2025 Blazer Draft Prospects

[DusterBuster]

Some other nuggets from last night after the pick, one draft reporter mentioned that in agent and league circles, it was known Portland was having some trouble getting players in to work at their pick because "right or wrong", the perception of the Blazers FO and organization right now is not high and some agents didn't want their clients to end up in Portland.

Which - if accurate - is imo one of the most damning things against Cronin even more than the incomprehensible roster decisions... He's spent most of his GM career trying to bend over backwards for players and agents in almost every scenario. He took a worse trade so CJ could goto the spot he wants out of the teams interested. He told Jrue he can pick his team to be rerouted to after the Dame deal. He didn't send Dame to his (only) preferred destination but arguably sent him to a BETTER situation in Milwaukee (at the very least, a better star next to him). He has basically bent over backwards to accommodate players and agents and what good will has that bought him? Apparently jack squat.

In a world of Joe Cronin's and Danny Ainge's... be a Danny Ainge people.

[Case2012]

Some other nuggets from last night after the pick, one draft reporter mentioned that in agent and league circles, it was known Portland was having some trouble getting players in to work at their pick because "right or wrong", the perception of the Blazers FO and organization right now is not high and some agents didn't want their clients to end up in Portland.

Which - if accurate - is imo one of the most damning things against Cronin even more than the incomprehensible roster decisions... He's spent most of his GM career trying to bend over backwards for players and agents in almost every scenario. He took a worse trade so CJ could goto the spot he wants out of the teams interested. He told Jrue he can pick his team to be rerouted to after the Dame deal. He didn't send Dame to his (only) preferred destination but arguably sent him to a BETTER situation in Milwaukee (at the very least, a better star next to him). He has basically bent over backwards to accommodate players and agents and what good will has that bought him? Apparently jack squat.

In a world of Joe Cronin's and Danny Ainge's... be a Danny Ainge people.

He needs to be removed today before he makes any more roster decisions, full stop. He's lost every trade, he has no respect from execs or agents, this needs to move into damage control RIGHT NOW.

[JRoy]

Some other nuggets from last night after the pick, one draft reporter mentioned that in agent and league circles, it was known Portland was having some trouble getting players in to work at their pick because "right or wrong", the perception of the Blazers FO and organization right now is not high and some agents didn't want their clients to end up in Portland.

Which - if accurate - is imo one of the most damning things against Cronin even more than the incomprehensible roster decisions... He's spent most of his GM career trying to bend over backwards for players and agents in almost every scenario. He took a worse trade so CJ could goto the spot he wants out of the teams interested. He told Jrue he can pick his team to be rerouted to after the Dame deal. He didn't send Dame to his (only) preferred destination but arguably sent him to a BETTER situation in Milwaukee (at the very least, a better star next to him). He has basically bent over backwards to accommodate players and agents and what good will has that bought him? Apparently jack squat.

In a world of Joe Cronin's and Danny Ainge's... be a Danny Ainge people.

He needs to be removed today before he makes any more roster decisions, full stop. He's lost every trade, he has no respect from execs or agents, this needs to move into damage control RIGHT NOW.

Come on.

He didn’t lose the Deni trade.

[DusterBuster]

Some other nuggets from last night after the pick, one draft reporter mentioned that in agent and league circles, it was known Portland was having some trouble getting players in to work at their pick because "right or wrong", the perception of the Blazers FO and organization right now is not high and some agents didn't want their clients to end up in Portland.

Which - if accurate - is imo one of the most damning things against Cronin even more than the incomprehensible roster decisions... He's spent most of his GM career trying to bend over backwards for players and agents in almost every scenario. He took a worse trade so CJ could goto the spot he wants out of the teams interested. He told Jrue he can pick his team to be rerouted to after the Dame deal. He didn't send Dame to his (only) preferred destination but arguably sent him to a BETTER situation in Milwaukee (at the very least, a better star next to him). He has basically bent over backwards to accommodate players and agents and what good will has that bought him? Apparently jack squat.

In a world of Joe Cronin's and Danny Ainge's... be a Danny Ainge people.

He needs to be removed today before he makes any more roster decisions, full stop. He's lost every trade, he has no respect from execs or agents, this needs to move into damage control RIGHT NOW.

He's not lost every trade, that's just objectively and factually false, but I understand the frustration making it feel that.

I'm not going to bother going into DEFCON 5 like some of ya'll here. We can scream til we're blue in the face and we're on our 11th keyboard from rage typing... it won't matter until the team is sold. Joe and Schmitz will have this gig until new ownership comes in. The Vulcans in Seattle don't give two **** what those two do. For better or worse, there's no ownership meddling in the roster decisions since Jodie doesn't care.

