Iranian Big Three making their mark in China

BEIJING - There will inevitably come a time when the Iranian trio of Hamed Haddadi, Samad Nikkhah Bahrami and Mahdi Kamrani will hang their kits and ride into the proverbial sunset, but up until that day arrives, all three will continue to stamp their class in any place they go.

That includes the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), where Haddadi, Bahrami and Kamrani have become superstars in their own right. Haddadi, in fact, led his current club, the Sichuan Blue Whales, to their franchise’s first league championship last year, besting the Liaoning Flying Leopards, 4-1, in their titular series.

Haddadi was so imposing last season that he was named the Finals Most Valuable Player, averaging 21.6 points and 19.2 rebounds per game against Liaoning. Haddadi has returned to Sichuan this season as one of the team’s regular imports (as opposed to being their Asian import last year), and he continues to impress, putting up 19.8 points, 14.6 boards and 1.8 blocked shots per contest for the Blue Whales, who are currently sporting a 4-win, 2-loss, record.

Haddadi’s compatriots have also become household names in the CBA. The 1.98m Bahrami is currently playing for third CBA club, the Guangzhou Long Lions. He first played in the 2013-2014 season for the Fujian Sturgeons and returned last season with the Zhejiang Golden Bulls. Bahrami has not been able to reach the kind of success Haddadi has enjoyed, but the former has still been able to play at a very high level. This season, the 33-year-old remains in top form, averaging 18.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.0 steals per game. The Long Lions, however, have yet to notch a win, losing all of their first six outings.

As for the diminutive Mahdi Kamrani, he first played in the CBA in the 2014-2015 season, donning the colors of the Jiangsu Monkey King. He then moved to the Beikong Fly Dragons last year before being signed by the Jilin Northeast Tigers this season. Kamrani, long regarded as one of the top point guards in the continent, has also been able to prove his worth in China. He currently leads the CBA in steals with 3.6 per game while also averaging 19.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.8 three-pointers per contest. With Kamrani orchestrating the plays, Jilin have won 3 of their 6 games so far in the 2016-2017 campaign.

It will certainly be interesting to see if the Iranian Big Three can keep playing at a very high level in the CBA and if one of them ends up pocketing the championship again. Without a doubt, apart from giving their own country a lot of honor in the FIBA Asia circuit, Haddadi, Bahrami and Kamrani continue to be outstanding ambassadors of Iranian basketball in one of the most competitive professional leagues in the world.

FIBA