Dirk Nowitzki a one-trick pony? It's rather bold to make that charge. But NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did, bashing the Mavericks star earlier this week during an appearance at George Mason University.

"Dirk Nowitzki's shot is very hard to block," Abdul-Jabbar said then. "But I don't think that he was able to have a dominant career because if he could have shot like that and rebounded, and played defense, and blocked shots, then he would have been more all-around and gotten more credit. He was like a one-tricky pony. You want guys like that who can shoot on your team. I'm not saying that he lacked value, but he would have been considered at a higher level if he had done more on the court other than just shoot the ball."

A rather harsh assessment of Nowitzki's game, which has carried him to 13 All-Star appearances and an MVP award.

So what did the analyst crew at TNT think of Abdul-Jabbar's take?

"First of all, I am never going to argue with Kareem," Charles Barkley said on a conference call Thursday. "Dirk is a great offensive forward. He is one of the greatest offensive forwards ever. He's going to be a Hall of Famer and if you want me to say Dirk is a great rebounder and a great defender, that's probably not going to happen. He is one of the greatest offensive players to ever play in this game."

That's when Kenny Smith interjected.

"Dirk is a great offensive player," he said. "That's not a negative. Dirk is a Hall of Famer. He is one of the greatest players ever. But he is an offensive player. There is nothing wrong with being a great offensive player."

Back to Barkley, who continued to toe the line between praising Nowitzki as an all-time great and supporting Abdul-Jabbar's Dirk appraisal.

"He's one of the greatest offensive players ever," Barkley said. "But I think Kareem has a point. Dirk is going to be in the Hall of Fame. He's amazing. I tried to pay him to go to Auburn, don't forget. I love the guy."

But is he a one-trick pony?

"I will say this: Dirk Nowitzki has more than offensive ability because he is able to create a pace for the game that other people can't play in," Smith said. "So I always say that superstar players are able to affect the game. To be a superstar, there are points, rebounds and assists. But the most underrated things are defense and pace of the game. Steve Nash was a pace-of-the-game kind of guy. He created a pace. Steph Curry creates a pace that no matter what you do if you play against Golden State you have to play fast. I am sorry. If you think you are going to slow the game down, you die. If you play against Steve Nash teams, same thing. Dirk Nowitzki created a pace in Dallas that allows the Mavericks to play at a pace. So, yes, scoring and pace of the game is more than one trick in my book."

And how about you, Shaquille O'Neal, would you care to comment on Abdul-Jabbar's assessment of Nowitzki's repertoire?

"I don't have G14 classification to speak against Kareem or players above me," he said.