My thoughts on lesser competition is this. You have to dominate that competition to have a chance in hell of dominating the next level assist/TO ratio was 0 3 to 3 https://www.basketball-reference.com/international/players/hansen-yang-1.html
A few thoughts on that. We don't need him to dominate. We just need him to be good. And while he was not dominant, 16.6 PPG, 10.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.6 blocks are not bad for a 19-year-old. He also shot 58.6% from the field and 33.3% from three-point range. His assist/To rate is hard to gauge if his teammates can't score. Bottom line is he was 19 last year, so we have no idea how much better he can get....if at all. But when you watch him play, who doesn't think he has the potential to be pretty good?
Here are Yao's stats before he came to the NBA Ages were: 17 18 19 20 21 So when he was Yang's age, he was averaging 21.2 ppg and 14.5 rebounds. That's obviously better but Yao was an insane prospect. Also taller.
Wait, when the media pronounces his name, Yang rhymes with song or long or Kong. So the nickname Ying Yang will actually rhyme with Kling Kong. It IS Kling, not Cling, right?
Comparing their stats, 20+ years apart, isn't much of a barometer. Some people are claiming Hansen will be Jokic or Yao, but that's crazy to think at this point. I think Hansen's chance of being good is pretty high. Yao was expected to be a franchise player while Hansen isn't expected to have to start or play starter minutes. I'm sure he'll be brought along slowly and probably won't even play much right away unless there's an injury or he just blows them away in preseason. I'm interested in seeing two things with him. First, can he adapt to the size and speed he'll face, especially in defensive switch situations. If he can learn to not let someone much quicker than him just blow by him, that will go a long way towards him being able to stay on the court. And second, not right away but later in the year, will Chauncey trust him enough to run some plays for him, especially on the low block. Watching his highlights, he seems to be a throwback big man that has spent time working on post moves. Will they give him that opportunity or not.
