MVP, MIP and all the others. Who won what?

With the Olympics just a few days away our thoughts turned to the subject of internationally-born NBA players, some of who are playing in London, others of whom are not. So here's our 12-man roster of the best foreign-born players in the Association at the moment;

There's a lot to choose from at the guards spots.

Canadian Steve Nash, now of the Los Angeles Lakers, may be 38 years old, but we figure he's got a couple of productive seasons left in him, especially now that he's got a realistic chance at a ring. It will be very interesting to see how he meshes with Kobe this upcoming season in LA.

Frenchman Tony Parker may be 30, and with some mileage on him, but he just put up some of the better numbers of his career last year, averaging 18 points and a career-high eight assists per game. Now, if he could just steer clear of the bar fights...

There will be a small market vs big market match up this year in the playoffs no matter who makes the finals. So this could turn into one of the most exciting finals in awhile, the two teams that make it to the finals this year aren't only fighting for a championship, they're also fighting for which way is the better way to build a team either drafting your star players (Spurs/Thunder) or trying getting them through trade/buying (Heat/Celtics). As everyone knows you can't have one without the other, you have to make trades as well as draft and get free agents to join your team, but there are some options that out weigh the others and I believe both the Spurs and Thunder have figured it out.

Why these teams have succeed

the formula is really simple actually, these two teams drafted very well every year and got three guys to commit to one goal and contend as a team. It is very much a team effort and both R.C. Buford and Sam Presti would tell you that, but every team does well based on the caliber of their star players as well as how much those stars try to win. Both of these teams went after a star player first (although to be fair, Robinson was already there when the Spurs got Tim Duncan). These two guys have always been one of the best players in the league and both are very commited to winning. Next they got the star players to surround these two players who can also take over when their franchise guy isn't doing so well. Though these two teams did it differently, the Spurs had to take two really late guys and turn them into stars because they were still trying to contend for championships. The Thunder were still in rebuilding mode when they got Durant thus got their two guys in the top 5, but it's still the same result. Then both teams put players to compliment their big 3 and continue to build to this day (although, that road is almost over for the Spurs).

Being in a small market might be a blessing in disguise, chances are you won't attract big time free agents unless it's their hometown ot the team has a winning tradition. So they save their money in that sense and will hardly ever go way over the luxury tax, thus giving them flexibility down the road. Which is why the Spurs didn't really have a hard time retooling, they didn't really have any huge deals besides Parker's, Ginobli's and Duncan's (also Richard Jefferson, but they managed to move him to Golden State for Stephan Jackson) and thus was able to add Boris Diaw and Jackson this year. Also they have alot of young guys still on their rookie deals such as Leonard,Green and Splitter. I doubt a team like the Lakers, Celtics or Knicks could ever retool like that so quickly without cutting a massive amount of cap.

Hello all, and welcome to this latest blog from me, as always, please feel free to comment, mock, admire, adore, pick holes in and generally get your teeth into this and let me know what you think. Ok then, lets kick this off....

I have had a plethora of life, career and generally personal defining moments this past year, and I felt it would be nice to mark my return to the site after a long absence by sharing some of those experiences with you, and give you some insight into how things have developed for me on and off the court this year. This blog is therefore in 2 parts; Part 1 is centered around the deeper and more meaningful things to come out of this past year.. a more serious reflection on life. Part 2 will get back to the game of basketball, focusing on the pending conference finals and my thoughts on the upcoming match-ups. I hope you are able to take something away with you from this latest offering, so enjoy.

Over its 60 plus years of existence the NBA has been intertwined with American life and events that have shaped America have left lasting impacts on the NBA. Evens such as the 1970s gas shortages have give us the 2-3-2 format in the NBA finals. But what does the future have in store for the NBA? How will future events such as terrorism, and global warming mean for the NBA? Well, you are about the find out.

This article will look at ever increasing 10 year spans of time starting with the year 2020 and going until the year 2060. How will the next 50 years look, and what changes will it bring?

This is just one persons interpretation of how things will look in 50 years, I am not Michele De Nostradamus or any seer for that matter. My interpretations come from my knowledge of history and patterns in history as well as predictions made by leading scientist and historians.

8) Vlade Divac
Many people forget about Vlade, but he was key in the playoff runs of the Kings in the early part of the decade. Arguably one of the best passing big men in the history of the game, Divac helped get the Kings within a game of the NBA finals in 2003. He was also an NBA all-star in 2001.

9)Marcus Camby DPOTY
One of the most underrated players of the decade. For year Marcus Camby anchored the defense for the defensively hapless Denver Nuggets. He was DPOTY in 2006-07 and lead the NBA in blocks four times.

