GER - Nowitzki hopes Germans get wild card for Turkey

DALLAS (2010 FIBA World Championship) – The mid-December announcement on which national teams are to receive wild cards for the 2010 FIBA World Championship is quickly approaching and Germany basketball icon Dirk Nowitzki hopes his country will be among the lucky ones.

The former NBA MVP, who realized a lifelong dream when playing at the Olympics in China last year, took the 2009 summer off from the national team to rest.

Nowitzki has said before that his international career isn’t over, though, and that means he could make a quick return to Germany’s national side if it is invited to play in the 24-team event in Turkey.

"International basketball has done a lot for my career," Nowitzki said.

"I think I've always come back (to the Dallas Mavericks) from the national team a better player.

"I want to see Germany in every major tournament.

"Even last summer, I taped all of the games and watched the young guys. We've got to stay at the top level. The wild card would be great."

The seven-footer had agreed with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to take a breather for the first time and not play for Germany this year.

Despite his absence, national team coach Dirk Bauermann did one of the best coaching jobs at the EuroBasket by leading a young squad into the Qualifying Round.

They narrowly missed out on a place in the Quarter-Finals.

If Germany were to receive a wild card and Nowitzki did commit to playing, he may be able to team up again with Chris Kaman, the Los Angeles Clippers center whose foot injury last season ruled him out of the EuroBasket.

Nowitzki, who recently played with the Mavs against the Clippers, stayed behind in Los Angeles to have dinner with Kaman and talk about old times.

"Going to Beijing after 10, 11 years (of trying) was probably the greatest experience of my basketball career and it would have been very, very hard to get there without (Kaman)," Nowitzki said to ESPN.com.

Indeed, Germany needed Kaman to survive a very difficult FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens where they took one of the three remaining places for Beijing.

"He was huge for us on the boards, got a lot of tough rebounds against Brazil and Puerto Rico," Nowitzki said. "I will never forget that."

FIBA