Why Yang Hansen Was Drafted So High

Why Yang Hansen Was Drafted So High

with the 16th pick in the 2025 NBA draft the Memphis Grizzly select Yang Hansen from Zebo China and theQing Dao Eagles the Hansen Yang story is one of those NBA draft moments that you go wait what this guy went from being a projected second round pick to being taken 16th overall and not by accident the Portland Trailblazers actually traded down just to grab him so what’s going on here is he an actual prospect or is it just a marketing move to gain popularity in China okay so first of all this rise wasn’t just a little jump most mock drafts including ESPN and The Athletic had Hansen going somewhere in the mid30s nobody expected him to be near the lottery so that’s about a 20 spot jump even Hansen Yang himself said he didn’t expect to be picked this high the Blazers had scouts scouting him in China and he obviously had a pre-workout with them last month he got along with all the front office people but you know at the end of the day this is sort of beyond his wildest imagination
but okay why did the Blazers do this let’s start with the basketball side hansen Yang is a 7’1 center with a 7’3 wingspan and about 250 lb so the guy’s got legit size and he’s not just some big body clogging the paint he actually has skills coming off a breakout year in China’s CBA Yang was putting up around 16 1/2 points 10 and 1/2 rebounds three assists 2 and 1/2 blocks and a steal per game but the thing that really caught the scouts attention was the passing hansen has legit court vision he’s got that Nicola Joic light wipe to him now let’s not go crazy i’m not saying he’s Jokic but the comparison isn’t completely random and I’ll tell you why yang’s feel for the game is special for a big he moves the ball well sets hard screens and reads the cutters wait does that remind you of anyone the Trailblazers clearly saw that potential and they keep building with young bigs they drafted Donovan Klingan last year they’ve got DeAndre Aton Robert Williams III and Jeremy Grant so yeah the front court seems a bit loaded and maybe overcrowded but let’s be honest most of those guys are on the move soon clear that Portland is rebuilding and stacking young talent so when the opportunity came to grab this playmaking big from China it made perfect sense but Hansen’s not some perfect unicorn there’s some stuff he really needs to work on first his defense outside of the paint is quite shaky he played a lot of drop coverage in China and that worked but in the NBA well the guards are going to hunt him on switches it’s just that his lateral quickness isn’t great and against pick and pop bigs he’s actually going to be stretched out that’s going to be his biggest challenge will he be able to stay on the floor in the playoff type games where the teams actually attack these slow-footed centers probably not and then there’s the shooting it’s cool that he’s willing to take threes but he’s not a shooter yet he shot just under 30% from deep last season on one attempt per game so that has to improve his free throw percentage isn’t great either so the shooting development is going to take some time but you know what’s encouraging his form actually looks solid so maybe with the right coaching he actually gets there now on the offensive side he’s also a solid postup threat about a third of his offense came from the post last year and while his efficiency was decent around8 points per possession he hasn’t fully developed a go-to move no automatic hook shot no drop stat that he could rely on yet but the footwork is there and for a 20-year-old that’s pretty exciting portland will probably give him time to develop that side of his game much like Houston did with Alper and Shangon okay so basketball-wise I get it it’s a gamble but it’s not a crazy one but here’s the other side of the story we just cannot ignore and that’s the marketing basketball is absolutely huge in China the NBA itself claims they have over 300 million fans there the peak of this relationship was during the Yao Ming era when Yao joined the Rockets back in 2002 the entire country followed him rockets games basically became national events in China even guys like Tracy McGrady Yao’s teammate became massive Chinese icons so big that Ching Dao Hansen Yang’s former team in the CBA literally retired McGrady’s jersey after he played there for a single season but when Yao retired in 2011 things changed the NBA was hoping Yiji and Lean would take over as China’s next basketball superstar but Yi’s NBA career didn’t really take off he had a few okay years but nothing close to what Yao brought and after a year the NBA never really found another Chinese player to keep that fan base locked in zui briefly popped up in Houston but he didn’t really stick either and the Chinese national team has struggled internationally ever since Yaoing retired so Chinese fans have been waiting for their new hero then in 2019 Daryl my situation kind of collapsed the whole relationship between the NBA and China overnight mory who was the Rockets GM at the time tweeted support for the Hong Kong protests which obviously did not go over well the Chinese government blacklisted the Rockets pulled NBA games off TV and basically froze all businesses with the league the Rockets who were the China team because of YA suddenly vanished from Chinese broadcasts it took a year before Chinese state TV actually started showing NBA games again and ever since that the NBA has been carefully rebuilding that relationship slowly the games came back on social media engagement picked up and they started scheduling more preseason games in Asia the Nets are even going to play in Macau so the NBA has been doing all these quiet moves to get back in good standing but you know what’s missing a player and here comes Hansen Yang you got to understand this is a massive moment for the NBA’s relationship with China hansen Yang is the first Chinese player drafted in the first round since Yanlan in 2007 his presence alone is a big deal there are reports out of Portland that the Blazers have already become one of the most popular teams in China and his jersey actually is going to be a global bestseller chinese fans are going to be watching all the Blazers games now and expecting their local hero to get on the court and if he does every minute is going to be a big deal over there and that’s where Clutch Sports Connection comes in young is represented by Rich Paul LeBron’s agent this isn’t going to be a story of a guy who got drafted and disappeared rich Paul called Yang the shock of the draft and was hugging him on draft night because he understands the marketing game better than almost anyone in the NBA and he’s already saying that Yang support will come from all over China and it will benefit the NBA you see it’s not just about selling jerseys they have a long-term commercial plan in mind and I’m not surprised it’s coming from LeBron’s agent but again let’s be clear Blazers picking him is not just marketing their front office strongly denies that and honestly they’re right to do so gms don’t risk their jobs to chase jersey sales hansen Young is a legit basketball prospect but the marketing angle is a massive massive bonus and of course we’ve seen this strategy before memphis for example signed Yuki Kawamura to a two-way contract in 2024 suddenly the Grizzlies blew up in Japan they had more global fans than ever before gleague All-Star votes came pouring in from the other side of the world and Japanese sponsors took notice sure Kabamura earned his spot but the marketing benefit was huge same thing when the Wizards drafted Rui Hachimura washington immediately became Japan’s team corporate sponsors followed and then the prime time TV slots for Japanese TV were locked in for Wizards games so it was a global win for everyone so you see these international players from Asia don’t just bring their skills over they bring entire countries with him and in Hansen Yang’s case his country is the biggest international market the NBA has if Yang even becomes a role player the commercial potential would be enormous and if he actually breaks out we might see something close to Jeremy Lynn’s Linsanity levels of buzz or maybe even a Yao level movement again was this pick about basketball or just marketing well I think it’s obvious it’s both but in any case let me know what you think do you see the potential for Hansen Yang to thrive in the NBA and is he the Chinese as everyone likes to call him now drop your thoughts in the comments below also if you can hit that like button it really helps our channel to grow

Why did the Portland Trail Blazers draft Yang Hansen 16th overall? Was it about his basketball talent or a strategic move to rebuild the NBA’s popularity in China? Let’s break down the real story behind this surprising NBA Draft pick, Yang’s strength’s/weaknesses and what it means for the league’s global future.

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#NBA #Basketball #China