Trail Blazers’ Shocking Draft Pick: The Next Jokic or Huge Mistake? | Inside Portland’s Bold Rebuild

Trail Blazers’ Shocking Draft Pick: The Next Jokic or Huge Mistake? | Inside Portland’s Bold Rebuild

he said it’s an unconventional pick and like it might be a controversial pick but at the end of the day you know the Blazers from people I’ve talked to since then have been doing their work on this kid for 2 years was one of their international scouts first noticed him at the FIA under19 World Championships in Hungary two years ago and brought him to everybody else’s attention and then a couple members of the front office actually went out to China and spent a week out there watching him in person and they’ve kind of been on him for a couple of years as you know somebody that had him on that they had on their radar and at the end of the day they trusted their scouting they trusted their process they trusted their evaluations and even though it was not a conventional pick they felt like that was the pick for them to make And I guess time is going to tell whether they’re right or wrong Like they either are going to look like geniuses or they’re all going to get fired in two years I don’t know [Music] Why don’t you just tell us kind of the the shocking move that the Portland Trailblazers made in the draft yeah So they came into the night with the 11th overall pick and when they were on the clock they ended up trading back with Memphis Memphis wanted to move up and select uh Cedric Coward And so the Blazers moved back They traded the 11th pick for the 16th pick Got you know 2028 first round pick from Orlando and a couple of future second round picks which you know that’s pretty standard thing if they felt like their guy is still going to be there then you move back you pick up a couple of assets and then you uh still get your guy It’s exactly what the Blazers did But who their guy ended up being was something that I don’t think anybody in the world saw coming I mean I think you know once you know they traded back the guys that they’ve kind of been linked to throughout this whole process were you know like like a guy like Carter Bryant who went 14th to San Antonio and Aigor Demen who actually went a little bit higher than them Like these are all guys that they’ve kind of had been linked to in the process The one that I think everybody assumed that was still on the board when they were up at 16 was Kasparus Yakionis who they had worked out they had brought in for a workout was widely kind of projected to go there in some of these mock drafts And so when they called Yag Hansen’s name the Chinese center who was widely projected as probably mostly a second rounder a few different mock drafts had him as a fir as like a late first but I don’t think anybody in the entire league certainly nobody here locally was expecting that that was going to be the name that got called at the 16th overall pick I’ll just say that So what is the the story behind this guy it’s very polarizing online And some people are very much against this pick Others see some potential So what’s really the the upside in this and there’s is there potential harm if this does not go well well I mean this was purely an upside play for them And I mean from a fit standpoint it’s a little bit puzzling because the Blazers just drafted Donovan Klingan seventh overall last year So they all and so now you’re drafting another center who is a also you know a 20-year-old project who’s not nearly as NBA ready as Klingan was in his rookie season less than a week after you make a trade for Drew Holiday which kind of signifies that you’re trying to win now and you’re trying to push into if not the playoffs at least the playin and be being competitive and not being one of the teams that’s trying to tank for a lottery pick anymore which the Blazers have been signaling since they went 23 and 18 in the second half of last season and then signed both general manager Joe Cronin and head coach Chanty Bilips to contract extensions at the end of the season I think everybody kind of knew that they were trying to you know take the next step and become more competitive and that’s what the Drew Holiday trade signified And then they do pretty much the opposite And not only do they take a guy who’s a seems like he’s kind of a project and I don’t know how much he’s going to be able to play or ready to play this year but also somebody that just based on like the mock draft projections and just kind of where you know the public wisdom I guess was on where people thought he was going to go Joe Cronin admitted it last night that most people are going to think that this is a reach or that they maybe quote unquote overdrafted a guy you know he said it’s an unconventional pick and like it might be a controversial pick but at the end of the day you know the Blazers from people I’ve talked to since then have been doing their work on this kid for 2 years was one of their international scouts first noticed him at the FIA under19 World Championships in Hungary two years ago and brought him to everybody else’s attention and then a couple members of the front office actually went out to China and spent a week out there watching him in person and they’ve kind of been on him for a couple of years as you know somebody that had him on that they had on their radar and at the end of the day they trusted their scouting they trusted their process they trusted their evaluations and even though it was not a conventional pick they felt like that was is the pick for them to make And I guess time is going to tell whether they’re right or wrong Like they either are going to look like geniuses or they’re all going to get fired in two years I don’t know
