After receiving pushback from the federal government for visa issues, Iranian center Hamed Haddadi (or Ehadadi or Hadadi, depending on the source; the league is going with "Haddadi") got permission to join the NBA, and Memphis has signed him. It's not known whether it's a guaranteed deal, based on the Grizzles' press release.

Will Haddadi help? Memphis has a weird, weird frontcourt. Marc Gasol played well but not amazing in Spain last season, and will be a rookie. Darko Milicic is ... Darko Milicic. Hakim Warrick is a livewire who will still be raw when he's a 12-year veteran. Darrell Arthur is only 20 years old, and couldn't play center in Billy Knight's dreams. And then there's that shooting guard masquerading as an occasional power forward Antoine Walker. Oodles of fun.

I don't know what Marc Iavaroni will be thinking in a month. Darko and Warrick looks right, but if I'm a Grizz fan I'm praying Gasol and Arthur develop quickly. Where does Haddadi fit into that? I imagine on "the bench" is the right answer, though we'd all love to be surprised.

Is Zach Randolph suddenly a wanted man? After the Cavs reportedly showed interest in the big man last week, Ronald Tillery of the Commercial Appeal (via Knicks Fix) reports the Grizzlies have been talking about acquiring the pudgy power forward, as well.

Who would Memphis give up? Tillery says that Darko Milicic is available, and considering Darko's contract ($7 million this year, $7.5 million next) expires just in time for the summer of 2010, you have to figure the Knicks would be interested.

Even though Darko won't even make half as much as Randolph ($14.66 million) this year, an even one-for-one trade is actually be possible given how much room Memphis has under the salary cap. Given how frugal the Grizzlies tend to operate, though, you have to imagine they'd insist on New York taking at least one other bad contract -- Marko Jaric ( $6.6 million), perhaps?

Randolph is certainly a solid low-post scoring presence, but he also has an outsized personality that might not be the best influence in a young locker room. (And with Antoine Walker already on the roster, the role of "overpaid and perpetually grumpy veteran" is already filled.)

I could see Randolph falling into line on a veteran squad with an established pecking order where his production could put a contending team over the top (Cleveland, anyone?), but putting him on yet another losing team seems like a recipe for disaster.

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Blazers Edge. Someone has been paying attention to Rudy Fernandez's defense.

2. Interbasket, via BallHype. NBA teams (Memphis?) can now freely court Iranian prospect Hamed Ehadadi.

3. Bullets Forever. An insanely thorough evaulation of Caron Butler's 2007-08.

4. Free Darko. Comparing Usain Bolt to pre-microfracture Amare Stoudemire.

5. Green Bandwagon. Remembering Sherman Douglas.

6. Darren Rovell's SportsBiz. Among the 12 athletes with at least 14 appearances on the cover of Sports Illustrated, half are NBA stars. I'll let you guess who leads the way. (Hint: It's not Sherman Douglas.)

Marc Gasol hasn't been dominant in Beijing, but it's pretty clear the Grizzlies may have gotten themselves a valuable asset in Pau Gasol's little brother. The younger Gasol is bigger, meatier, and shows a very un-Pau-like penchant for diving after loose balls and playing physical basketball, while displaying a very Pau-like touch offensively. So much so that the Memphis Commercial Appeal points out that he's getting praise from all sorts of members of Team USA.

The most interesting may have come from Kobe Bryant, though. In the article, Kobe drops this delicious little insight into the mind of a superstar with the authority to have impact on personnel decisions:

"In hindsight, we probably didn't have to give him up to get Pau," Bryant said. "We should have kept Marc, too."

Okay, Kobes. Didn't realize you had so much experience in negotiating trades. I kid, I kid. Kobe's obviously just trying to complement the guy. But if we were to take a closer look at it, there are two ways you can take the statement from Mamba. It's either A. an admission that the Lakers may not have ripped off the Grizzlies quite as bad as initially thought (a paradigm that's becoming more and more popular with each Grizzlies move), or B. the exact opposite, an even further condemnation of how little the Grizzlies' front office are to be thought of. As in, they probably didn't have to give up Marc to get Pau, since the Grizzlies will let pretty much anything go.

A few teams, including Memphis, had been discussed as potential landing spots for Iranian center Hamed Ehadadi. Political circumstance makes his prospective transfer to the NBA difficult. In fact, according to Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski, politics may have made it impossible.

[T]he league office has sent a letter to its 30 teams instructing that they are forbidden to even discuss a contract with Ehadadi, Yahoo! Sports has learned.

In the letter, which was sent Friday, NBA legal counsel wrote: "It has come to our attention that representatives of Hamed Ehadadi, an Iranian basketball player, may be contacting NBA teams to discuss the possibility of signing Mr. Ehadadi to an NBA player contract. We have been advised that a federal statute prohibits a person or organization in the United States from engaging in business dealings with Iranian nationals."

Wojnarowski goes on to note Ehadadi isn't even that great a prospect; as such, it seems unlikely any team will going hopping through hoops to get government permission to bring him over.

For a while, it looked as if the 2008-09 season could feature both the NBA's first Iranian player and first Israeli. Apparently, it will be neither. (Yotam Halperin has signed with Olympiakos, Lior Eliyahu remains without a European contract but isn't expected to be signed by Houston, his NBA rights-holder.)

The Grizzlies have taken a beating this summer, as Memphis looked like it would sit out a prime opportunity to spend its hard-earned cap space on any of a plethora of neglected restricted free agents. Trading your young-enough (26 years old) star in a salary dump is damning enough; sitting on that cap space breeds danger.

