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.

Related posts:
All-NBA teams
My apologies, Mr. Ehadadi.
Iran vs Russia, Men’s Basketball – Live blogging the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China
My selections for the All-NBA Teams
CIS Championships – Acadia downs Carleton