Yeah I I personally love the pick
I’m a Yao Ming super fan so I anytime you put a 71 71 plus uh Chinese guy out there I’m like “Okay what can he do?” And you know his combine footage looked really good He had some sharp passes that played pretty well there To me it’s interesting because I’ve always looked at that area of the draft kind of that late lottery going into the early as kind of a crapshoot You know you never know Most of the guys you draft in that area are probably out of the league in 5 years anyway So why not just take a swing for the fences and see see what this what you can do with it i mean chances are that pick was worth a lot more before you made it So I don’t know What’s your thought on that i mean is it is there somebody that you think when you’re looking at like people picked after them that you think would have been a better fit for the moment right now or is this a worthy kind of endeavor to kind of just swing for the fences a little bit it’s kind of I think this is the spot that they were in at least in my opinion you kind of are in a spot where you can afford to just take the best player available and not really worry about fit because if you look at what the Blazers already have and you know even taking out you know the the uh some of the veterans that are still there that are not going to be there long term like the Jeremy Grants and the DeAndre Aens and some of those guys if you look at the young like the I guess what they would call the core of like guys that they’re building around long term and that’s Scoot Henderson Shaden Sharp Denny Odia Tumani Kamara and Donovan Klingan That’s a guy at every position It’s not like they like last year like Klingan was a pretty obvious pick for them because they were one of the worst rim protecting teams in the league And so you when you can draft one of the best rim protectors in the history of college basketball at the seventh pick like that’s a pretty straightforward pick to do to to make So last year it was like they felt like he was the best player on the board and he filled a need this year It’s not like they went into the draft saying we have to get this specific skill set or we have to target this position or this is the position that we don’t have anybody at that we feel like is potentially a long-term guy So at that point you can kind of just take whoever you think is the best player and the highest upside swing and don’t not feel like it’s going to make or break your entire franchise if you miss on it So from that standpoint I totally get it I mean I I definitely can you know see the merit in the philosophy of if you think that someone is your guy just take him and don’t worry about what the consensus is or what the mock drafts say or that you’re going to get killed in like the post-draft you know grades and analysis and all that stuff because like at the end of the day you’re the ones that are going to have to live with the pick and you know if you if you you know there there’s a chance you could you know make this pick he doesn’t pan out and then somebody that gots drafted ahead of them turn you know turns into a star and you you know probably everybody’s getting fired if that happens on the other hand you know you could be you know this guy could be there was a kind of a viral tweet going around last night of my friend uh Jake Fischer who’s a reporter for the Stein Line who tweeted that a nugget scout texted him that that Yang Hansen is Chinese Yokic and I mean obviously You can’t even even the Blazers like I think if you’re expecting a guy to be any guy to be you know Nicole Joic who like might be one of the 10 best players of all time at this point like you can’t really expect that but let’s say they you know they felt like you know this is our guy you know we like him but then they kind of got cold feet at the last minute and said you know what let’s just take kind of a more chalk pick let’s take something that’s a little bit more in line with the consensus and then somebody else takes him and he does turn into Chinese Jokic then you might be like oh we should have just listened to our instincts so I think that’s just kind of what they did there And you know you could people can land wherever they want to land on it I I’m not going to sit here and act like I’ve watched a ton of Chinese basketball so I don’t really have you know my own evaluations I’ve only seen some highlights but I know they did a ton of work on him And I know that this front office and particularly Mike Schmidtz one of their assistant general managers was one of the most respected draft analysts in the media space for the 10 years he was working there before he took the job with the team So I don’t know I mean I think I think they’ve kind of earned a little bit of the benefit of the doubt if they really feel like this is the guy that they thought was the best pick there but I mean it’s certainly they’re certainly going out on a limb
