Ehadadi becomes first Iranian to sign deal with an NBA team

Hamed Ehadadi was signed Friday to the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies, making him the first Iranian to earn a slot in the world's top basketball league.

The 23-year-old center shined with Iran's national basketball team at this month's Beijing Olympics, averaging 16.5 points and 10 rebounds a game, making him the only player in the tournament to average a "double double."

The 7'2", 254-pound center had his strongest performance against eventual bronze-medal winner Argentina on August 16, scoring a team-high 21 points and game-high 16 rebounds.

At the 2007 FIBA Asian Championship in Japan, he poured in 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against Lebanon to help Iran clinch its first Olympic basketball berth since 1948.

Ehadadi was released recently from his contract with Saba Battery Tehran, and signed with the Grizzlies as a free agent.

A number of NBA teams courted the player, but Memphis was the only club able to master the bureaucratic difficulties involved in providing a U.S. work visa to an Iranian citizen.

Ehadadi began his career in 1999 with his hometown club Shahin Ahvaz.

Over the next eight years he played at three different teams in the Iranian capital, and had a brief stint with Dubai's Al-Wasi.

"We are pleased to sign Hamed," said Grizzlies General Manager Chris Wallace.

"He is a young center who was very productive as a rebounder, shot blocker and scorer at the Rocky Mountain Revue Summer League in Salt Lake City, Utah, the 2008 Olympics and the FIBA Diamond Ball Tournament in Nanjing, China, prior to the Olympics."

"Our coaching staff is eager to begin working with Hamed," Wallace said.

The big man made headlines off the court earlier this month when he was photographed embracing Russian national team coach David Blatt after Iran's loss to Russia at the Beijing Olympics.

Boston-born Blatt has played at and coached several Israeli teams since the 1980s.