![]() ![]() A one-handed tool, the Hookshot is suitable for dual-wielding with Rope, Grappling Hook or a Web Slinger to allow the user easy access to both modes of grappling, auto-retract or free hanging.The Hookshot is crafted at a Tinkering Table, and can be upgraded twice at a Tool Upgrade Station. ![]() With its relatively affordable crafting recipe, 1-handed nature that allows it to be used with other tools like Rope, Flashlights or even weapons, it is an indispensable part of any explorer's toolbelt. On latching on to a surface, the device immediately begins retracting, pulling the user towards the hook. It took years of sweat and tears and alleged failures to finally push Nowitzki to the mountain top - but it never took that damned hook shot.A reusable, one-handed gadget, the Hookshot fires a hook from a pressurized gas cylinder that is not affected by gravity, and at speeds much higher than Rope. ![]() One could choose to view the move itself in any which way, but when Nowitzki reeled off three successful sweeping hooks in Monday night's game-a relatively inconsequential regular-season affair almost a year removed from his greatest basketball triumph-I could only meet such an unexpected outburst with a chuckle. The subplot never really rose to prominence because it was never all that important in the first place that hook was but a bit piece of an expansive arsenal-one that represented both Nowitzki's whimsical diversion from his own personal norm and the expectations thrust upon him by years of basketball orthodoxy. But this particular footnote of Nowitzki's development was buried under layers and layers of more pressing matters, only to be unearthed for a regular blip appearance on Media Day year after year, Nowitzki was supposedly working on-among other things-his largely unused hook. It offered no panacea for the nagging criticisms Nowitzki faced and it failed to serve a practical purpose as common pest control. All we know for sure is that Nowitzki dedicated his time to this improvement as he had all others, but it would make only make the bare minimum of appearances-a make or miss every once in awhile, just as a reminder that it was still in his arsenal. Perhaps the opportunities to trigger the move really were that limited in the context of where Nowitzki liked to operate on the floor. Maybe Nowitzki just never felt all that comfortable with the hook's execution. The results were a bit different, but the entire process was very much the same. So Nowitzki went to work on his hook shot.only to continue to attack smaller defenders in his conventionally unconventional ways once the season finally began he would work his defender deeper into the post than before, but rather than unveil some Hakeem-like projection of his interior scoring splendor, Nowitzki would spin and fade, as per usual. At the time, he had needed a weapon that could specifically exploit his size advantage over the rangy athletes who had often been asked to cover him Nowitzki's jumper was as true as ever, but the notion that he could be checked with smaller, peskier defenders could not go unpunished. It was a pragmatic response, both to Nowitzki's basketball reality and the ridiculous skeptics he faced. Back in the days when Dirk wasn't allowed to be Dirk-when columnists called for him to "toughen up," and pundits taunted him for not functioning like a traditional, back-to-the-basket big man-Nowitzki claimed to be fashioning a hook shot. Yet out of all of Nowitzki's specifically targeted improvements, one consistently seemed to elude him. Dirk is as gym ratty as they come, and though his training regimen may be bafflingly unconventional, who could possibly argue with the results? Nowitzki is a player who knows who he is and who he wants to be, and even more importantly: he actually has the work ethic to get there. When the Golden State Warriors famously toppled his Mavs in the 2007 playoffs, Dirk took some time off to center himself, but then went to work on reading double teams. When a smaller, quicker opponent gave him trouble, he spent his summer focused on improving his back-down technique to gain more favorable post position. When Nowitzki was exploited defensively early in his career, he developed a few handy defensive counters.
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