Yeah I it was interesting to me too that that tidbit about the Denver scout I mean that’s a that’s a good thing to hear And then you got Rich Paul right there So Rich Paul obviously seen something with this guy because he was there to greet him as he was coming out of the out of the stands A clutch guy I mean the Blazers that’s the other thing The Blazers are a clutch organization Like you look at like on their roster they have uh well first of all Chanty Bilips is a clutch client and and you know some of his staff Thiago Splitter who they just hired as assistant coach is also a Clutch guy And then on the roster Jeremy Grant is Clutch Scoot Henderson and Shaden Sharp both have signed with Clutch in the last year There’s a couple of other guys and I’m forgetting off the top of my head who are Clutch guys So that’s one of the organization or that’s the agency like you know you hear about like the Knicks being a CA uh organization Like I don’t think it’s quite to the level of like the Knicks and CA but the Blazers do do a lot of business with Clutch So there is that element of it too I don’t I don’t want to like draw into any like conspiracy theories or any of that stuff but I think you know when it’s an agency that you have a good relationship with and it’s a guy that you like like I don’t think that hurts
The Blazers as you know were 36 and 46 last season finishing 12th Before we jump into the most recent trade with Anthony Simons and Drew Holiday can you kind of take our listeners into just the the temperature of the organization and the fan base of how this past season went you mentioned the second half for the Trailblazers much more successful Is there some optimism is kind of that that really the the residue of the Damen Lillard era is that completely gone where there’s truly focus on what’s happening now heading into yeah there’s a ton of optimism around the organization and it really was a 180 like I say they went over for the last 41 games that’s not an arbitrary line that I’m drawing just because it’s half it’s the half of the season that you know that actually was the 42nd game of the season so the first game of the second half of the year that game was the actual turning point that was the game that they had at home against uh Chicago They had had a couple of really bad losses earlier in that week to the Clippers and the Rockets and the vibes were pretty bad and like everybody knew Chanty Bilips was probably going to get fired at the end of the season or not fired but like not have his contract renewed I guess if you want to get technical Everybody kind of knew that they were going to move on and you know Scoot Henderson was still struggling and you know there nobody was really consistent and everybody the vibes weren’t great and then that game against Chicago before the game Chanty Bilips announces that he’s pulling Shaden Sharp out of the starting lineup and he tells us that he’s doing it for defensive reasons because he doesn’t think that Shaden has been kind of holding up that end of the floor Shaden responds to that and has by having a you know a really good you know defensive performance in that game Eventually he you know started doing that more consistently and got his starting spot back The Blazers win that game and that kicks off a 10-in one stretch that they had you know right before the All-Star break And now suddenly it’s like oh this is this is interesting Everybody thought they were just going to be in the mix for Cooper Flag Now they went 10 and one over these and they and they beat some good teams in that stretch too They beat Indiana They beat I forget I forget who who all they beat but they definitely beat some good teams during that stretch and then you know after the all-star break they kind of start winning some more games like they had you know they they ended up you know they had two more you know four or five game winning streaks after that and you you also just started to see like real improvement from you know Scoot Henderson and from you know Shaden Sharp Donovan Klingan started getting more comfortable and started being able to play more minutes Denny Aia made a huge leap last year Tumani Kamar I you know made all defense The Blazers this is like this is how extreme that swing was They had the third worst defense in the league for the first half of the season They had the third best defense in the league for the second half of the season So that’s and so that’s just kind of and and you know that and then you know at the end of the season they decide you know instead of just doing what everybody thought they were going to do and letting Chanty Bilips go they signed him to an extension and Joe Cronin got an extension too and now I don’t know here we are Well and then now you’ve got Drew Holidayiday who is probably one of the most cerebral defensive-minded guards two-time champion I mean if there’s anybody for Scoot to really mentor under Drew’s a good guy for that And I wonder you know I think it’s a League of Rockets bringing in a savvy veteran Fred Van Fleet to kind of mentor the team there Is that kind of what they’re thinking with Drew
so I think that’s part that’s one that’s a good comparison The one that I’ve been thinking about though since they did this was when the Thunder traded you know that that when the Thunder first blew it up and they traded for you know they traded Paul George they traded Russell Westbrook they got SGA in that uh Paul George trade and they traded for Chris Paul and everybody kind of thought when they traded for Chris Paul that summer oh they’re going to blow it up Like they’re trying to rebuild so I’m sure they’re just going to reroute him to a contender and get more assets But they actually kept Chris Paul for that one year And that was the year that you know the the season got shut down halfway through when CO first hit and then he then it was in the bubble That team was you know that team wasn’t a contender but they were a playoff team Having Chris Paul there was really good for SGA’s development And