Interbasket is happy to announced our 2008 IBN Award Winners.  I feel this year’s winners are the most diverse and on-point in the three-year history of the awards.

With both well-known and lesser known players being nominated this year, our third annual Interbasket award winners  mirrored many of the mainstream awards handed out by their respective domestic leagues and international tournaments.  Some of those awards include  the Euroscar award, NBA MVP, Euroleague MVP, All-NBA teams, Olympics Medals, regional championships, and other accomplishments.

Haddadi Larger than Life in 2008
The biggest surprise, both in 2008 and in our voting, is the 7-3 center Hamed Haddadi.   Haddadi wasn’t well-known coming into the second half of 2008, then ended up leading the Beijing Olympic field in both rebounds and blocks.  He then was signed by the Memphis Grizzlies, making him the first Iranian player in the NBA.

Only the most diehard international basketball fan and Middle East hoopers knew of Haddadi before the Olympics, but everyone knew of him once August 2008 came to a close.  So Haddadi won Interbasket’s 2008 Asian/Middle East Player of the Year, breaking Yao’s stranglehold on the award the last two years. And that’s saying a lot of Haddadi’s year as Yao donated time and money to the Sichuan earthquake survivorss, had another successful all-star season in the NBA, and led team China to a respectable performance in the 2008 Olympics as hosts.

Even with Haddadi’s groundbreaking year, our community still honored Yao as second-team All-World, while Hamed was named third-team – most-likely recognizing that despite the headlines, Yao was still the more advanced player.

Outside of Hamed Haddadi’s upset, some other notable first time winners of an IBN award are Patrick Mills (Oceania), Carlos Morais (Africa), and Ricky Rubio (under-22).  Check out this year’s awards to see what you think:

• 2008 Interbasket Player of the Year: Kobe Bryant, USA
• 2008 Basketball Team of the Year: USA Olympic Team
• 2008 International Player of the Year (non-USA): Pau Gasol, Spain
• 2008 Under-22 Rising Star: Ricky Rubio, Spain
• 2008 African Player of the Year: Carlos Morais, Angola
• 2008 Asian/Middle East Player of the Year: Hamed Haddadi, Iran
• 2008 Euroleague Player of the Year: Ramūnas Šiškauskas, Lithuania
• 2008 European Player of the Year: Pau Gasol, Spain
• 2008 Latin American Player of the Year: Luis Scola, Argentina
• 2008 North American Player of the Year: Kobe Bryant, USA
• Oceanic Player of the Year: Patrick Mills, Australia

• 2008 All-World First Team:
• G: Kobe Bryant, USA (60)
• G: Chris Paul, USA (55)
• C: Dwight Howard, USA (57)
• F: LeBron James, USA (52)
• F: Pau Gasol, ESP (43)

• 2008 All-World Second Team:
• G: Manu Ginóbili, ARG (21)
• G: José Calderón, ESP (15)
• C: Yao Ming, CHN (30)
• F: Kevin Garnett, USA (31)
• F: Dirk Nowitzki, GER (20)

• 2008 All-World Third Team:
• G: Rudy Fernandez, ESP (13)
• G: Tony Parker, FRA (tie, 9)
• G: Dwyane Wade, USA (tie, 9)
• C: Hamed Hadaddi, IRA (22)
• F: Ramūnas Šiškauskas, LIT (12)
• F: Paul Pierce, USA (20)

Kobe, USA: Redeemed
Another surprise was Kobe Bryant winning Interbasket player of the year and the USA National Team winning team of the year.  For obvious reasons, Interbasket’s forum leans international, and despite all that, it’s a well-deserved award for both.   Kobe and Team USA have had tough years in terms of reputation, but 2008 proved to be their year as both redeeemed themselves; Kobe Bryant with a NBA MVP, NBA finals appearance, and gold medal while Team USA rampaged the competition on their way to a gold medal. Team USA played one of the best international games in recent memory in the Olympic finals vs. Spain.

Ramūnas Šiškauskas, Pau Gasol, and Luis Scola took home more virtual IBN hardware, whereas international mainstays Steve Nash, Yao Ming, Manu Ginobili, and Dirk Nowitzki walked away empty-handed without an individual award this year (though Nowitzki, Yao and Manu are represented in the All-World Team).

Since the Interbasket awards aren’t limited by one league or tournament, we use one full calendar year to determine the most-deserving recipient.  When we determine the player of the years, it includes all games, tournaments, playoffs, awards, and performances starting January 01, 2008 to December 31, 2008.   So though a player may participate in the 2007-08 season, only the season that falls in the 2008 calendar year should count.  It makes voting a little harder to determine, but is the best way to keep everything fair, and the 2008 awards is truly 2008 accomplishments.

Links and Resources: 2008 IBN Award Winners Announced (Interbasket), The 2008 IBN All-World Team announced… (Interbasket), Pau Gasol wins 2008 Euroscar Award (Interbasket),  Hamed Haddadi signs with Memphis Grizzles (Interbasket), Hamed Ehadadi, the next big thing (Interbasket), Patrick Mills Profile: Olympic Breakouts (Interbasket), Patrick Mills News (Interbasket), Ricky Rubio Profile | 2008 Olympic Breakouts (Interbasket)