February 07-2014
. . . leaving China
Basketball star Hamed Haddadi will soon leave China after one season there and has signed to play with the Mahram basketball team of Tehran in the upcoming season.
Haddadi played five years in the United Stets but saw little playing time. He played more than four seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies. Last year, he was traded to the Toronto Raptors but within days was traded to the Phoenix Suns. In 17 games there, he saw far more playing time than he had in Memphis and appeared to have finally found his role. But Phoenix did not re-sign him at the end of the season.
He then signed on with the Sichuan Blue Whales of the Chinese Basketball Association and began playing there in September. He had a one-year contract worth $1.3 million.
He is the starting center and thus sees lots of playing time. The other starters are two Americans and two Chinese.
Presumably, Haddadi will finish out the season in China. There are only six more games to go and the Blue Whales won’t figure in the post-season games as they are now ranked 13th of the league’s 18 teams with a 12-16 record.
The Tehran team is owned by the Mahram Food Company. It has been very successful, placing first in the 10-team league for five straight years until slipping to second place last season.
