Aaron Fentress oregonlive.com
Portland Trail Blazers assistant general managers Mike Schmitz and Sergi Oliva travelled to China in the fall of 2023 on a fact-finding mission.
Their goal: To see if a teenage center, Yang Hansen, measured up to the hype relayed to them by an international scout who had seen him play during a FIBA U-19 world tournament, other scouts and members of the video analysts.
“One of our international scouts was there and was just kind of blown away with his passing and his skill level,” Schmitz said. “Hadn’t really seen much like him.”
Schmitz and Oliva spent eight days in China, watching the 7-foot-1 Yang play in numerous games in different cities, including several in Qingdao, where Yang played for the Qingdao Eagles of the Chinese Basketball Association.
The pair returned to Tualatin believing they had scouted a potential gem of a prospect. Someone with exceptional court vision, great passing ability, touch around the basket, exceptional size and who plays with great enthusiasm and a commitment to winning basketball.
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“He looked like a guy who, if he was playing in college, had a freshman year at whatever blue blood school you want to insert, he looked like a first-round talent,” Schmitz said.
Fast-forward roughly 20 months and countless hours of evaluation time later, the smitten Blazers traded back from the No. 11 pick in Wednesday’s first round of the NBA draft to select Yang, 20, with the No. 16 pick in a move that shook the basketball world and Rip City to their core.
The selection was met with negativity, stemming from the fact that most mock drafts projected Yang to go off the board in the second round. But Blazers general manager Joe Cronin and his staff don’t make selections based on the opinions of websites and draft nerds.
For better or for worse — time will tell — the Blazers’ board had Yang ahead of at least every player available from No. 11 on. He was their target. The fact that they were able to trade back with Memphis, get a 2028 No. 1 pick (via Orlando) and second-round picks in 2027 and 2028, only added to the evening.
Adding to the shock value of the pick is the fact that China hasn’t produced many impact NBA players. In fact, the CBA is where many former NBA players go to continue getting paid to play, not where dominant Chinese players develop into NBA stars.
Yang, who will be introduced to the media Friday morning, became the ninth player from China to be drafted. The last two came in 2016 when Houston selected 7-1 center Zhou Qi in the second round, where Memphis also chose 7-0 center Wang Zhelin. The latter never appeared in an NBA game while the former played 19 games with the Rockets in two seasons.
The last first-round pick from China was a 7-0 center Yi Jianlian, selected by Milwaukee with the No. 6 pick. He spent five seasons in the NBA with the Bucks, New Jersey, Washington and Dallas, averaging 7.9 points and 4.9 rebounds.
All NBA fans remember the most famous NBA player from China, Yao Ming. Houston selected him No. 1 overall during the 2002 draft.
The 7-6 center proved to be a dominant, eight-time All-Star, whose career was cut short at the age of 31 by several foot and ankle injuries. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.
Outside of Yao, the track record for players from China is not good. But the Blazers believe Yang will become an exception.
“It was really the passing, the feel for the game, the basketball IQ, the joy that he played with really stood out to us,” Schmitz said. “He’s a very happy-go-lucky, big smile, expressive. And just to see the type of skill level, creativity, the size was all really intriguing.”
Evaluating Yang in the CBA proved challenging given the level of competition. But Schmitz said it helped that he played with former NBA players, forward Keita Bates-Diop (283 NBA games), guard Myles Powell (11 games) and guard Quinndary Weatherspoon (42 games), as well as against forward Jared Sullinger, a first-round pick in 2012, who played in 269 games over five seasons.
Also, the style of play was often uptempo, Schmitz said, featuring a lot of perimeter players often running high pick and rolls, showcasing Yang’s ability to operate within that scheme and against it.
What team analysts had told Schmitz and Oliva they had noticed on video played out before their eyes in China.
The Blazers were so impressed that they hoped to see Yang enter the 2024 draft. He ultimately chose to spend another year in China working on his game and his body.
“He still had some baby fat on him,” Schmitz said. “Some physical development that needed to happen.”
Last season, Yang averaged 16.6 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.6 blocked shots per game, while shooting 58.6% from the field. He improved his three-point shooting from 22.6% the previous season to 33.3% (16 of 48).
All the while, he worked on his body. By the time the 249-pound Yang made his way to Tualatin for a workout in May, he had just 7% body fat.
That workout, which occurred after Yang had shown well at May’s NBA scouting combine, proved to be the “cherry on top” for the Blazers, Schmitz said.
On hand were five projected first-round picks. Connecticut forward Liam McNeeley (taken 29th by Phoenix), Illinois forward Will Riley (21st to Utah), Michigan State guard Jase Richardson (25th to Orlando) and Georgia forward Asa Newell (23rd to New Orleans), and projected first-round pick, Saint Joseph’s forward Rashard Fleming, taken with the first pick in the second round (Minnesota).
The workout, Schmitz said, allowed them to see Yang go up against high-end college players. And he shined.
“That gave us kind of added confidence in our initial evaluations,” Schmitz said.
Yang, according to Schmitz, demonstrated his passing, basketball smarts and ability to finish on anyone and everyone at the rim. Also, he had once again shown further physical development.
“Our health and performance team was really, really impressed with a guy that size, his movement patterns and just his ability to kind of change speeds, change directions, change ends,” Schmitz said.
Yang isn’t an elite athlete, by any means. But he moves well enough, Schmitz said, to utilize his skills.
The 7-foot-2 elephant in the room is Donovan Clingan, selected by the Blazers with the No. 7 pick in the 2024 draft.
The Blazers, 36-46 last season, Cronin said on draft night, remain in a position where they must go after the best player available regardless of position. Schmitz agrees.
“We’re always going to draft for kind of long-term upside,” he said. “I don’t think we’re ever going to make decisions solely based on what next year looks like. We’re always going to be a best player available team.”
But something will have to give at some point. The Blazers had Clingan rated higher than the No. 7 pick last year. They had Yang pegged as a lottery talent in this draft. Should both pan out, the Blazers will have an issue at center.
However, that’s a good problem to have for a team still in the process of rebuilding. Also, they are two different players.
Clingan, named second-team all-rookie, is a defensive stalwart who finished tied for fifth with 1.6 blocks per game last season.
“Hansen has a little bit of a different style,” Schmitz said. “A little bit more of a playmaker with the ball in his hands. He can handle a little bit for his size. He can really pass.”
Chances are that Yang isn’t a major contributor as a rookie. Roster moves could change that, but the Blazers now have five centers under contract, led by starter Deandre Ayton and Clingan.
Plus, it’s altogether possible that the Blazers, who hope to reach the postseason after going 36-46, simply won’t have room in their rotation for a rookie center.
Schmitz said limits or expectations won’t be placed on Yang next season.
“I think where he’s ready is probably in his mind and his feel for the game, and his IQ,” Schmitz said. “He picks things up pretty quickly. The speed of the game, and defensively, all those things could take him some time.”
It’s possible, Schmitz said, that Yang plays his way into meaningful minutes or must spend time with the Rip City Remix.
“We don’t want to put too grandiose of expectations or too many limits on him, either,” Schmitz said. “Just because every time we see him, he continues to kind of exceed those expectations.”
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