obviously now you’ve seen you know what he’s turned into now And I think that’s the kind of thing that they sort of envision Drew having that effect on Scoot Henderson But I also you know I think it’s really easy just you know whenever a team that’s kind of young and hasn’t really won anything brings in any kind of a veteran player like that it’s very easy to just kind of say “Oh yeah he’s going to just you know come in and be a mentor and be like a player coach.” But like Drew Holiday is still like he’s not as good as he was a couple of years ago when the Celtics won the championship He had kind of a down year this year He’s probably on the down swing of his career but he’s still pretty good like he’s still a he’s still a productive player and is probably going to be a productive player for another couple of years at least So it’s kind of going to be that you know that sweet spot of it is going to be great for Scoot to have him around and you know have a guy like that to be able to kind of lean on but Drew can still play too and he’s still going to you know be a significant contributor So it’s not like they’re just bringing him in just to like be a babysitter for the point guard that they took third overall two years ago Can you talk about just the revamped coaching staff as well with Kiak Splitter Patrick St Andrews Quinton Crawford all around Chanty Billups it just seems like there the retooling just kind of the this mindset of this this team heading into next season Does that really rise expectations of what this team is capable of do you think well it certainly shows that now that Chanty Bilips and Joe Cronin have new contract extensions they’re getting everything a lot more in line and they’re you know being I I would I would say this is the most serious coaching staff that uh they’ve had and this is the second big you know shakeup of the staff that they’ve done in the last two in the you know in the last two offseasons Last summer you know they they won 21 games in the first year post Damen Lillard They didn’t want to fire Chantzi cuz they were going to go into that year trying to tank and so there was no point in paying two coaches when you’re trying to be bad anyway So they weren’t going to fire him And so instead of firing him they changed up some things on their coaching staff they let go of Scott Brooks who was his lead assistant They let go of his brother Rodney who was on the staff And then Steve Hzel another one of their assistants who was pretty well regarded left to take a job on Brooklyn staff And so they brought in Nate Bjorkran who was once the head coach of the Pacers which was kind of a disaster but you know he’s a well- reggarded tactician He worked for Toronto He’s worked for Phoenix He’s worked for other teams And then Chris Fleming who was in Chicago and actually was pretty instrumental in Kobe White’s development with the Bulls And that’s kind of part of why they brought him in to work with Scoot And so they did that And then this past uh this this this summer they you know some of the contracts were up again And the whole staff was just on one-year deals because everybody knew that Chanty was going into the last year and they were probably going to just let everybody go at the end of the season So they kept a few of they kept Nate Bjorkran they kept Ronnie Bell they kept a couple of kind of the end of bench assistants or behind the bench assistants Jonah Hersku who has been an assistant you know one of the behind the bench assistants got promoted to be the head coach of the Rip City Remix which is their G-League team which is a great opportunity for him now he’s going to get some real reps as a head coach and that’s going to put him on the radar with other teams to try to take the next step in his career So that was kind of the idea there And then they made three pretty you know high-profile new hires They brought in Thiago Splitter who you mentioned who you know he’s worked in the NBA for a number of years He was a player development guy for the Nets under Steve Nash and then he was a assistant under Eime Udoka for a year with the Rockets and worked a lot with Alper and Shangun and Shangun has credited him publicly with helping him turn into an all-star and then last year he went to France to become the head coach of Paris basketball which is the same club that Tomasi solo who’s now the head coach of the Grizzlies was the head coach of before the Grizzlies hired him for their staff And so Splitter goes there takes over for Ralo and Paris basketball goes 23-7 They win the French Cup championship and they win and they get they qualify for Euro League for the first time in franchise history and make the Euro League playoffs So you know he has a pretty successful run there The Blazers bring him over and then they hire Patrick St Andrews who was Taylor Jenkins’s lead assistant for a long time in Memphis and was let go when Taylor Jenkins was let go near the end of this season But you know he’s a well- reggarded guy He worked under Mike Budenhoer both in Atlanta and in Milwaukee and you know people seem to really like him and think he has a strong future as a head coach And then the other guy that they hired is Quinton Crawford who has been an assistant with the Suns and with the Lakers under Frank Vogle And then last year he was the head coach of the Stockton Kings and they won the G- League championship So that’s just kind of what the revamped coaching staff looks like right now And you know Nate Bjorkrren and Ronnie Burell stuck around So it’s a little bit of carryover but it’s definitely new And I I would say upgraded but you know none of us really know like what each assistant coach does That’s only stuff you can kind of guess on and speculate on but it’s a pretty you know I would say it’s a pretty well you know upgraded staff
