Whither Jaber Rouzbahani?

I posted a few times in June on my thoughts on the 2004 NBA draft, and one of the interesting items I picked up was that two Iranian teenagers had declared for the draft -- Jaber Rouzbahani and Hamid Haddadi. Both withdrew from the draft, and both have really not been heard from since.

According to the International Hoops Network (a message board) and the next link, Rouzbahani played for an Oakland semi-pro team in some shoe company tournaments, had a "tryout" with the Phoenix Suns and played in the Asian games and fared rather well. Still, there has been no mainstream sports media coverage, which means that right now he's just another big guy with an interesting story and a dream.

Rouzbahani gets (much) more coverage in cyberspace than Haddadi (actually, if you Google Haddadi, one of my earlier posts comes up #19). That's not to say that they're not going to be good players, because both are still very young. From the reports that I read, both need to develop physically, become more flexible, work on their overall hoops skills. Depending on their work ethic and their athletic ability, they could have a chance.

Of course, there are tons of big guys out there who might be better suited to setting up transportation schedules, teaching batik, running a hedge fund for the Sultan of Brunei, acting on television (the guy who played "Lurch" on The Addams Family apparently hooped for Stetson at one point) or writing feature pieces on creative uses for tofu than playing basketball at the highest level. After all, if you don't have the talent, you won't make it to the NBA. Many people would have told 5'5" Nuggets guard Earl Boykins that he wouldn't have had a chance to earn a DI scholarship let alone a spot in the best hoops league in the world, but he made it. Point being, if your tall, you're no more likely to make it to the NBA than a short person is to be a Hall of Fame jockey getting the best rides at Churchill Downs, Pimilico, Belmont and Saratoga. You have to have the talent. Earl Boykins definitely has the talent. Each year there are tons of guys 7 feet or taller mentioned on the various websites who are interested in the NBA draft. Each year, most of those guys don't get drafted.

So, if you know anything more about the two tall Iranians who could help ease the tensions between Iran and the U.S. because of their basketball-playing ability, please post a comment. If you're one of the more enterprising readers out there, keep Googling and perhaps go to the 10th and 11th pages and beyond of the returns on Jaber Rouzbahani and try to find out where he's playing this winter.

Rouzbahani and Haddadi were a good story in the spring. They had their 15 minutes of fame.

The question is, will they have anything more than that?