Dallas Mavericks power forward Dirk Nowitzki is busy getting his young German national team prepared to battle for a berth in the 2012 Olympic Games at the FIBA EuroBasket tournament in Lithuania that starts Aug. 30.

Before suiting up in his Deutschland uniform, Dirk did take a little time to film a sharp, fast-paced Nike promotional video that features the big man talking about growing up and playing a variety of sports -- handball, volleyball, tennis -- before concentrating on hoops at age 15.

At the beginning of the video, Dirk introduces himself like this: "Hi, this is Dirk Nowitzki, power forward. I'm a world champ." (For the record, Dirk pronounced Nowitzki with the 'w' sound and not the 'v' sound.)

The video shows Dirk walking the streets, presumably of his hometown of Wurzburg, and working in out in, presumably, his local gym.

Those clips are interspersed with clips of Dirk talking about his game: "I always try to be the best all-around player I can be. This is my dream. I have lots to improve on. I want to be a little better defender. I want to be a little better off the dribble. I want to be a better finisher.

"No matter how far you get, you're always a work in progress."

Good to see Nike allowed Dirk to stay true to himself. He wouldn't have it any other way.

To check out Dirk playing with his German team in preparation for the Olympic qualifying tournament, here's a video of Germany taking on Belgium over the weekend. You might recognize Nowitzki's 7-foot teammate Chris Kaman of the Los Angeles Clippers. Nowitzki first invited Kaman -- German via his grandparents -- to play for Germany in the 2008 Olympics.