At the end of last week the Grizzlies signed 23 year old Hamed Haddadi, a 7 foot 2, 254 pound center from Iran. Wow, lets take all that in.
This signing was a surprise in many ways. Note only have I never seen "Iran" in the headlines without being near "war", "nuclear", or "Bush", but I didn't know Iranians play basketball. Apparently a few of them do very well, after reading up on Hamed and his Iranian teammates, who recently competed in the Olympics for the first time in the last 50 years in basketball.
Hamed averaged a double double, being the only player in all of Olympic basketball to do so. Apparently he was equally impressive on the defensive end. In fact, he led all Olympians in rebounds and shots blocked, despite playing a few less games than the teams in the medal rounds. Wow. You can read about him here on Grizzlies.com.
Interesting that he played so well in the Olympics, and also in the Rocky Mountain Review (an NBA summer league for draft picks, young players), the 2007 FIBA World Championships, and even in the Iranian Super League he plays in currently . . . yet he wasn't drafted at all. I know that he entered the draft in 2004 and wasn't drafted, but I assume he could have been drafted in any later draft, unless he just did not enter the draft at all.
Long term, he is a projected and has great potential to be a solid defender, rebounder, and prescence in the paint. In the short term, he has size and his most immediate skill appears to be rebounding, which we all know is a huge problem for last year's Grizz.
Sounds like this was a signing with nothing but upside. We don't know the details, but certainly the contract was not expensive. Even if we get a bench supporter then its likely worth the deal. If Hamed develops into a solid NBA center that starts or plays significant minutes, then of course this was a great move. We needed interior size, defense, and rebounding, and those three are Hamed's specialty. Not much else to add until we see him on the court.
I certainly wish we had some big American players down low, however. Marc Gasol (Spain), Darko Milicic (Croatia), and Haddadi (Iran) obviously provide a European flavor. But I think all Grizz fans will agree on this: if these guys win, nobody really cares where they're from.
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