And With the 16th Pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, The Portland Trail Blazers Select... Yang Hansen?

On a night of “guarantees”, “pretty sures”, and “what ifs”, the Portland Trail Blazers went with a “huh?”. After trading with the Memphis Grizzlies the 11th Pick (Cedric Coward) for the 16th Pick and a 2028 1st Round pick and two 2nd Round picks.

The Blazers were expected to draft anyone from Cedric Cower, Derik Queen, Carter Bryant, Thomas Sorber, or even Kasparas Jakucionis. But Joe Cronin and Mike Schmitz had other plans. They selected Yang Hansen, the 19-year-old Center (who turned 20 on June 26—the day of the 2nd Round), who’s more affectionately known as “Chinese Jokic”, from the grandstands. Not even the floor with the tables filled with players and their families. He had to walk down the steps and figure out a path to get to Adam Silver and the stage. Casey Holdahl recently interviewed Hansen who mentioned he was in the middle of eating fried chicken when his name was called. A hilarious comparison to Jokic who was famously drafted in the 2nd Round during a Taco Bell ad. A surprise is an understatement as Blazers’ twitter was as shocked as anyone when Silver announced Hansen’s name.

Who is this kid who was expected to go in the middle of the 2nd Round? He measured in at 7’1” and 253lbs with a 9’3” standing reach. Yeah, he’s tall but height and basketball quality don’t go hand-in-hand.

*Mike Schmitz has entered the chat*

Back in December 2023, he was seen in China to watch Hansen as he put up a 31-16-4-4 stat line. Rocketing passes around the court like he’s been in The League for over a decade. Clearly this isn’t a fluke if the man who helped create Draft Express is heavily interested in him. And since the Blazers were fielding offers for the 11th pick, they felt if they found a suitor after 16 he might not be available, so here we are. They didn’t want to let the two-time Chinese CBA Rooking of the Year (yes you read that correctly) slip through their fingers. All of this to say, it’s understood the Blazers have had their eyes on Hansen since well before the 2025 NBA Combine, and their proverbial eyes don’t look to be fuller than their basketball bellies.

The most obvious question about Yang Hansen is if he’s going to be another injury flameout like other Blazer bigs, or if he’s going to fall more in line with the stability of Yao Ming and Nikola Jokic. Unfortunately for the Blazers, their history with drafting tall, young dudes hasn’t been the greatest: Sam Bowie and Greg Oden to name a couple. But if the tape we’ve seen on Hansen tells his story more than the previous, it’s that he is (from our limited resources) sturdy. He’s not thin, lanky, and had previous injuries like Sam Bowie. He can move up and down the court and can take some hits under the basket. On top of that, his court vision is why people are comparing him to Jokic. Even Domantas Sabonis had great things to say in an interview on Hansen. And to be honest, the more tape I’m watching the more I’m believing Schmitz and Cronin knew what they were doing.

Summer League will be our first chance to see how he looks, and it might be one of the most anticipated games outside of Cooper Flagg and some of the other top 5ish draftees. There’s a lot of faith in Chauncey and Cronin of the direction of this team. And if they’re going to continue to build a defensive identity, getting a 7’1” big man that can throw the rock around to cutters in his sleep isn’t a bad idea. Maybe there’s something brewing in Portland? If this works, Hansen is gonna be talked about for years. If not, it’ll be another page in the book of swing-and-misses by Portland. It’s time for this to work. Not because I’m begging for it to work as a diehard fan, but at some point, you’re gonna hit the home run you’ve been swinging for after all these years.

WE HAVE A TRADE: Anfernee Simons + Picks for Jrue Holiday

In the late hours of June 23rd, a day removed from an OKC championship and a devastating injury to the star of the Improbable Indiana Pacers, the Blazers made a splash two days before the 2025 NBA Draft with a trade.

