2013 Draft Prospect: Arsalan Kazemi

[Bruno]

http://fishduck.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Kazemi-vs-arizona-439x292.jpg
Height: 6-8
Weight: 225 lbs
Birthday: 04/22/1990
College: Oregon

DraftExpress (http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Arsalan-Kazemi-5665/)
NBADraft (http://www.nbadraft.net/players/arsalan-kazemi)

[pikkiwoki]

sounds like a good kid, very humble, hardworking


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwItefO5gnA

[DesignatedT]

sa2ny2004 ‏@sa2ny2004 9m
NBA Draft: Oregon forward Arsalan Kazemi works out with #Spurs http://www.projectspurs.com/2013-articles/june/nba-draft-oregon-forward-arsalan-kazemi-works-out-with-spurs.html … via @projectspurs @yowhatupt #gospursgo
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[Marrow]

he definitely is a high possibility to be taken with our 2nd round pick

[ace3g]

Grantland piece:

Arsalan Kazemi: The 2013 NBA Draft's Ready-Made, Overlooked Rebounding Machine
NBA teams are going to wish they had drafted Arsalan Kazemi. Now, since some of you might be muttering "Who?" right now, that might seem hard to believe, which means it’s probably a good time to introduce the player destined to make a number of organizations across the league feel pangs of regret by this time next year.

After receiving a hardship waiver to transfer from Rice University — where the Iranian-born forward was allegedly the target of racial abuse from the school’s athletic director — Kazemi moved from a school languishing at the bottom of Conference USA to Oregon for his final season of eligibility. When he became a Duck, the country finally got a glimpse of the 6-foot-7 rebounding machine who had been hidden away in Texas the previous three seasons. Kazemi went on to lead the country in defensive rebounding percentage (in a BCS conference, no less) while being a catalyst for an Oregon team that made its first Sweet 16 since 2007. Yet despite collecting 45 rebounds in three games on college basketball’s biggest stage, Kazemi still finds himself on the NBA fringes.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/67166/arsalan-kazemi-the-2013-nba-drafts-ready-made-overlooked-rebounding-machine

[ace3g]

Adrian Wojnarowski @WojYahooNBA
(http://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA)There's some rustling in the second-round centered on Oregon forward Arsalan Kazemi. He's a great story, young Iranian prospect.

[Seventyniner]

Grantland piece:

Arsalan Kazemi: The 2013 NBA Draft's Ready-Made, Overlooked Rebounding Machine


NBA teams are going to wish they had drafted Arsalan Kazemi. Now, since some of you might be muttering "Who?" right now, that might seem hard to believe, which means it’s probably a good time to introduce the player destined to make a number of organizations across the league feel pangs of regret by this time next year.

After receiving a hardship waiver to transfer from Rice University — where the Iranian-born forward was allegedly the target of racial abuse from the school’s athletic director — Kazemi moved from a school languishing at the bottom of Conference USA to Oregon for his final season of eligibility. When he became a Duck, the country finally got a glimpse of the 6-foot-7 rebounding machine who had been hidden away in Texas the previous three seasons. Kazemi went on to lead the country in defensive rebounding percentage (in a BCS conference, no less) while being a catalyst for an Oregon team that made its first Sweet 16 since 2007. Yet despite collecting 45 rebounds in three games on college basketball’s biggest stage, Kazemi still finds himself on the NBA fringes.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/67166/arsalan-kazemi-the-2013-nba-drafts-ready-made-overlooked-rebounding-machine

All I can say is Fuck Rick Greenspan.

If, like most people, you haven't heard the story, Greenspan just stepped down as AD at Rice after succeeding Chris Del Conte, who went to TCU. It's still unknown if these racial abuse stories are true, but Greenspan was a disaster in most other aspects of his job too.

A Rice assistant coach was fired last year, leading to half the basketball team transferring, mainly those he had recruited, including Kazemi.

Rice could have had a pretty good team this year centered around Kazemi. Kazemi even could have been a first-round prospect; he was the best player on the team at Rice and would have averaged big minutes and big numbers had he stayed.