I always see when when a team starts spending on coaches as a good sign And is that I mean I know you know it’s the Paul Allen estate and I think Jod Allen’s the chairwoman who’s running you know the owner Do you are you seeing that kind of shift that that Portland is kind of willing to spend some some money on you know practice facilities coaches stuff like that to turn into a destination or you know cuz I for a small market team I hate that but you know small market team
it’s true
you know it’s it can be hard to kind of compete with the biggies in the west coast and the east coast
Yeah So that’s a little bit of an interesting thing and it’s kind of a reversal because the Blazers over the years have not been a team that has a reputation for spending being on coaches And it’s especially interesting that they’re making these big investments now because you know you you you brought up the Paul Allen estate The team is for sale They just announced a month ago that they’ve officially put the team up for sale and they’ve started the auction or the bidding process So usually when a team is about to get sold they’re going to cut costs and they’re going to you know try to not spend money on this kind of stuff and just kind of strip it down so that whoever comes in and buys it like isn’t feel like they’re doesn’t feel like they’re taking a loss So both them spending money on uh you know coaching staff and you know the trade that they just made bringing in Drew Holiday who you know they traded Anthony Simons who was on an expiring contract that was going to be 27 million coming off their books Now they’re taking on 104 million over the next three years for Drew Holiday So that’s a pretty significant added payroll that they’re bringing on while the team is for sale And so when they announced the team was for sale I was actually in Chicago for the pre-draft combine and I spent that week talking to folks from the front office and just kind of gauging their feel for you know how the sale news has been taken and you know if they’d heard anything And what everybody told me was that the message from ownership was this is going to be business as usual Keep doing what you’re doing Everything’s status quo Don’t worry about restrictions on you can’t spend on this You can’t you know we can’t spend this on staff We can’t spend this on salaries Everything is just going to be status quo Just you know keep running the team like not like the team isn’t going to be sold And usually when you hear that you just think in my in my mind I was like “Yeah of course they’re telling me that that’s what they got told That’s because what do you want them to say do do you are they going to say “Oh yeah no Ownership told us we have to freeze salaries We can’t make any hires We’re just going to be completely in a holding pattern.” So I didn’t really take it that seriously but you know they spent big on Drew Holiday bringing him in taking on additional salary and they spent significant money to upgrade their coaching staff So you know you have to kind of give credit where it’s due there
For the common fan what does a change of ownership truly mean does that just depend on just how the sale is going to go because I think a lot of times especially nowadays you know sports ownership is pretty hot We’ve seen so many transactions and different sports And I think for Cons I’m just wondering if they’re really understanding what this means for them in terms of them going to games them just cheering on their team So with the fan base in Portland when the sale does occur I know it’s hard to predict but I guess my question is should the fan base be truly paying attention to this in terms of how they are cheering on the trailblazer like the relationship with the team that depends entirely on who buys it Because it’s it’s it’s funny because uh they for years ever since Paul Allen died in 2018 everybody has known that the team was going to have to get sold eventually because uh the terms of Paul Allen’s will were that eventually all of his assets were going to have to be sold and have the money go to charity And that’s been something that’s been rolled out gradually over the last seven years is like they’ve sold a couple of his super yachts they sold his art collection they’ve sold some of his real estate stuff and they’re just getting around to the Blazers now But ever since he died there’s kind of been this perception among the fan base some of it unfair in my opinion that Jodie Allen is just totally disengaged and she’s an absentee owner and you know they need to sell the team and the team is never going to get back to any level of success until the team gets sold And now that the team is officially for sale people are worried that if and I don’t think this worry is really something that’s you know a serious possibility but people are worried that the team is going to move which I don’t think is really like cuz we all know that they’re going to do the they’re going to greenlight expansion sometime in the next couple of years and Seattle and Las Vegas are going to get teams And the fear from in Portland has always been that since Paul Allen was a Seattle guy and you know that was where he he and Bill Gates founded Microsoft and he also owns the Seahawks that eventually they team was just going to move to