We traded Anfernee Simons (and some 2nd Round picks) for Jrue Holiday. At first glance, it's slightly sad to see Ant leave the city that drafted him, but this is definitely a positive for the team's growth. Ant is great offensively and bad defensively. Jrue is good offensively and tremendous defensively. Yes, Jrue is 35. Yes, he’s past his peak. But Jrue can still hoop and, more importantly, mentor Scoot and Shaedon to improve their defensive skills and serve as a championship-winning vet presence in the locker room for these young studs. Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports said it well on the benefits of this trade for Portland, in that there are too many young guards wanting to play and prove their worth, something Jrue doesn’t need to do at this point in his career.

Overall, I love this for Portland. Ant was the last piece of the Olshey regime, so Cronin can officially say this team is his, and that should help propel them forward even more than the growth seen last season. They can continue the “defensive mindset” Chauncey is instilling with the addition of Jrue. Toumani and Deni can continue to be the focal piece of this dominant defense, with Tisse and Clingan providing additional support. Scoot and Shaedon are both still finding their footing in the NBA, and Jrue might be the guy needed to make this leap. All of this, with the #11 pick on Wednesday’s NBA Draft, should create a dark horse team in a crowded Western Conference. Considering all this happened on the first day of the offseason, it’s hard to get too “in the weeds” before knowing how the rest of the summer shakes out. However, it’s hard not to be excited about this team and its identity (something we’ve lacked for years) as we look forward to the offseason.

Good luck to Ant in Boston. They have a lot of moves left to make, so it's hard to know if he’s going to stay put, but if he does, the rest of the NBA will get to see why we loved him in pinwheeled red and black.

Assumed Starting 5 after this trade: Jrue, Shae, Toumani, Deni, Clingan.
Rotation: Scoot, Tisse, Jerami, Rob Will, Ayton
The Rest: Dalano, Kris, Jabari, Doup, Rayan

Full Trade Details:
Portland Trail Blazers Receives
- Jrue Holiday

Boston Celtics Receives
- Anfernee Simons
- 2030 2nd Round Pick (Knicks)
- 2031 2nd Round Pick (Trail Blazers)

Next up: NBA Draft 6/25

Week 25

The 2024-25 season for the Portland Trail Blazers has come to an end. Lots of ups and down. Lots of highlights and lowlights. But the biggest thing is we made significant progress on the identity of this team and still will land a decent lottery pick in a deep draft. The extension of Chauncey will be a big topic of conversation this summer, as well as, what we do with some of our guys i.e. Ant, Jerami, Ayton, Robert Williams, and a few of the contracts that have optional extensions. I would rate this season a success for the positive movement of this franchise and can’t wait to see how it continues in the Fall.

Game #80 - 4/9 @ Utah (113-126 L)

A battle between two teams not looking to win ended in an OT loss for the Blazers. Shaedon, once again, excelled in a game that was without Ant, Deni, Ayton, Jerami, and Scoot. This is great to see him take control of the scoring and leadership of the team. He’s known for his quiet demeanor, but this season he has really come out of his shell on the court: he’s scoring more, he’s being involved in more plays, and he’s seen interacting with the team more and more. Chauncey, once again, made some “tanking subs”, subbing out Shaedon and Toumani, for all of OT. It is in Portland’s best interest to lose these games for better draft position. It’s just tough to watch these games knowing they would’ve won the game if it were in the middle of the regular season, but with the playoffs out of reach, this decision making does make sense.

Game #81 - 4/11 vs Golden State (103-86 L)

A classic “last week of the regualr season game between a team that needs a win and a team that doesn’t want anymore wins” game. This is a pretty common phrase, for those unfamiliar. In short, the Warriors came to play and came to win. And win they did. Golden State played their normal starters and the Blazers only gave Toumani the nod from the normal crew. Yeah, Clingan started but on the depth chart (according to the team not me) he is not the starter if Ayton is healthy. Either way, each team got what they want out of this game, which is great! The game itself? Nothing to write home about. Clingan had a double-double (14/15) with Bari leading the way offensively with 19 points and Rayan Rupert following him up with 15 points. The Warriors had only one player on the court longer than 30 minutes, showcasing their point difference and desire to rest their guys for the season finale. Game 82 is on Sunday and it’s unclear how it’ll go with the Lakers having locked up the 3-seed.

