PARIS (George Eddy's International Show) - In past weeks, I've written about some international players who have put a stamp on this NBA regular season.

Guys like Serge Ibaka, Marc Gasol, Tony Parker, Mirza Teletovic, Luol Deng and Joakim Noah. They have all been impressive in different ways and Noah,by the way is playing like an MVP right now with two triple-doubles in the last week and almost a quadruple-double in Chicago's brilliant win over Miami yesterday (20 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 blocks).

Despite the new injury to Derrick Rose and the trade of his soul-mate Deng to Cleveland, Joakim has pressed on regardless to become the heroic face of the franchise and absolute altruistic leader on the court.

He's the best passing center in the league along with Josh McRoberts and the best help and recover center in the NBA covering incredible terrain to plug holes in Tom Thibodeau's defense. He's the ideal teammate in that he sets great picks, hardly ever looks to shoot, gets extra possessions on the offensive glass and is always playing at over 100 percent intensity which was a rare Michael Jordan trait back when HE was the face of the Bulls franchise!

Noah should get some MVP consideration since most of what he does to help his team win doesn't show up on the stat sheet and I feel he should at least be a lock to receive the Defensive Player of the Year Award.

As good as Noah and these other players have been, the most incredible international story of the season is Goran 'the dragster' Dragic who deserves to be voted Most Improved Player.

Last summer, he was the undisputable leader of the Slovenian national team which played very well at home until Goran ran into the decisive buzzsaw defense of Nicolas Batum in the Quarter-Finals. He and his brother Zoran were great at EuroBasket 2013 and Zoran was elected Euroleague MVP of the week last week, for the first time, after scoring 24 points for Malaga.

Goran, on the other hand, has put the Phoenix Suns franchise squarely on his back this season and the improvement is mind-boggling both for Goran and for Phoenix.

The Suns were pretty pitiful also-rans last season(25 wins and 57 losses) whereas this season they are in the thick of the fight for a playoff spot in the very strong Western Conference.

Their coach, Jeff Hornacek, is a serious candidate for Coach of the Year after the big turnaround. He's got the Suns back to playing uptempo run and gun but the difference is they can also play some athletic defense when they need to.

Hornacek is very calm on the bench just like he was as a player alongside John Stockton in Utah. He uses some of Jerry Sloan's old systems on offense but generally he lets his players play their game which has completely liberated Goran, a player who had a tendency to doubt himself earlier in his career.

He's upped his scoring from 14.7 to 20.5 points a game and deserved a spot on the All-Star team a few weeks ago. Most importantly, he's improved his shooting percentages drastically from 44% to 51% globally and from 32% to 42% from three-point range getting close to Steve Nash's stats in his heyday with Phoenix. As a young buck he admits that similar to Tony Parker, he was always looking to drive, because of his great legs and quickness but defenders were backing up and letting him shoot.

Hornacek was a fabulous shooter and he's convinced Dragic to take the open outside shots which limits fatigue, hard fouls and keeps Goran's legs fresh for the money time decision-making.

Most importantly, Dragic admits that now he's no longer trying to be the new Steve Nash because just being Goran Dragic is enough to help Phoenix shine!

Ironically, one of the other MIP candidates is Goran's high-flying teammate Gerald Green who is proving, under Hornacek's supervision, that he is not just a dunker but an all-around scorer having, by far, his best season.

A few days ago Green established a new career high with 41 points in a giant victory over Oklahoma City, one of the best three teams in the NBA!

The Suns are once again a fun team to watch and the immense improvement of Goran Dragic is a pleasure to see because, over the years, I've always found him to be a humble and highly-talented player. A star is born!

George Eddy

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