Dirk? Wake up, smell the coffee, and join D-wade and officially retire

I recently posted about how Dirk Nowitzki and Ichiro Suzuki needed to both wake up, smell the coffee and retire. Especially in the NBA, there's a history of the greatest players having problems with this, even though fading athleticism gets more exposed there than in the MLB.

Decades ago, NBA legend (and co-GOAT with LeBron James; how's that?) Michael Jordan just couldn't hang it up. Call it addiction or whatever, but he wound up semi-embarrassing himself, or at least his legacy. At least in baseball, Jordan accepted he could't hit the curve and moved back to the Bulls.

Kobe Bryant was more than halfway to that point by the time of retirement, even allowing for the Achilles recovery.

I kind of get if Dirk wanted to hang out another year, saying that he hadn't rehabbed enough from his Achilles injury to properly go out of the Association this year. Kobe I partially accept that on him, too.

But, even after he's picked it up a bit recently, he's still a semi-full embarrassment. He may just not want a league-wide retirement party, or maybe he wants to play next year, too, but he has yet to indicate he's going to retire after this year.

So, despite him actually draining a couple of Dirk-style 3-balls against the Heat, even though he looked like he needed 30 seconds to crank up his shot? Retire.

What else is there to say? That said, he told Marc Stein recently he never wanted an official farewell tour, sentiments he's said before. He added that big men have a longer time to crank up 3-balls than shorter players anyway. But, no ... he's looking even slower on that. It's not just game-day rust. It's not just foot speed. It's like the Tin Woodman missing a drop of oil somewhere. And there's no Wizard to fix that.

I can understand that desire to hold on. But ... that's reality. AND, assuming Unicorn Kristaps Porzingis is totally healthy next year, there's gonna be even less room for Dirk's big-man 3-balling, especially if he's still playing at 80 percent of the speed of the rest of the team.

And, I do assume that's going to happen. Dirk is not only a fifth wheel in such a case, but, assuming KP and Luka Doncic meld well, that will be a team that moves more rapidly than this year. Not necessarily in breaks, as Luka's not a speed demon. But, in the halfcourt, rotating in and out of picks, etc? That team is just going to flow more quickly than Dirk currently does.

Besides, Commish Silver also thinks you should retire.

Speaking of the Mavs vs Heat?

I forgot about one player who has made that call and is going out before his skills totally go away.

That's Dwyane Wade. He's playing no worse than last year, and getting a few more minutes a game. Miami's going nowhere anyway, like Dallas, so he plays.

In turn, this takes me back to LeBron. Wade, of course, stepped back to second banana role after King James made "The Decision."

Is James willing to do the same for Anthony Davis if the Lake Show lands him? Is The Brow going to directly ask LBJ about that if he remains interested in the Lakers either via trade this offseason or free agency a year from now?

All questions that I think he would want to have answered to a degree of satisfaction.

Meanwhile, the Mariners signed Ichiro to a minor-league contract that will pay $750K if he makes the big club. Why?

The man had a 33 OPS+ last year. Arguably, he hurt the Mariners simply by occupying a roster spot.

I know they're in a quick-rinse rebuild and this is in part to attract fans. Let's be honest, front office. Nonetheless, if he is called up, he arguably hurts the rebuild timetable. And, if he's not? Does he get butt-hurt down at Tacoma?

It's easier to do this in baseball than hoops, as noted above. Nonetheless, the vanity appearances of Minnie Minoso and Satchel Paige didn't float my boat either, plus I think Ichiro doesn't see this as a vanity appearance.

Does he go back into his front-office slot from the second half of last season if he can't cut the Seattle mustard, rather than staying in physical and mental game shape in Tacoma? Does he try to do the same thing in 2020?