Game #82 - 4/13 vs LA Lakers (109-81 W)

Welp. The Blazers boatraced the Lakers as they sat everyone relevant for the playoffs. Bronny James got his first start, scoring 4 points on 38 minutes (yikes). Maybe that’s a product of the Blazers defense or it’s just a classic rookie situation not having had that kind of playing time until a meaningless game to end the season. I think the biggest difference between these team’s lineups is that the Lakers traditionally have the same rotation and the Blazers have thrown in a number of guys to get 20+ minutes. Since the Lakers haven’t had much of that, I’d guess that’s why we had the outcome of this game. Either way, a win here isn’t the end of the world since we somehow lost to the Jazz at the beginning of the week.

Record: 1-2 (36-46)

Next Up: 5/12 NBA Draft Lottery

Week 24

The final week of the NBA regular season is starting next week, and it’s looking like the Blazers have the 10th pick locked up. With games against the Jazz, who have no desire to win, and the Warriors and Lakers, who are desperately looking for wins, the team will most likely be 1-2 on the week and 36-46 on the season overall. This is great for us since there isn’t much of a cause for our draft positioning to worsen. Lots of “wait and see” during the last week, but it will at least make for a great time seeing how the West’s seeding will look.

Game #76 - 4/1 @ Atlanta (127-113 W)

A 15-point lead that quickly diminished in the fourth quarter eventually led to a W in Atlanta. Once again, Deni showed why he is the driving force behind this team. As I’ve said, how we got him from Washington for almost nothing is confusing as everything gets out. But we’re not here to overthink good things. Another good thing is that Shaedon is in a groove and is starting to prove his worth as a #7 NBA Draft pick. But outside of this, it was a battle of defensive prowess: Toumani vs Dyson Daniels. From a +/- perspective, Toumani outplayed Dyson +9 to -20. You could even toss Matisse in there too if you want to add more defense to this game. But this game had everything the Blazers wanted in a game. It had a crazy 30/15/10 Deni triple-double. It had a defensive Toumani celly. It had some steals from Matisse. It even had some big man threes. It’s clear we can beat the middling teams, and that, in and of itself, is a massive improvement from last season when every game felt like a coin toss.

Game #77 - 4/3 @ Toronto (112-103 W)

Shaedon Sharpe is every player’s favorite highlight reel. With Anfernee still out, Dalano got the start and continues proving he has a valuable spot on this roster, scoring 23 points. Deni did Deni things with 26 points and 15 rebounds. This game was back and forth until the Blazers fully grasped the lead in Q4. This Toronto team isn’t scary, but when it’s the end of the season, you never know what will happen, so it’s great to see us take control of the game late. Shaedon was the best player on the court and set a new record for a Canadian player scoring the most points against Toronto. The growth of Shaedon this season has been detrimental to the development of this team.

Game #78 - 4/4 @ Chicago (118-113 L)

A 15-point, fourth-quarter lead was too much for Portland to overcome against the Bulls in Chicago. A 15-2 run over 5:44 cut the lead to 106-108, but it wasn’t enough for the Blazers to prevail. Once again, in back-to-back games, it was the Deni, Shae, and Dalano show, with each scoring 37, 17, and 21, respectively. Unfortunately, Nikola Vucevic, Coby White, and Josh Giddey had other plans as they led the charge for holding off Portland. This was a weird one from Chauncey. Amid the late run, he subbed out Deni and Shaedon with 3:00 left on the clock. In a game that technically doesn’t matter since the Blazers are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, it matters emotionally for the season. I get the rationale to help us with a better draft pick, but ultimately it seemed pretty lame and reminiscent of Chauncey’s tenure in Portland late in the season - tanking. Either way, this season has already proved a lot to the city of Portland and the rest of the league that we, as an organization, have decided how this team will operate moving forward - winning.

