This time last year, the Los Angeles Lakers' star turn shared his belief that Europeans "develop faster than American players," signalling a new era of respect for a group of players long looked at with suspicion in NBA circles. Two-time Most Valuable Player (MVP) Steve Nash recently told Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles on the Knuckleheads podcast how acute Dirk Nowitzki's understanding of needing to go the extra mile to rebuff popular perceptions of Europeans and their apparent softness was. When Nash and Nowitzki were teammates for six years with the Dallas Mavericks, they would get up early and go to the gym in the apartment block they both lived in, and then go there again in the evening after practice, Nash confessed to Richardson and Miles.