But this week, Memphis offered up $58 million to Josh Smith, a contract which if consummated would have abutted the Griz to the cap level. The plan failed, and Memphis remains well under the cap and only $3 million over the league's minimum salary. There are all of two free agents worth more than the mid-level, both restricted: Andre Iguodala and Ben Gordon. While Smith fit a need at power forward, Memphis hardly needs another boisterous swingman and certainly couldn't take on a small two-guard. There's really no one for the Grizz to pay.

In my discerning book, Memphis saved itself some cred with its doomed Smith bid ... and the team didn't even have to spend a dollar to do it. Smart move, even if the actual acquisition had no shot at happening.

Just like that, the $58 million offer sheet Memphis thrust at Josh Smith has been signed, says Sekou Smith of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Hawks will have until late next Friday (August 15) to decide whether J-Smoove is worth $11.6 million a year, which is the max starting salary Memphis could offer.

It's a no-brainer for the Hawks. In this market, Smith should be looking at $65 million over five years, or thereabouts. If Atlanta's $45 million offer last summer (reportedly re-offered this year) is really the highest the Hawks will go, Memphis just pulled a potential All-Star at a discount.

After the embarrassment of the Josh Childress loss, there should be no question Atlanta needs to make a statement by matching quickly. Hemming and hawing in Atlanta breeds disaster, as we saw with the convoluted Joe Johnson acquisition. I'm not sure even Steve Belkin would fight this deal -- it makes too much sense to match, while J.J. was a question mark -- but internal struggles taking up the entire week couldn't possibly surprise anyone.

If Atlanta matches, they are still worse off because of the loss of Childress ... but could challenge for the 7th or 8th seed due to youth development and a full season with an actual starting point guard. If the Hawks don't match, they'll be among the worst teams in the East. Easy, easy choice.

The first thing that struck me when news of the Grizzly offer sheet extended to restricted free agent Josh Smith was elation -- Smith has long made infinite sense for Memphis, the only team sitting on current year cap space. The second thought, upon looks at the details (five years, $58 million according to reports): is that enough?

It needs to reach two levels of acceptability: the offer must be big enough to get Smith to sign, and it needs to be so high Atlanta won't match. The first hurdle isn't one we typically run into in the NBA offseason. You rarely hear of "negotiations" between an RFA and an outside suitor. The other, though, is a big deal. Great debate on the Lakers' intentions followed Ronny Turiaf's signed offer with the Warriors. The Jazz waited nearly the full seven days allowed for matching to make a decision on C.J. Miles. Of course, this second level ties into the first: Smith doesn't want to return to Atlanta allegedly, so he needs to make sure whatever offer he signs exceeds the Hawk budget (and then some, to be safe).

Does this offer meet the requirement? No, not in a normal world with a normal prospect and a normal franchise. Twenty-nine teams, with the rights to Smith in hand, would match the $58 million offer. It averages out to less than $12 million a year for one of the most versatile power forwards in the game, who happens to be only 22 years old. It's as close to a no-brainer as I can imagine, until Ben Gordon signs a five-year, $15 million offer sheet from the Knicks.

Of course, we aren't dealing with a rational team. There's a shot Smith could sign this offer and sneak away from the Hawks. That's amazing itself ... but not the assurance Smith should require before he moves forward. If this is the starting point for sign-and-trade negotiations, or an opening salvo for further Smith-Memphis talks, good. If this is a real deal offer Smith plans on signing, Atlanta could surprise us by making a sensible decision.

Well, now. And we thought things were going to quiet down here in the NBA stateside with the Olympics. I guess we thought wrong.

The Commercial Appeal is reporting that the Memphis Grizzlies have extended a $58 million offer to Atlanta Hawks stat-stuffing forward Josh Smith. The length of the contract is not available at this time, but when we have it, you'll have it. The consensus is that it's a 5 year deal for $11.6 a year, average. Some think it's a bit low.

The Hawks have seven days to match the offer.

This puts quite an interesting cap on the end of an already wild free agency. There's been a lot of speculation about Smith this offseason, from Philadelphia's courting of him before signing Elton Brand, to reports that he's unwilling to return to the Hawks as long as Mike Woodson is head coach, to why no one had even taken a shot at him in restricted free agency. We're about to find out just how committed Josh Smith is to Atlanta, and how committed Atlanta is to Josh Smith.

The conceptual lineup of Mike Conley Jr., O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay, Josh Smith, and either Marc Gasol or Darko Milicic is enough to send fans of athletic squads into epilepsy. It might not be a playoff squad, but it's entertaining as all get out. With Javaris Crittenton, Kyle Lowry, Hakim Warrick, and Darrell Arthur, if Memphis pulls this off, they're going to have done exactly what they needed to with their rebuilding project.

According to Sekou Smith of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Hawks have a few serious options if trading restricted free agent Josh Smith is something the team's willing to do. Reportedly, a Western "power" and an Eastern "big dog" have sign-and-trade proposals on the table. No further clues, though Hoopsworld has some suggestions of variable intrigue.

As mentioned in Saturday's Ben Gordon discussion, sign-and-trades don't pull as much return as the typical trade. (Marcus Camby trades need not apply.) But with a talent like Smith, the Hawks must get something decent, whether it be picks or a prospect or a decent frontcourt scorer to fill in some gaps and sell some tickets. If the Hawks lose Smith for little after losing Josh Childress for nothing, those 37 wins in 2007-08 will look like a heretical dream, not a repeat chance.

I remained astounded Memphis has not gotten involved here. The only team with cap space, the Grizzlies could renounce Kwame Brown and offer Smith whatever he wanted -- and surely more than what Atlanta would be willing to match. (Something like $53 million for five years probably would not get matched by the Hawks.) Smith's fair value at that price, and the Grizz desperately need frontcourt help. With both Smith and Emeka Okafor still flailing in the wind, that Memphis remains disengaged with this summer's market is almost a detriment to the league as a whole.