2008 IBN Award Winners Announced!

[stuart]

The 2008 IBN Award Winners are announced, and I have to say I feel really good about the selections this year.

The biggest surprise is Hamed Haddadi coming out of almost nowhere to overtake Yao Ming, in a landslide vicotry as 2008 Asian/Middle East Player of the Year. Breaking his stranglehold on the award.

Another surprise is Kobe Bryant winning Interbasket player of the year and the Redeem Team winning team of the year. For obvious reasons our forum leans international, and despite all that, it's a well-deserved award for both winners.

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 without an individual award this year (though Nowitzki, Yao and Manu are represented in the All-World Team)

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).

• 2008 Interbasket Player of the Year: Kobe Bryant, USA (Runner up: Rudy Fernandez)
• 2008 Basketball Team of the Year: USA Olympic Team (Runner up: Boston Celtics)
• 2008 International Player of the Year (non-USA): Pau Gasol, Spain
• 2008 Under-22 Rising Star: Ricky Rubio, Spain (Tied, Runner ups: Nicolas Batum, Kevin Durant, OJ Mayo, Derrick Rose)
• 2008 African Player of the Year: Carlos Morais, Angola (Runner up: Luc Mbah a Moute)
• 2008 Asian/Middle East Player of the Year: Hamed Haddadi, Iran (Runner up: Yao Ming)
• 2008 Euroleague Player of the Year: Ramūnas Šiškauskas, Lithuania (Runner up: Nikola Pekovic)
• 2008 European Player of the Year: Pau Gasol, Spain (Runner up: Rudy Fernandez)
• 2008 Latin American Player of the Year: Luis Scola, Argentina (Runner up: Manu Ginobili)
• 2008 North American Player of the Year: Kobe Bryant, USA (Runner up: LeBron James)
• Oceanic Player of the Year: Patrick Mills, Australia (Runner up: Andrew Bogut)

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)

Past Winners:

2007 IBN Award Winners:
Player of the Year: Andrei Kirilenko
NBA Player of the Year: LeBron James
Euroleague Player of the Year: Ramunas Siskauskas
International (Non-US) Player of the Year: Dirk Nowitzki
Under-22 Rising Star: Nikola Pekovic
African Player of the Year: Luol Deng
Asian Player of the Year: Yao Ming
European Player of the Year: Ramunas Siskauskas
Latin American Player of the Year: Luis Scola
North American Player of the Year: Lebron James
Oceanic/Australian Player of the Year: Sam McKinnon
Team of the Year: Russian National Team

2006 IBN Award Winners:
Player of the Year: Pau Gasol
International Player of the Year: Dirk Nowitzki
NBA Player of the Year: Steve Nash
Team of the Year: Spanish National Team
African Player of the Year: Joaquin Gomes
Asia/Middle East/Oceania Player of the Year: Yao Ming
Americas (Non-US) Player of the Year: Steve Nash
European Player of the Year: Dirk Nowitzki
Under-22 Rising Star: Rudy Fernandez

[Khalid80]

The biggest surprise is Hamed Haddadi coming out of almost nowhere to overtake Yao Ming, in a landslide vicotry as 2008 Asian/Middle East Player of the Year. Breaking his stranglehold on the award.

I voted for Haddadi and I'm glad that he was chosen the IBN 2008 Asian/Middle East Player of the Year . He truly deserves it imo.
If it wasn't for Haddadis' outstanding performance in the 2007 Asian Final against Lebanon, Iran wouldn't have made it to the Olympics. And during the Olympics Haddadi proved himself amongst the big men by becoming the leading rebounder and shot blocker of the tournament.
I also believe that Haddadis' selection by the Grizzlies helped him gain more popularity. Another note is that many people are pleasantly surprised to see an Asian player in the NBA from a country not called China.