NBA: Kobe, Shaq together again on NBA All-Decade Team

It doesn't seem that long ago that many were stocking up on survival items, scared the world was going to be forever changed at midnight on Jan. 1, 2000.

The Y2K bug came and went without much consequence — 10 years ago.

Now there are less than two weeks left in the decade that gave us 9/11, the Salt Lake City Olympics, a couple of lengthy wars, our first black President, economic booms followed by financial woes not seen in decades, and Lady Gaga.

There has been some good NBA basketball played in the aughts, the zeros, the ohs — or whatever we end up calling this decade — too.

Perhaps the overriding theme in basketball the past 10 years has been the rise of the sport internationally. Professional leagues dot the globe, but the very best players still want to make it in the United States. As such, foreign born players are making more of an impact in the NBA than ever before.

In fact, three No. 1 overall picks this decade hail from outside the U.S. — China's Yao Ming (2002), Australia's Andrew Bogut (2005) and Italy's Andrea Bargnani (2006).

What's more, four of the 10 players on my All-Decade Team weren't born or raised in the continental United States — although Tim Duncan is an American citizen being from the U.S. Virgin Islands.

For what it's worth, here are my All-Decade selections and why:

FIRST TEAM

F — Tim Duncan

Duncan was a star before the decade even began, having led the San Antonio Spurs to the 1999 NBA title. But the 6-11 forward, who may be the most fundamentally sound player in the league, helped San Antonio repeat the feat three more times — in 2003, 2005 and 2007. He's been the NBA Finals MVP three times and was twice the league's MVP, in both 2002 and 2003. Duncan is a scorer, to be sure, but he can also defend and has been voted to the NBA's first or second All-Defensive Team every single year this decade.

F — Kevin Garnett