Portland Trail Blazers fans were the first to get a glimpse into the first round rookie in the NBA Summer League, comparing him to Nikola Jokic.
The Trail Blazers were chosen 16th in this year’s draft and were not expected to pick up the best talent available. However, it appears that future stars may have fallen to their laps.
Their first round picks went up 10 points, five assists, four rebounds and three blocks on his first summer league outing. After seeing him play for the first time, Blazers fans are ready to hand him the keys to the franchise.
China’s 7’1 inch center Yang Hansen has been getting a lot of hype from the draft. However, at the age of 16 he was considered a reaching out to a big draft surprise when Yang was taken away like that.
He has incredible support from his hometown. And Yang’s work ethic and playmaking skills compare to Nikola Jokic as a seven-footer draw.
His summer league opener even made fans wonder if he should surpass the Cooper Flag.
One fan wonders to me on X: “Was Cooper Flag really supposed to be his first pick to watch Jan Hansen play?” ”
Another suggested that Yang had the best ceiling among the rookies.
We’re one game, but Blazers fans are hyping up on Yang. “I’ve seen enough. Jan Hansen is the face of Portland,” some are ready to call it the face of the franchise.
The other, in addition to the hype, put him among the greatest trail blazer greats of all time, “The latest blazer list on all time: 1. Lillard, 2. Drexler, 3. Walton, 4. Jan Hansen.”
The Jokick comparison flooded when fans saw the Big Man’s playmaking abilities. He is already called the next Jokic.
Fans said, “What we’re hoping Hansen Yang will actually become an NBA star is the amount of physicality he plays. He’s really the closest outlook he’s seen in Jokic.”
Another person immediately compared.
What makes Yang’s performance even more impressive is how he did it all through the language barrier. He knows English, but is not enough to call plays and communicate properly. Yang also conducted all the postgame interviews through an interpreter.
When asked how he manipulated the language barrier, he said, “I know a bit of English, so I try to try my English, but if that doesn’t work, I just scream ‘Ah, ah, ah, ahhhh’ until something happens! ”
He knows how to apologize, as a limited number of British Yang knows. Coach Chauncy Billup, who spoke about language issues after drafting Yang, told him to stop during his debut.
Yang said, “Sometimes I made mistakes and told my teammates, ‘My bad, my bad,’ and (Bill Up) said, ‘Hanson, no more.
It’s a scary thought to know that Yang works at this level without knowing many English. Wait until he can talk to his teammates!