Dee, Houston
Just wanted to say hi from Texas!! My question is, since this is your first coaching experience with this program--what is your primary objective during this camp?
I think it’s a great program. You know with kids that are 17,18 years old you can already see where they’re at in Europe and what they have to work on, and they have professional coaches here that can show them some stuff so I think it’s a great camp. I always was invited the past couple of years and never made it, as it never fitted into my schedule, but I’m really glad I made it this time. It’s a fun camp and I hope the campers learn something from it.

Dirk Nowitzki (Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images)

Shakayla, Norfolk, USA
What’s it like dealing with new players who come to your team with new talents and who bring things from different teams?
Well it’s obviously always a little difficult playing with new players and you have to get used to their style and the chemistry is always a real factor but we were always really lucky over the last couple of years. We always got a bunch of great guys in that love to play for us and love to win and great in the locker room guys too so we’re always having fun with each other. But you know at the beginning it always takes some time to get used to each other on the court too: what moves he likes or where he likes the ball best. It kind of takes a while and I mean last year we had a few new players and we were struggling at the beginning because no-one really knew their roles yet, but once the season progressed we got better and better.

Ginolly, Hangzhou, China
Dear Dirk, I'm one of your Chinese fans. What will you do when you retire? Will you come to China? Thanks!!
I haven’t really thought that much about what I’m going to do. I still hope I can play another eight years in the league. I can’t really see myself as a team coach as I don’t really have the patience for it. I can see myself more as an individual coach like a shooting coach or something like that. I mean I’m sure that basketball is still going to be a part of my like because I just love the sport and even if I retire I’m going to want to be around basketball so I can see myself being an individual coach and helping some kids. Will I go to China? Well probably, you know I’ve never really been to Asia. So next year we [German National Team] can hopefully qualify for the World’s [World Championships]in Japan so I want to go there and then the Olympics in 2008 are in Beijing in China so I want to go there for sure because I’ve never been to an Olympic games. I love China, I heard I have a lot of fans over there so hopefully 2008 at the latest I’ll be in China.

Melvox, Santo Domingo, República Dominican
Hi Dirk, I'm a Mavericks fan and you are my favorite player. Do you think that Felipe Lopez has a chance to make the NBA team in Dallas?
I think he was a great player when he first got drafted and now he got this bad knee injury like two or three years ago and he’s just slowly starting to come back. I don’t know what he’s trying to do whether he’s trying to get back in the league so I can’t really say if he’s going to make it to the Mavs or not.

Gus, Illinois
Hey Dirk, What’s your favorite part of the job?
Obviously I love basketball otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it. Sometimes it’s hard work but I still enjoy it. I still love my job, playing against the best players in the world every night and that’s what I love you know. Now since I got a little bigger it takes a lot more now, like interviews and appearances and I don’t really like being in the public that much so that side just comes with it, but why I did it was because I just love the sport. I got a hobby and I made it into a job and I’m very fortunate because not a lot of guys are that lucky.

Audra, Vilnius Lithuania
Dirk, what do you think about the German national team, how far it can go in the European Championship and which teams will be favorites?
Well I don’t think there is really any one clear cut favorite. I think there a lot of teams like Spain, Yugoslavia, in their home country, Italy who have played extremely well these last couple of years, so I think those three are right up there. Then everybody else pretty much has the same chance, there are a lot of countries who can compete on a high level and can win. And as for Germany, I think we have a good team, just two years ago for the European Championships in Sweden we had a bad tournament but other than that over the last couple of years I think we competed on the highest level. We won a bronze medal in the World’s a couple of year’s ago which obviously was an unbelievable highlight for German basketball. So we want to get back to the top and we’ll see. Actually one of our main players, his name is Okulaja, he plays in Spain, just had surgery this summer so I hope he’ll be healthy and he’ll be ready to play as we really need him as he’s going to be a big factor in what we do. So I hope he’ll be healthy and then we’ll have a good shot. But I think our group is really tough. We start right away with Italy then we have Russia and Ukraine so I mean it’s a tough group but nothing is going to be easy so we’re going to fight through it.

Marrio, Jackson
Dear Dirk, I'm a huge fan of your game and how you shoot the ball. As a result while in high school I got in many arguments over if you were the best shooter in the NBA, but anyway my question to you is. What are some pointers or suggestions that you would give a young player who is trying to improve their shooting percentage and range to maybe one day be as good a shooter as you are, or better?
Well one tip is you got to practice. I probably shot I don’t know how many jump shots before I got in the league. Nothing comes easy. I worked on it every day. When I was like 17 or 18 I started to be professional about it and I took a couple of hundred jump shots every day. So that’s number one and I think what’s really important for the jump shot if you want to improve is always keep your eye on the basket. Don’t let your eye follow the ball. Then I think it’s very important to always be ready to shoot. You know sometimes in the game you have to have your arms and your feet ready so that when the ball comes you just release it. If you wait too long and the defender comes then it’s a harder shot and your percentage goes down, but if you’re ready to shoot when the ball comes then you’re more open and your percentage will go up.

Eugene, Houston
Hi Dirk. Although I am a huge Houston Rockets fan and your team knocked us out of the Finals I think you are an amazing player. I was wondering what you thought of Detroit's Darko Milicic because some people compare you two and some say he will be the next Dirk Nowitzki.
Wow. Well I can’t really say too much about him as I’ve never really seen him play. In Detroit. He doesn’t really get the playing time and he’s very young. So I haven’t really seen him that much but I mean he was number 2 pick so he’s got to have a lot of talent in him. He’s just so young he needs to just develop more over the years but I’m sure he’s going to have a great career in this league but I know he’s a lefty, left handed, so that’s a little different from what I do but I think he’s going to be a good player.