Portland GM admits Yang Hansen ‘unconventional pick’, NBA stunned by draft choice
Yang says Portland Trail Blazers, who took him at No 16 in trade with Memphis Grizzlies, had been scouting him for past two years
Yang Hansen was selected 16th overall by the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA draft in New York on Wednesday, in a move that stunned the league and was called “unconventional” by his new boss.
No one expected Yang to go early in the first round of the draft, not least the man himself, who was sitting in the stands among fans at the Barclays Centre when his name was called.
And Portland traded down from No 11 to get him on the eve of his 20th birthday, in what one front-office official called the “wildest pick I’ve ever seen”.
In comments reported by Brett Siegel of the Clutch Points website, the official added that “those jobs up there [Portland] are on the line”.
In a press conference afterwards, Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin, who would be among those in the firing line should this go wrong, admitted it was an “unconventional pick”. Before the draft, perceived wisdom had Yang going early in the second round at best.