Seattle after the Sonics left So that’s kind of just been something that fans have been worried about forever And now it’s like you know let’s say somebody comes in and buys the team and looks at the arena which is 30 years old at this point and decides they want a new arena and the city doesn’t want to pay for it And that like that that’s been the thing that I think people who like stoking fears about this kind of stuff have been talking about I don’t think that’s really a serious possibility at all I my understanding is that the Blazers you know the current ownership’s wishes are for the team to remain in Portland The league office certainly doesn’t want the team to move because it’s one of the most successful small markets in the league Been in the playoffs uh 26 out of 37 times in the 37 years since Paul Allen bought the team in 1988 They’ve been it since 2000 They’ve led they’ve been in the top 10 in attendance in the league uh 17 times out of 25 years So it’s not a market that I think the NBA wants to go away from So that part of it I’m not as worried about as other people But then you know you you think about like who could come in and buy the team And you know a couple of years ago Phil Knight made publicly an offer That offer was turned down Obviously that that offer which was two billion is now you know you just saw the Lakers go for 10 You saw the Celtics go for seven Two billion is not even close to going to get you even the cheapest NBA team on the on the market I would be shocked if the Blazers don’t go for at least four or five now given the current you know the trend of these franchise value But you know everybody just kind of thinks that when a new owner comes in it’s going to be like Steve Balmer where it’s like this perfect you know balance of he’s willing to write a check for anything but he also kind of gets out of the way and doesn’t really you know meddle too much in basketball decisions And now the Clippers after being a joke for decades under Donald Sterling now they’re really a worldclass organization and he you know he’s really done a lot to you know not just you know with the with the roster but spending on a new arena spending on practice facilities spending on staff and infrastructure and all that kind of stuff That’s the best case scenario But you could also have a situation where somebody you know everybody wanted Robert Sarver to go and obviously you know Robert Sarver is one of the worst owners in NBA history too Matt you know Matt Ishvia buys the Suns and everybody says he’s the savior because you know immediately after he buys the team he greenlights this Kevin Durant trade and he’s spending all this money on all this different like new practice facility all this stuff But then he kind of you know you you see kind of where the Suns are at right now He thought he could just come in and throw money around and he could just buy his way back into relevance and it just hasn’t happened And now the Suns are totally hamstrung because he just can’t get out of his own way and he has to kind of make he he feels like he has to make a splash all the time And now the Suns have one of the worst futures in the league So it entirely depends on who buys the team So I it’s tough to say too much whether a sale is going to be a good thing or a bad thing It had to happen eventually because those were the terms of Paul Allen’s will that it had to be sold eventually But until we know who buys the team it’s hard for me to really say one way or the other whether it’s going to be a good thing or a bad thing compared to the current situation This might be a little bit far-fetched but with the WNBA um expanding into Portland is this related at all because we’ve seen a lot more synergy with NBA teams and WNBA teams with Portland gaining a WNBA franchise Does that push things in a direction of keeping you know the NBA in Portland for people that are you know stoking fears or they’re scared that the NBA might be leaving Portland with the WNBA getting moving into Portland with the recent announcement of the high season ticket deposits being made Is that a factor in this at all you think
i don’t think it affects whether the team is going to stay in Portland And just to be clear I don’t think it’s a serious possibility that the team leaves That’s just something that’s kind of out there in the in the ether With that said the Bethal family who bought the the W who are going to be the owners of the WNBA team and are also the owners of the Portland Thorns the NWSL team they are minority investors in the Sacramento Kings They their Roger Bethal the father is VC Ron and Div’s alit governor So they have a pretty significant stake in the Kings and the idea has come up locally Another reporter here actually reached out to them for a statement and was not told no But you know the idea has kind of come up of you know maybe there’s a possibility that they sell their stake in the Kings and put an ownership group together to try to buy the Blazers and just consolidate all of their ownership you know their sports team ownership stuff in Portland I don’t know that that’s you know in the works but someone another reporter asked them for a comment about that and their response was something to the effect of like “We’re always evaluating different you know possibilities for investing in the sports space something like that.” They didn’t say “No we’re not interested.” I don’t think they have enough money on their own to just buy the team outright but they certainly could put a group together So that’s one way that I think