Game #79 - 4/6 vs San Antonio (120-109 W)

The good guys won a game that ultimately didn’t matter. (That’s us. We’re the good guys.) We took control midway through the first quarter and never released it. Deni couldn’t continue his hot streak of scoring due to a right thumb sprain. BUT we got back to some of our original ways of balanced scoring, with four guys scoring 18+ points and Shaedon and Toumani providing double-doubles. Great to see a solid performance from Kris Murray, too. He’s not getting tons of minutes, but Chauncey is doing the right thing by having some guys like Kris and Jabari get real minutes outside of the fourth quarter. Although the season is ending and they’re officially out of playoff contention, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with Chauncey’s starting lineup decisions. I’d assume it’ll be similar to tonight, but who knows?

Record: 3-1 (35-44)

Next Week’s Games: 4/9 @ Utah, 4/11 vs Golden State, 4/13 vs LA Lakers

Week 23

I’ll say this. The Blazers look like they have decided on the team's direction. This is something that has not been the case for the last few years. The trade for Deni is quickly becoming the best thing during the offseason. Plus, the inclusion of Toumani Camara will haunt the Suns as one of the dumbest decisions this decade. And then, we're taking a flyer on Shaedon because we needed help at every position, so we might as well take the crazy athletic dude jumping out of gyms, even though he hasn’t played a single minute of competitive ball since high school. The last two weeks now seem to be filled with more losses than wins, which at this point is fine. We proved to the NBA that we can be a good defensive team, and we’re ending the season on a high level regardless of our finishing record.

Game #73 - 3/25 vs Cleveland (122-111 L)

Unfortunately, this result was inevitable. The Cavs are one tough team to beat this year, especially with the addition of De’Andre Hunter as a spark plug off the bench and Ty Jerome continuing his heater of a season. The Blazers had a decently even scoring night with six guys all scoring between 13 and 18 points, with Clingan and Shaedon leading the way with 18 each. But when your opponent shoots 54% from the floor, taking 12 fewer shots than you, that’s gonna be a tough recipe for success. As much as our defense has improved since the New Year, you have to perform special against a team like Cleveland. Getting Matisse back is massive for this team, especially when he can have sticky hands on defense and make 5/6 shots from deep. This loss doesn’t put us out of the Play-In, but it doesn’t help our cause when teams like Dallas and Phoenix win games.

Game #74 - 3/27 @ Sacramento (128-107 L)

This is a terrible result in a must-win game against a team also fighting for the playoffs. Not only were the Blazers more than capable of winning this game, but they’ve been trending better than the Kings as of late. Neither team has had a stellar month of March, but the Blazers’ losses are to teams they probably should be losing to, i.e., the Celtics and Cavs. This game featured scoring from the starters on each side of the ball. Ant, Toumani, and Shaedon scored 20+, with Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, and Keegan Murray all scoring 17+. And with all that scoring coming from the starters, the Blazers lead at the 8:17 mark in Q1 and then surrendered the lead for the rest of the game. With this loss being to a team we need to beat, it drastically lessens our odds for the Play-In. We would need to run the table and hope for many losses from the Suns, Mavs, and Kings. The season seems not to be in our hands like it was a week ago, and losses might be the move to improve our odds in the draft.

Game #75 - 3/30 @ New York (110-93 L)

What a collapse in the 4th Quarter. Getting outscored by 16 in the last 12 minutes is quite catastrophic against a team locked into the 3-seed in the East. They need to coast these previous handful of games, and a loss to the Blazers was much more of a necessity for Portland than New York. OG Anunoby cooked us and underscored Deni’s 33-point evening, scoring 28 points on 69% shooting with 7 rebounds. This was a very back-and-forth game that maybe Chauncey decided to give up once Q4 started, knowing the probability of making the Play-In isn’t in the cards anymore. It’s tough to think that’s the case when January came with the commentary about him leading the mentality of “keeping everyone accountable”. And it would be a disservice to him, and ultimately hypocritical, for him to give up with eight games remaining.

Record: 0-3 (32-43)

Next Week’s Games: 4/1 @ Atlanta, 4/3 @ Toronto, 4/4 @ Chicago, 4/6 vs San Antonio