Dirk Nowitzki returned to the practice court for the first time this season on Wednesday, although there's still no word on when he'll be able to play in a game.

It wasn't a full practice for him, so he stayed afterwards for a game of 2-on-2 with some of the Mavs reserves:

Dirk & Roddy vs. Bernard James and Jae Crowder. Dirk: "The quality of the games wasn't high, to be honest."

— Earl K. Sneed (@EKS_MavsNBA) December 19, 2012

While Dirk was probably just being self-deprecating, it doesn't exactly ring out as an endorsement of some of the young players Dallas has managed to scrape together.

Like many, I once had high hopes for Rodrigue Beaubois, but he's regressed significantly as a player in his fourth season in the NBA and he'll likely be a non-roster invitee to training camp next season if he keeps it up.

Bernard James and Jae Crowder have shown flashes, but there's a reason they were second round picks last season.

Dirk needs to go on and get healthy so he can play people at his level.