Hamed Haddadi (or Hadadi or Ehadadi, depending on what you read), during an interview from October 2007:

Iranian national basketball player, Hamed Haddadi says he has received several letters from NBA teams inviting him to play for them.

“Several NBA (National Basketball Association in USA) teams have sent me letters inviting me to play for them,” said Haddadi in an interview on Saturday.

“The talent of Iranian players has come to be known after our team secured a berth as one of the 12 teams to play in the Olympic Games,” he added.

Haddadi said he would probably start playing for the NBA after the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Iran’s unexpected Olympic berth came after they won the FIBA Asian Championship in 2007. China, the tournament’s perennial champions, already had an automatic berth by virtue of being the host country of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and chose not to send its A team. So now, for the first time since 1948, Iran will be playing basketball at the Olympics.

Haddadi is apparently Iran’s best player. He’s a 23 year old 7′2″ center who averaged 13 and 10 at the qualifying tournament with 31 and 10 on 13/17 shooting against Lebanon in the championship game:

He has as much chance of making the L as Not Him does. Poor guy. I’m sure this is the product of poor translation. He’s probably received letters from clubs to have scouts watch him play, or to try out for a summer league spot (if that), etc.

All this makes me wonder why Iran doesn’t get ex-pats to suit up for the national team. Guys like Ashkan Rajaee. And guys better than him (I can’t find of list of Iranian players in the NCAA or Euro leagues). But surely that’d give Iran a better team than the one they’re sporting, and a better shot at winning a few games in Beijing. And it’s not without precedent to go outside the country’s borders to increase wins - the national team’s head coach, Rajko Toroman, is Serbian.

This, from Chad Ford’s ranking of the NBA’s free agents:

Media reports suggest that Arenas has two max offers to choose from. The Wizards have offered him a six-year, $127 million offer.

The Warriors have offered him five years, $100 million. The Warriors would love to have Arenas back, but they are prohibited by NBA rules from offering him a lucrative sixth year. That should be enough to swing Arenas back to Washington.

That’s pretty wild. It’s been a long time since anyone’s taken a full six year deal, which also means it’s been a long time since anyone signed a deal for nine figures. The last people I can think of are Kobe, who became an unrestricted free agent (like Arenas) in 2004 and signed a new deal with the Lakers worth more than $136.4 million over seven years, and Shaq, who opted out of the last year of his deal worth $30.4 million in 2005 to sign an extension with the Heat worth $100 million over five years. Oh, hang on, and Rashard Lewis inexplicably signed for $126 million over six years with the Magic last year. But that doesn’t count because Orlando was the only team offering a deal within $50 million of that price.

The point is, broadly speaking, the current market is a lot different from the late 90s and early 2000s, when players like Allan Houston ($100 million), Alonzo Mourning ($105 million), Juwon Howard ($105 million), Michael Finley ($102 million), Shawn Kemp ($107 million), and Chris Webber ($127 million) were all getting ridiculous salaries relative to their actual on-court production. And for Gilbert Arenas to join the $100 million club means that at least two clubs are comparing his value to Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant. That’s wild. Even wilder is that he’s representing himself in negotiations, saving millions in agent commissions.

Assuming he signs the Wizards deal, he’ll return to Washington with Antawn Jamison, who resigned with the team for $50 million over four years. Half their cap will be tied up in those two players, and I’m still not sure that they’re making it to the second round of the playoffs. In the current east, too. The Raps have stengthened (hopefully) their frontcourt, the Heat seem poised to try to strengthen their team, as well, the Pistons are intent on getting younger and more athletic, the Celtics will make another run if they can avoid injuries, the Cavs will be more cohesive as a team, the Bucks have Redd back and have added Jefferson, Orlando could win the East if Howard’s sternum heals, Chicago will be a player if Del Negro’s legit and Rose isn’t Jay Williams redux, and the Nets, Hawks and Sixers are young, hyper-athletic and dangerous. My point being that $127 million doesn’t buy you any kind of certainty…unless you’re spending it on Kobe.

No.

I feel optically raped. This has such a surreal pedophilic quality to it. Who gave these guys a record deal? Isiah Thomas?

How to charge your iPod with an onion and some Gatorade. Seriously.

Masterfully directed, edited, and scored. Brilliant.

Somehow, it’s more meaningful - it resonates more - when children speak up about our mistakes. This, a video of the speech given by then-12-year-old Severn Cullis-Suzuki, daughter of environmentalist David Suzuki, to the UN Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, is a good example of that. My suspicion is that the true power of youth is the ability to hold those in charge accountable for their deeds with an innocence that no adult possesses, the ability to force adults to defend their actions to their dependents rather than their peers.

So, BC’s gonna trade TJ before the draft. So go the rumours. But the deals we’re hearing are underwhelming at best, and full-blown mistakes at worst.

Here’re the options that are being discussed:

• Toronto sends TJ Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, the 17th pick and a filler player to Indiana for the right to pay Jermaine O’Neal $44 million over the next two years. The same Jermaine O’Neal who hasn’t played more than 69 games over the last 4 seasons. The same Jermaine O’Neal who is widely considered to have an attitude problem and a legacy of losing. My grade: F.
• Toronto sends TJ Ford and the 17th pick to Phoenix for Boris Diaw. Umm, no. Unless you’ve got D’Antoni coaching, I don’t see Diaw being an offensive force. My grade: F.
• Toronto sends TJ Ford to New York for someone not named Jamal Crawford. My grade: F.

OK, then there are these options that, for some reason, are not being discussed.

• Toronto sends TJ Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, the 17th pick, and cash to Denver for Carmelo Anthony. Denver needs a true point guard. Check. Denver needs a reliable big. Check. Toronto needs someone who can create their own shots and get to the rim. Umm…check. So…yeah, pull the trigger. My grade: A++.
• Toronto sends TJ Ford to the Clippers for Corey Maggette, straight up. Their salaries match, LA needs a point guard and is close to getting Barbosa for Maggette, Toronto needs a reliable slasher - an anti-Fred Jones, if you will - and can sign Maggette to an extension. So what’s holding this up? COME ON! My grade: A+.
• Toronto sends TJ Ford to Chicago for Ben Gordon. This would allow Chicago to draft Beasley and still get a Kirk Hinrich replacement, and give Toronto a slasher/scorer. My grade: A.
• Toronto sends TJ Ford to Dallas for Josh Howard. Dallas needs a young point guard after shipping Devin Harris to New Jersey, and Kidd could use a back-up. They also want to get rid of Howard…although I have no idea why. Too much pot use? Maybe. Too open pot use? Probably. Toronto, as you may have heard, could use a reliable slasher, someone who could create their own shot. My grade: B+.
• Toronto sends TJ Ford to Seattle for Chris Wilcox. Durant needs a point to run with, just like Lebron does, and Toronto could use a bruiser that instills fear in the souls of men. My grade: B.
• Toronto sends TJ Ford to Charlotte for Gerald Wallace. Their contracts are close enough, Charlotte could use a veteran point guard for Larry Brown to decimate, and although Wallace isn’t an offensive force, he can fill up the stat sheet and provide some crazy toughness on defense…with extra crazy. My grade: C+.

OK. That’s it. Marvel at my genius.