the NBA team coming in could affect the you know the Blazers sale and the Blazers future But I don’t know Well it’s too early at this point You know the the I’ve gotten the impression the the team said in the press release when they announced that the that the Blazers are going to be for sale they said that it was going to drag into next season and so I’ve been expecting it’s going to take like 9 to 12 months for them to find a buyer So I don’t think that’s going to get resolved anytime soon But the Bethal element of it is definitely something that I’m keeping an eye on and that they when they were asked about it they did not rule out the possibility and say “No we’re not even thinking about it.” So you know we’ll see who ends up buying the team and what the bid ends up looking like what the ownership group ends up looking like what their plans for it are but that’s definitely something worth keeping an eye on for sure A couple more questions if you of course seeing how the Valkyries have been very successful I just want to get your opinion on the playbook for Portland Have they been following that or are they just kind of going in their own direction just to make sure that this team is ready for just the fan base that’s within with Portland or are they really paying attention to what’s happening with the Valkyries what’s kind of the temperature in terms of what’s happening with the rest of the W2 what’s going to happen with the expansion you think
it’s kind of too early to say i’ve been watching very closely uh how the Valkyy’s roll out has been and I’ve been really very impressed with pretty much every aspect of the way they’ve they’ve rolled it out I love the Valkyy’s name and I love the logo and the colors and all that stuff Like I think they did a great job on the branding but then even just on the basketball side they what I like about what the Valkyries did and you know obviously this was this is the Warriors ownership group and they have all the money in the world to throw up this stuff So you know I you know there’s that But they didn’t say we have to make a big slash and hire a big name and you know hire somebody that everybody’s heard of They hired Oh Nannan who was an assistant GM with the New York Liberty which is you know one of the class organizations in the league but that’s not a name that most people know but she was very well regarded behind the scenes And they said you know we’re just going to hire you and we’re going to just kind of let you build the roster and make coaching higher And then the coach they hired Natalie Nass who was an assistant with the Las Vegas Aces who had also been an assistant with the Clippers under Ty Louu in the past so she has some NBA experience as well She’s you know that clearly seemed like the right coaching hire They didn’t go out and say “We have to get a big name We have to make a splash We have to win the press conference.” So it seems like they’re really committed to building the team the right way you know not just from a sense of like “We want to you know win the press conference We want to you know make a splash We want to you know have some good PR.” But they seem like they’re really committed to doing it in a sustainable way It’s too early to really say whether the Bethalss are uh doing are going to be following that playbook or if they’re going to be taking a different approach because they still don’t have you know they basically don’t have an organization yet They have they don’t have they’re they’re working on you know searching for a general manager right now I think interviews are still ongoing there So I have no idea who they’re going to hire or what route they’re going to go for that Are they going to take a similar approach they’re going to hire kind of a lower level front office staffer from a WNBA team who they think is ready for a bigger opportunity Are they going to try to go for a big name who’s like an ambassador for the franchise but maybe isn’t as focused on like the actual day-to-day job of running a team and how’s that going to go we kind of know what the name is going to be They haven’t announced this yet but it you know they league registered trademarks for a bunch of stuff related to the Portland Fire a week or two ago And I’ve also been hearing from sources for several months that that was probably the way that they were going to go So I’m curious how that ends up looking once you know they roll that out what they do with the logo what the reaction is once they do all that stuff Like you mentioned earlier the season ticket sales have been very good They just announced today that they’ve crossed over 10,000 season ticket deposits which is pretty impressive for a team that doesn’t exist yet But we still you know they still don’t have a officially announced name and logo They still don’t have a general manager They still don’t have a coach They’re going to have to do the expansion draft They’re going to have to then deal with the regular draft So there’s so much left to go before we see what it actually ends up looking like And Toronto who’s also starting the same year as them the Toronto Tempo they have a lot more of that stuff in place They have a general manager in Monica Wright Rogers They they haven’t hired a coach yet but they’re working on that And like they’re a little bit ahead of of Portland Uh I am very impressed with what the uh Valkyries have done so far and I think it I think it would be a good idea for the Bethls to copy them as closely as possible but it’s a little early to say what they’re actually going to