Basketball - Iran national team to play in NBA Summer League in Utah!

[Babak]

Wow, unbelievable. First, this is an incredible preparation for the Beijing Olympics. They'll be facing D-league teams, as well as NBA summer league teams. Thats not quite NBA team competition, but many of the players in the summer league are actual NBA players and rookies who are preparing for the upcoming season.

More than that, I'm surprised that the State Department actually approved this trip. I thought that was the biggest hurdle to Iran's soccer national team coming and playing friendlies here, but apparently the U.S. has a different Iran policy in regards to sports.

http://www.nba.com/news/fiba_080702.html

[Farhad-7]

wow good for iran basketball...

they've had a 3 game series against Aussies too just a few weeks ago

[tashakor]

I hope we surprise a lot of folks at the Olympics

[persianbruin]

This is great!! Our players will be under the microscope of nba scouts for sure. I am getting a feeling that we will have some players in the the next years draft!!

[Babak]

You can be sure there will be a lot of eyes carefully watching Hamed Haddadi's every step there.

As shady as I think he is, David Stern is one hell of a commissioner. He truly knows how to market his sport like no one else. How else can you explain nearly 1 billion people tuning in to watch a Houston Rockets vs. Milwaukee Bucks game last year? (Yao vs. Yi)

[babak_australia]

Hadadi is the person everyone is watching but unless he gains fitness no one will actually take him. he gets very tired easily.

in my opinion it is all about Nikkah. he is an amazing player who can hit the shots from anywhere. i went to the Iran game when they played in Melbourne and he hit 24 points against Australia. which is damn good

[mkbf2]

WWOWOW great news. thanks!

[futbol>>>IRAN]

Hadadi is the person everyone is watching but unless he gains fitness no one will actually take him. he gets very tired easily.
in my opinion it is all about Nikkah. he is an amazing player who can hit the shots from anywhere. i went to the Iran game when they played in Melbourne and he hit 24 points against Australia. which is damn good

Nikhah

[Nokhodi]

Amazing. Also guys the basketball federation in Iran has a really good president and set of advisors. Most speak English, are ex-basketball players and understand the need for preparation in a modern game. They obviously also have good connections.

Good luck to the boys. Even if they lose every game in the Olympics, I won't be sad because they are taking all the right steps.

[EKBATAN]

awesome news!

yea man unlike our stupid footballl...our other sports are ran by people who actually played and know whats going on.

[b_tonymontana]

I hope we surprise a lot of folks at the Olympics

Come on man be realistic. We have a far way to go in order to be competitive with other teams. I hope we will not lose by 30 and 40 points margin because it will be a pay in the ass.

hala felan beran oonja sooti nadan vali khoda oonroozo nayare bioftim ba USA va koli mikhandim . ay dunk bezanan roomoon

[tashakor]

Come on man be realistic. We have a far way to go in order to be competitive with other teams. I hope we will not lose by 30 and 40 points margin because it will be a pay in the ass.
hala felan beran oonja sooti nadan vali khoda oonroozo nayare bioftim ba USA va koli mikhandim . ay dunk bezanan roomoon

have u been watching Iran's basketball team ???? we beat China....China sometimes is considered top 5 in the world....we became 1st in Asia...and by "surprise" I mean make the 2nd round obv. our guys will not dunk over lebron James am just saying if we make the 2nd round or only lose to a team like USA by 10-15 points thats considered a surprise

[benreyhani15]

^^ that was nothing comapared to chinas A team, not to be negative but we wont make it to the next round this year at olympics. It would be great if the team could keep the games close and atleast win a couple, just face it this team right now has no chance in competing with the best in the world.

great preperation, we need preperation like these for the olympics

[Behzad12]

wow!!! great news for iran basketball. hats off to the federation for doing an amazing job in the past year in making iran basketball professional.

with this said, i (like others) dont think were near the competition level of the NBA or even the D-league in some cases. theres still a ton of work needed to be done in getting the players to be playing at a higher level (NBA level im talking about).

great news but i dont see any iranians in the NBA for 2-3 years.

[EKBATAN]

Come on man be realistic. We have a far way to go in order to be competitive with other teams. I hope we will not lose by 30 and 40 points margin because it will be a pay in the ass.
hala felan beran oonja sooti nadan vali khoda oonroozo nayare bioftim ba USA va koli mikhandim . ay dunk bezanan roomoon

we're not that bad man, i used to think that too


so is that what basketball is all about? dunks?