Event With the 16th pick, Blazers have selected Hansen Yang

We actually didn’t win ENOUGH games last year. 4 more wins and we would’ve gotten Flagg.

 

You try to collect high lottery picks because they are more likely to turn into stars, not so you can trade them.

There will be some who will "fail", or who you decide not to keep (again, this is less likely the earlier you draft). But even those you decide not to keep are good assets because you can trade them.

 

My goal was never to get Flagg. That would have been a nice surprise, but I would have never counted on it, just like I would never count on winning at the casino (or Keno, or Powerball).

The statistics tell us it is highly unlikely.

 

Most high lottery picks actually do fail. It's just lower picks fail even more often.

Fultz was #1 overall and Bagley #2 - I never heard anyone consider them good trade assets.

 

If we drafted both of them that would have been a fail. That's also not a likely scenario.

 

They were different years so entirely possible.

But look at seven straight years of #1 overall picks last decade. Put all of these guys on one team and they wouldn't have won squat.

Zion
Ayton
Fultz
Simmons
KAT
Wiggins
Bennett

 

But what were those guys traded for? What could they have been traded for?

You could have gotten an absolute haul at a certain point from any of Zion, Ayton, Simmons, KAT, or Wiggins (is Butler a haul?).

 

Wiggins was traded for DeAngelo Russell.

I guess the best was probably Simmons for a fat old expensive Harden?

Ayton for Nurk and Grayson Allen?

Bennett I think was just cut.

I'm not seeing a haul.

 

Wiggins was traded for Jimmy Butler... Ayton could have fetched a boatload his first couple seasons.

Obviously Zion could have gotten a haul at any point.

If you don't see the value in those players at certain points then I don't know what to say... Other than you're trying not to.

 

Wiggins first team the Timberwolves traded him for DeAnglo Russell. We were discussing teams getting lottery picks.

Yeah of course the #1 pick has value at points in time. But ultimately you have 7 CONSECUTIVE years of examples there of those guys that have been irrelevant to leading a contender.

That was my point, that even 7 years of #1 overall picks wouldn't get a team to a title. Even if you put them all on one team.

I also disagree with your notion that top lottery picks can be flipped for value when they flop. We've seen many examples where they're not.

NBA draft picks are like a new car. Drive it off the lot and it immediately losses a third the value. That's why we see so many trades the day of the draft. But hardly any for years afterwards.

Now I do think draft picks and lottery picks can be an extremely valuable tool to build a contender. But it's just one of many needed tools. It's not the sole critical tool as many of your posts indicate.

 

That would be an interesting starting unit though.....

Simmons
Fultz
Wiggins
Zion
KAT

You have some good shooting in KAT and Wiggins. You have good passing with Simmons. Zion would be amazing for like 30 games. Fultz would be your biggest issue..... and health.

 

That's fine. We can agree to disagree.

When this group is in a championship game you can remind me how right you were.

 

So you get the field of 29 teams and I get 1?

What's one example of a team tanking for more than 4 years and contending as you often post the Blazers should do?

OKC only tanked two seasons so no they don't count.

 

It would have been crazy exciting around the drafts and with the hype but eventually back in reality:

Two are nearly out of the league (Ben & Fultz)
One is best as a backup in Wiggins
One is perpetually injured and poor defensively
One is equally poor defensively but probably the best by default.

All are super overpaid so that roster wouldn't have any other talent.

If anything those #1 picks seem like a curse as players get max deals even with major flaws.

 

Washington Post reports Yang biggest star of Summer League and not just physically.

 

OKC had a ton of picks from trades. If we had that we could probably get away with a short tank as well.

But they were built through the draft.

Philadelphia was built through the draft. Boston was built through the draft. Golden State was built through the draft.

 

G1: +19
G2: +5
G3: +2
G4: +19
G5: DNP, Blazers lost by 24

• Positive +/- in every game he played, more than passed the eye test, too.
• I wished he filled up the boxscore a little more, but he really played facilitator.
• He struggled a few times, which I loved. His opponents made it clear what he needs to work on.
• Overcame language barrier, and SERIOUS pressure:
  • From the Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/07/20/yang-hansen-trail-blazers-nba/
  • "Back in China, 5.2 million people watched Tencent’s free broadcast of the Blazers’ exhibition against the Memphis Grizzlies, according to an NBA official, dwarfing the 1.1 million Americans who watched No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg’s debut for the Dallas Mavericks on ESPN. On Tencent’s paywalled service, one of Yang’s games drew 3.4 million viewers — 16 times the service’s average. And on China Central Television, Yang’s summer league games garnered larger average audiences than the national broadcast network’s telecasts of this year’s NBA playoffs." (emphasis mine)

 

I hadn't heard that stat of Yang summer league surpassing playoff games. That's nuts!

 

If ever Yang got the start, Make Mason should be ready for that Mandarin Intro - We got one from Belgium, One from Israel and Now one from China. Mark Mason will be very busy

 

Now imagine Rupert starts with them