Hamed Haddadi....

[Leoben]

I don't think hes a future gortat...he could get some more burn on a team needing a legit center but I think he needs to get his fouls down if he wants to be a good rotation big in the league.

There were similar concerns about Gortat. He was averaging about 5 fouls per 36 min in Orlando, in Phoenix playing 30+ minutes he's having much less problems with foul trouble than he he had in Orlando as a 12-16min backup. There wasn't any transition period, increased problems at the beginning. Haddadi is above 6 fouls per 36 but it's even less playing time. Backup bigs spending so little time on the floor don't have to worry about fouls so much.

[doctorfunk]

Gortat is totally different player; he's athletic mobile PNR big - with a very modern game
IMO Haddadi is throw back to 80s/90s slow center, good rebounder, good size more in mold of Zydrunas Ilgauskas(but without experience and less skilled) - tbh I doubt he ever becomes as good as BigZ because if he had great talent i think it would show more. I think he can be a serviceable player though. I wish him well.

[droponov]

Haddadi is a quite slower than Ilgauskas, unless you mean the very old Ilgauskas.

Yeah, he's an 80s type of player. Hard to fit in today's league. Too often a mismatch than hurts his own team.

[commadoor 64]

His per minute shotblocking numbers have been awesome for his whole career, obviously he barely plays, but for 4 seasons it's been the same. I get a similar vibe about him as I did with Gortat when he was backing Howard up and could only play like 8 mpg. But I've hardly watched him play, my main question now is about how mobile he is. Can he cover pick and rolls decently, or is he just a giant stiff (which he probably is)?

He has terrible foot speed and looks incredibly lumbering and slow against most bigs. In addition, he has never seemed to be in good shape for the speed of the NBA game because he always looks gassed after 2-3 minutes. FWIW, he has a very high basketball IQ, I just don't know if he physically can keep pace with the bigs in the NBA. The Grizz taking Thabeet in 2009 and playing him over Haddadi really seems to have stunted Haddadi's development.

Spot on Jefe.

Also, there has been a huge language barrier problem in that he can't verbally communicate or understand his teammates while on the floor. He still must use a translator at practice which he obviously can't during a game.

He usually goes straight back to Iran to play for his national team at the end of the season and that doesn't help his understanding or translating to the NBA. The reason Memphis hangs onto him is that Hamed (on his national team) is used in the same manner as Marc Gasol in that inside out sorta way.

But, until he can be understood and can understand his teammates.......

I work with several Syrians that have been in America for at least 30yrs and speak English well and they are still hard to understand for those who don't talk to them on a daily basis so I understand the language difficulty 1st hand.

[PersianCeltic]

If he can get more consistent minutes he could really produce offensively. He has been playing behind Marc Gasol so he hasn't got much burn. I thought he would be a good addition to the celtics earlier in the season because of the lack of depth at center. He is a big body and doesn't mind banging in the paint. Not very fast but a smart player.

[old rem]

Haddadi has shown some game over the last 2 yr and while he may never be a good starter, he's got some game,has always been effective per minute.

[sisibilio]

He has terrible foot speed and looks incredibly lumbering and slow against most bigs. In addition, he has never seemed to be in good shape for the speed of the NBA game because he always looks gassed after 2-3 minutes. FWIW, he has a very high basketball IQ, I just don't know if he physically can keep pace with the bigs in the NBA. The Grizz taking Thabeet in 2009 and playing him over Haddadi really seems to have stunted Haddadi's development.

Meh, he was fully developed when he arrived to Memphis, the only thing that was hurt were the hearts and brains of Grizz fans forced to watch Thabeet "play".

Haddadi always had talent, he should be a rotation player based on his offensive game alone in todays league, but he never really got the chance. Look at his PER36 numbers, and his international stats, he could be a 12/10/2 center with starter minutes, a good rotation player. The Heat should really target him when he's a free agent.

He can't be a starter. I agree he has talent and is an intelligent player but as jefe mentioned he isn't phisycally suited for the NBA game, he can be a useful rotation player to use in certain matchups but he is not another Gortat.

[boogie-reke]

A meh backup big.

Not thread worthy.

[doctorfunk]

A meh backup big.

Not thread worthy.

It is a thread worthy, like that last year thread about Asik that went to 30+ pages! I think realgm fancy itself a site to talk about basketball with a bit more knowledgeable than average fans that know the rosters/backups and like to share thoughts about some players unknown to general public like Haddadi. IMHO it is more thread worthy than LBJ-tweet threads, who-do-you-hate-the-most threads or cancer-on-your-team threads.

[Bertrob]

I would love him as a 4th big on the Boston Bench

[nykballa2k4]

His peak might be Jason Collins