Nowitzki may not be back for another month.

 “I’m still about a couple — 2 weeks — out before even getting on the court — start working out, start running, start shooting.”

Once he gets back on the court to resume these activities, it will take about another 2 weeks to get in game ready condition. If we are going off the assumption that it will be a month away until we see Dirk’s return, that puts us at Decemeber 20th, just in time to welcome the defending champion Miami Heat to the AAC.

This was a huge blow. Most of Mavs Nation, including myself, got a little excited thinking we were going to hear something really big today when Dirk addressed the media. An early return to action? Knee felt great?

Bottomline: We didn’t get any of that. Originally it looked as if it would be 4-6 weeks until we saw his return. We are now looking at more like 6-8 weeks.

The good news in all of this?

“I’m going to make sure everything is right before I come back.”

That is big time. We all know that Dirk is a competitor first, thinker second. He wants nothing more than to get back on the floor and help his team. It’s killing him. No doubt about it.

“If you’re sitting there and you see that you can help, it is tough……There’s been some hard days. Frustrating days.”

We are fans. We are selfish. We want the best team on the court at all times.

Unfortunately, it is also important to understand that we need the healthiest team as well. The Mavericks will get a healthy Dirk when he returns, as opposed to a Dirk that is rushing his return.

Now, with all this said we have to hope that the current Mavericks squad can hold the fort down until that occurs. So far it has been a mixed bag.

Dirk can save this team. The question is what will he be saving and will it a realistic goal?

As always…GO MAVS!