do Final question for you A lot of different cities including the city I live in Denver really anxious trying to get a WNBA franchise but Portland won out along with what you mentioned with Toronto as well Golden State within the basketball community within Portland what set them apart in gaining this franchise was it purely is it the connection with the Trailblazers factor into this was it the fact that Portland did have a WNBA team in the past or do you think there’s been an uprising since you know they left of gaining a WNBA franchise back in Portland like what is what’s the temperature of the fan base we seen what we mentioned before the season ticket deposits just when you talk to basketball fans with the Gentro Trails Blazers game in over the past years kind of what is your feelings of having a WNBA team back in their city is the has always been kind of a yearning kind of a sense of trying to get this team back there and then what has it been since the announcement and kind of all the things that are possible for the future of this team well I think first of all the WNBA is in a very different place as a league than it was 25 years ago when they first launched the original version of the Portland Fire You know the the Fly actually were one of the more well attended teams in the league at the time And I think they had around 8,000 fans a game which was a lot for the WNBA at the time but they ended up folding because you know Paul Allen was you know once once ownership it’s a kind kind of a complicated thing but like the ownership reverted back from the league to the NBA teams in the sister cities and Paul Allen just decided to fold the team So it just didn’t end up like it didn’t end up working out there for financial reasons But Portland is a city that a for the longest time only really has one major professional sports team and that’s the Trailblazers So there’s a deep you know basketball connection there And then also just generally speaking in Portland is a huge or the state of Oregon really is just a huge hotbed for women’s sports in general I mentioned the Thorns earlier that the Bthals also own They lead the NWSL in attendance pretty much every year And the Oregon and Oregon State women’s basketball teams in college at the college level are also very popular Obviously like you know Sabrina Unescu played at Oregon Satu Sabali like there’s a bunch of you know Oregon has a really well- reggarded women’s basketball program that has produced a lot of stars in the WNBA and so that has a big fan base here too And I just think it’s a good it’s a good market It’s a good match for you know the fan base and the city And you know you’re seeing from what the ticket sales have been where now they have over 10,000 season ticket deposits and the team is not going to play their first game for another 11 months So you know clearly it was the right decision for the league to go back there It just you know I think and I think people have wanted it for a while It’s just you know the timing wasn’t right for expansion and there was an attempt to do it a year ago or a year before they announced it and that kind of fell through for a bunch of weird reasons and then you know the Bethalss came in and ended up deciding to do it and it ended up working out and people here are real excited for it and I’m I’m really curious to see how it ends up playing out
Sean appreciate the time Thank you very much Can you let our audience know where they can find you on social media where they can find your coverage if you have any other upcoming projects for the rest of the year as well
yeah so just go to roseguardreport.com It’s a kind of Substack newsletter type of thing with free and paid subscriptions available Most of the more substantive stuff is paywalled but you know I I think I I like to think I give people a worthwh you know a good product for the money that I you know I think people if you’re interested in the Trailblazers or you know the upcoming WNBA expansion process that’s still ongoing I feel like I give people the kind of coverage for that that for both of those things that you’re not really getting anywhere else So I would just say go sign up go subscribe and follow me on I’m not really on Twitter much these days beyond just posting links and stuff but I’m on there I’m on Blue Sky all and you know Instagram All of my socials are just my last name Hiken So just follow me on there Thank you Sean Appreciate the time Thank you very much
Yes Yeah Good to talk to you Justin [Music]

The Portland Trail Blazers shocked the NBA world by selecting Chinese center Yang Hansen with the 16th pick in the draft — a move no one saw coming. Is this the next Nikola Jokic or a franchise-altering bust?

In this episode of Hoopsology, Sean Highkin, who covers the Portland Trail Blazers and the Portland WNBA expansion team for the Rose Garden Report. Sean breaks down Portland’s surprising draft night decisions, their long-term scouting commitment, and why the front office chose upside over consensus. We also dive into the Jrue Holiday trade, coaching staff overhaul, ownership sale, and what this all means for the team’s future, plus how the WNBA’s arrival in Portland might shape things.

Timestamps:
0:00 – Blazers’ controversial pick explained
2:00 – Who is Yang Hansen?
4:00 – Was this a major draft reach?
6:00 – Comparing Hansen to Jokic
10:00 – Portland’s rebuild strategy
15:00 – Jrue Holiday’s role + Scoot Henderson
20:00 – Ownership sale impact
25:00 – WNBA expansion in Portland

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