Without Hamed Haddadi It Will Be Very Tough: Arsalan Kazemi
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran 2.01m small forward Arsalan Kazemi says if Hamed Haddadi decides to retire from the national team it will be very tough without him.
Kazemi has played with Haddadi at two FIBA Basketball World Cups, the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2016 and two FIBA Asia Cups.
"We have great players, but obviously Haddadi is on a different level and everyone knows that. And it will be very tough without him if he decides to retire from the national team," Kazemi told fiba.basketball.com.
"The young guys have a lot of talent but they need more experience especially Behnam Yakhchali and Sajjad Mashayekhi. They are both 23 years old - very young and talented and they have a lot of years to play and they will be the future of the Iranian basketball," he said.
The Iranian team also included 21-year-old Navid Rezaeifar, who played three minutes against Qatar in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers and picked up one steal. He also picked up a big supporter in Kazemi.
"I like the kid. He is young and he can score the basketball as good as anyone on the team," Kazemi said of Rezaeifar, who played on the world stage already at the FIBA U-19 Basketball World Cup 2015. "Sometimes we mess with him and tell ask you 'Is there something wrong with your pass button.' He has a bright future."