10) Dikembe Mutombo DPOTY
A long time NBA veteran who has survived nearly two decades of the physical grind of NBA basketball, Mount Mutombo has become one of the more dominating defensive presences in the NBA. He helped the Sixers make the NBA finals in 2001, and played for the Nets in the finals in 2003. Many have forgotten his defensive impact over the years, but in the first three years of the decade he was one of the best.

The best Power Forward of all time… there are many great candidates from many different eras and they way to judge would be so hard, you could go on individual success (stats awards etc.) players like Karl Malone and or you could do it on winning and success of the team they were in, then the top of that list become McHale, Tim Duncan and Dennis Rodman all of whom have been very successful, however I have made my list of the top few PFs on a mixture of both success in stats and success in play offs and regular season. The other problem is distinguishing a PF from the C because of the lack of height many of the larger forwards ended up playing center.

NO.10 Dirk Nowitzki,
Dirk is one of the better shooters of all time, his name is often compared to greats like Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. Dirk over his career he has averages of 22.4 points a game, along with 8.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists a game defensively he averages just less than a steal and one block a game. Dirk shots efficiently with 47 percent from the field and 38% from beyond the arch he is also a very successful line shooter, at 87% from the line (he has his routine in which he hums whilst taking his shot) Dirk has won an MVP, and in the same season(06-07) his Dallas mavericks won 67 games, He has been selected to seven All Star teams, and he has been selected to eight All-NBA teams, with three of them as a first-team member. He is also the first and only player from Europe to win an MVP. His style is more of finesse than brute and strength you seem him do some really good mid range jumpers do open up his inside game, as many bigger men struggle with guarding a player with his permitter abilities.

NO.9 Dave Debusschere
Dave was one of the first super Power forwards nicknames “D” and “BIG D” which stood for defence, he was an amazing player with unreal hustle and determination definitely in his times top handful of defenders. In 1996 he was recognised at being in the top 50 players of all time and is unlucky not to be higher on this list. Everyone who ever came up against would leave bruised, he is one of the most physical players of all time. He was never afraid of trading elbows and really fighting for a rebound or lose ball. He was also known for his Amazing Defensive skills, which helped earn his nicknames, he made the All Defensive 1st team 6 times. In his career he averaged a solid 16.1 points and 11 rebounds a game as well as getting 3 assists and shooting 43.2% from the field. A player like him in more recent times was Dennis Rodman, however Dennis didn’t have nearly the same offensive game as Dave. His style of play almost the opposite of Dirk’s as Dave would power it home more often.

Well before James Naismith invented the game of basketball in 1891, the peoples of Mesoamerica had a very similar game where the point was to get a ball though a hoop. The games origins date back as far as one-thousand years before the common era. The game has gotten many names over the years such as; juego de pelota in Spanish; pitz in classical Mayan; and ullamaliztli in Nahuatl. Each area had a variation of the game with different rules and customs but generally the game was the same. The game, which combined aspects of modern basketball, soccer and modern American football, was popular in both secular and religious life before the Spanish invasion of the area starting in 1520.

The game is played with a rubber ball called an ulama and depending on the region can either be played like soccer were a ball must go into a ground goal or like basketball were the ball must go through a stone “hoop” mounted above the playing court. Like the game itself, the courts vary in size and structure as well; from the very small courts found through-out small Mexican villages to the huge courts found at places such as Chichen-Itza. The size and scale of the game and court had an impact on exactly what type of game was going to be played. Much like in modern sports in areas were equipment is rare, the players had to make do with any substitutes they could find. This appears to be exactly the case with the Mesoamerican ballgame, and is a likely reason as to the variations of the game. In the more rural areas the game is played much lower to the ground and the ball is kicked or struck with the lower body more. In the more urban areas where materials and equipment is readily available the game is played higher up on the body, and decorative protective masks are sometimes worn.

There are many strange connections in history and politics, but maybe none as strange as how an eventual NBA commissioner would play a role in bringing down a president. Before David Stern’s monarchial grasp on the office there was Larry O’Brien. A Massachusetts native of Irish decent born in the birthplace of basketball, Springfield, Massachusetts.

Before he became the commissioner of the NBA, O’Brien had been one of the most successful political strategist in American politics. He had a natural talent for politics and got his very first campaigning job when he was 11 years old in 1928. O’Brien slowly moved through the ranks of the Democratic party until in 1952 a young Massachusetts war hero approached him about leading his campaign for Senator; that young mans name was John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

O’Brien did such a successful job on Kennedy’s election campaign that in 1959, when the Senator was running for president, he asked O’Brien to be in charge of his election campaign. After Kennedy won the 1960 presidential election O’Brien became a special assistant to the president.