Source: nba.com (News & Features Page)
This week's NBA's Mr. Fifteen is Memphis Grizzlies center Hamed Haddadi, the first player from Iran to play in the NBA. The 7-foot-2, 24-year-old has played in just 12 games this season, totalling eight points in 48 total minutes behind starter Marc Gasol and Memphis's first-round pick, Hasheem Thabeet. It's not what Haddadi had hoped to do this season, after helping put Iran basketball on the map in international competition the past few years. His 31-point effort in the title game of the 2007 FIBA Asia Championships led Iran to victory over Lebanon and qualified Iran for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the first time in 60 years Iran played in the Games (Iran didn't field teams from 1952 to 1988 and didn't qualify in four tries from 1992 to 2004).
Last summer, Haddadi again starred for Iran, leading his country to victory in the Asia Championships, a tournament in which Haddadi was named Most Valuable Player after Iran defeated a Yao Ming-less China in the title game. That victory qualified Iran for this year's World Championships in Turkey, and a first-round draw with the U.S. men's team. He has turned down good offers to play overseas to continue his dream of being in the NBA.
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Me: How do you stay prepared when you're not sure you're going to play?
Hamed Haddadi: It happens to me all the time, they don't play me, but I'm ready for play. It's hard. It's hard, because you don't know if you'll play for 10 games in a row. They put you in the game and your conditioning is not good, and you can't play. But sometimes that happens. I must be ready. I must be ready for the game, playing. If they give me some time, I use it for good, not bad. If they should give me a chance, very good. I try my best. I try my best to help the team in practice or in games. I try.
Me: Do you look at practice as your games?
HH: Yeah. The problem is we don't have the chance in practice, too. In practice, if they give me time, I try my best. I'm going to play in practice. I'm going to show myself, you know? It's OK. I'm happy, I'm very happy we win, we win these games. My teammates play awesome. Awesome. I'm very happy with it. I'm not worried about it, I don't play. I want to play. But now we win, we win these games. It's normal I don't play.
Me: What do you learn playing against Marc Gasol in practice?
HH: Before the game, in the warmup, we play one-on-one with Marc. He is smart. He's really, really smart. He can shoot, his hook shot is very good, his discipline is very good. His foot (speed), the leg is so fast. It's hard to stop him. It's hard to stop him. He's played better than last year, I think. We shot together, and last year was not good enough. His play is up now this season. Play very good now. Last year he can't block shot. This season, blocks two or three a game. One night he has six blocked shots. Awesome.
Me: Did you show him anything about the art of shot blocking?
HH: No. He learns himself, you know? He's smart. Now he can jump. He can play basketball. He played professionally in Spain, and Olympic Games, and went in the Europe league, EuroChampionship. Now he's NBA.
Me: What was the experience like for you when Iran won the Asia championship?
HH: My teammates, we have good team. My teammates, we play like six years together. We know how to share the pass, share the basketball. If you don't pass the basketball, you find the open man. We don't play selfish. I really appreciate my teammates back home in Iran. We have everything. We have point guard. We have one shooter, we have everything good, and the five is me. With our play, with our team, it was very good for us.
Me: For you personally, what did that give you in terms of confidence?
HH: I don't understand this word ... what is confidence?
Me: Did you feel after that, that you could play against anybody?
HH: Oh, yeah. Before we play, like 2007, we play most of the teams, like Serbia, like Argentina. We play Olympic Games (Iran lost all five of its games in Beijing), all the big teams. The team in Asia Games, Asia teams is not good enough. But you have China. China's big, too. You have joining up, you have some international players, different countries. Lebanon and Qatar. But I'm very happy for the next summer, we play big, big teams. U.S., same group. I think this is chance for me.
Me: What has that team done for basketball in Iran?
HH: We touch everything. Five years ago, we don't have chance to go to Asia Games. We lost all games in Asia. But now we're going to World Championships. We go to Olympic Games. We've got two championships in a row. This is our goal. Now we want to play good. We want to play good in World Championships. We don't think we'll win. We try to win. We try to win. I think we'll have a couple of wins, one or two. I promise that ...
Me: But soccer's still bigger?
HH: Soccer's bigger. You don't win enough, and the people back home is not happy with soccer. But they're happy for basketball and volleyball. We make them very happy, you know? Very happy, our people back home.
Me: Are you going to be like Yao was for China, in terms of getting even more people interested in the sport?
HH: China, first is basketball, I think. The paper, the TV, I think they do not look for us, for basketball players. Just soccer. Because the people are thinking about soccer. Don't pay attention for basketball. But now, is better. Maybe a couple, three years, I'll be same as Yao. If I play in NBA. If I don't play, nobody sees.
Me: So it's important that you play?
HH: Now they leave a message on my fan page -- why you don't play? Why ask your coach why you don't play? I said, it's OK, we win, we win this game now. It's OK. I'm not happy, but I'm happy we win this game. I must play to be the same as Yao.
Me: Do you think you'll stay here through your contract (Haddadi is signed with Memphis through 2011) or will you go back to Europe if you can't play here?
HH: If my contract is finished and I find a contract, I say. It's my dream, in the NBA. If not, I go. My agent, he talks to all teams. I don't know. I have one more year on contract. It's long, it's long. NBA is long season. We have 40 games left, maybe we go playoff. I hope, I wish for playoffs. And we have one more year. I have chance to play maybe next season.
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