The Portland Trail Blazers surprised the NBA world by exchanging with the Mephis Grizzlies and then selecting the Chinese Center Hansen Yang with selection No. 16 in the NBA Draft of 2025.
As our friends at Blazer’s Edge pointed out, he tried that this was an choice that was a bit out of the board was The bell Make Yang mocked in selection No. 40, while ESPN projected it as the 36th selection, so being selected in the top 20 was definitely a surprise.
But once there was another seven -foot foot abroad that was projected (and finally it was) in the second round before becoming one of the best players in the history of the NBA, and nothing less than the main office he selected said that the first MVP of the NBA told the NBA insider of the NBA Jake Fischer that they see some Nikola Jokic in Yang:
That is an incredible nighttime compensation of Draft in which he is completely deranged, very little reluctant, and follows the rule that each prospect must be compared with a star so that fans understand their game.
And look, I won the statement of having seen a lot of Double Star Eagles from Qingdao in the CBA last season, but if you look at Yang’s most outstanding aspects … well, the composition is still crazy, but by Jokic!
But still, at least you can see the ability that could take someone at the top of the Yang game to make the comparison when you see their best moves:
And even Jokic never won the rookie of the year twice:
Can Yang turn it into a triple in the NBA? Our own expert in the NBA draft, Ricky O’Donnell, which has the bone projecting the NBA draft for more than a decade, is less safe. He liked the choice much less than said anonymous nugget employee, giving the selection a D in their live draft grades:
I liked Hansen as a possible second round for its size and step, but this is a shocking selection. Blazers already have another great center in Donovan Clingan, which play among the top 10 last year, and I don’t think they can play together. This is simply confusing for me, but at least Portland did well to change and collect additional assets.
We will see if Ricky or this Nugget employee without a name in the end is more right, but all I know is: Fischer’s tweet has a song to be iconic in any way, and if Yang details, I am the turbhed of the person for him in my curriculum.
Joe Cronin, Mike Schmitz and the Blazers were brave by taking Yang so high, but do you know what is brave? Comparing it to Nikola Jokic before playing a single NBA game when you work for the team for which Jokic plays. That is what the true Takes are made.
