YouTube Gold: What’s The Deal With Yang Hansen?

Perhaps the most intriguing first round pick. Can he live up to the hype?

The NBA Draft is always full of surprises and none of them were bigger this year than Portland getting Yang Hansen at #16.

We started hearing about him before the draft but still didn't know much about him. As it turns out, the basic book on Yang is that he’s 7-1, good but not overly athletic but with real court vision and is an outstanding passer.

On the bright side, he’s been mentioned as the natural heir to Yao Ming, a 7-6 star who was forced into early retirement with bad feet.

He’s also been compared to Nikola Jokic, but that seems quite premature at this point.

Still, he is a nice player who could become very good down the road. But is the pick justified?

It might be basketball wise if he can play at the NBA level and hold his own.

However, this video suggests that Yang’s primary value might be that he’s marketable back home in China.

With an NBA audience said to number around 300 million, having a Chinese star on your team is going to sell a lot of jerseys and memorabilia. In that sense, signing Yang isn’t just a good thing. It’s potentially highly lucrative.

And if he becomes a great player, then so much the better for everyone.