So for me, I'm not gonna let myself get this worked up over any of it until new ownership is here and they give this entire management team the big-ol pink slip. That's gonna be such a great day.

[Case2012]

Ok, he didn't lose the Deni trade on a talent level, fine.

[m0ng0]

And we don't know if he lost this trade/ draft of Yang, we did get an unprotected 1st in 2028...f*cking relax

[Myth]

At minimum, Blazers should have been able to trade with Pelicans instead of letting the Hawks do it. Hawks gave 13 (Queen) for 23 and the unprotected 2026 best of Pelicans/Bucks 1st. Pelicans won 21 games and should remain horrible, so that is a top 10 pick with a chance at winning the lottery. Surely the Pelicans could have more confidently landed Queen if Portland gave them 11 instead of them hoping Queen made it to 13 (which he did anyway obviously).

I think there is a high chance MIN or BRK take him 17 or 19 (Or 22) respectively.

That Pelicans pick alone should hold much more value than Yang. Then they could have gambled on getting Yang at 23. Worst case scenario, we get that high value pick and Asa Newell in this situation.

[DusterBuster]

And we don't know if he lost this trade/ draft of Yang, we did get an unprotected 1st in 2028...f*cking relax

Case making me agree with m0ng0 here... yeesh.

Labeling a player a bust literally less than 24 hours after the pick is incredible. I don't have high hopes, I wholeheartedly agree with Case's post about the measurements hit-rate for NBA players and the insanely low success rate of Chinese players in the NBA, but I'm not labeling players as anything until I see them play.

Ok, he didn't lose the Deni trade on a talent level, fine.

He also didn't lose the Dame trade I would argue. I would also say he didn't "lose" the Simons trade either... somewhat unconventional, but they got the better player in the deal and created an actual runway for Scoot hopefully (finally).

The team is still set up in a way that by the time a new ownership group comes in and potentially (please god) installs a new management team, that team should have pretty clear books to work with for the most part. Guys like Jrue and Grant will be in the final years of their deals, so the new group should have some expiring contracts and a decent collection of FRPs from 2028-2031, plus the Chicago obligation will mercifully be extinguished.

[DusterBuster]

At minimum, Blazers should have been able to trade with Pelicans instead of letting the Hawks do it. Hawks gave 13 (Queen) for 23 and the unprotected 2026 best of Pelicans/Bucks 1st. Pelicans won 21 games and should remain horrible, so that is a top 10 pick with a chance at winning the lottery. Surely the Pelicans could have more confidently landed Queen if Portland gave them 11 instead of them hoping Queen made it to 13 (which he did anyway obviously).

I think there is a high chance MIN or BRK take him 17 or 19 (Or 22) respectively.

That Pelicans pick alone should hold much more value than Yang. Then they could have gambled on getting Yang at 23. Worst case scenario, we get that high value pick and Asa Newell in this situation.

This I absolutely WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with.

I would have been fine punting on this whole draft to get that NO pick, almost guaranteed to be a Top 8 pick. I wouldn't have even cared if my Top 4 guys on my big board were gone by 23, gimme that unprotected Pelicans pick.

[mojomarc]

it's fun when I get to come out of hibernation after basically ignoring the entire pre-draft buildup and talent jockying. But having read through many of the comments, the videos, etc., here's my thought.

Someone said "this is a spicy pick" and I agree. But here's the thing--mid-first is a great place for a spicy pick. I mean look at the history of #16 picks. You have John Stockton, sure. And Nurkic was a #16. So was Vucevic. But after that the best are Dana Barros and Ricky Sobers? Does that sound about right? Seems like you get, in most years, some pretty average depth talent and not much more at #16. So take a swing for the fences.

As far as the "there are potential all stars down the draft that we could have taken" line? Sure--that's true every year. But the funny thing is that if you could predict who would be that pick it would look a lot like taking Yang--a big reach that no one expected. The guys who you expect to be all stars really tend to congregate in the first half of the lottery, not down at pick 10 or 11.

Could they have moved down further? Probably. But the risk on the other side is huge. At the bottom half of the first round are a lot of never will bes. Maybe Yang is in there, maybe he isn't. But you're still in the "it's a crapshoot" part of the draft. If you were going to take a shot at 22 or 26 with Yang, what happens if he's gone? You're stuck with choosing players that you think have even a lesser chance at being a lucky roll of the dice. And for me, I don't shed tears over players you get that are good 7th men on mediocre teams, and that is typically the best you hope for at the end of the draft. And at the end of the day, if the goal was to get him because he was their object of the draft, then what honestly is the difference between picking him at 16 vs. 22 or anywhere in the first round? Could you have squeezed out another second rounder somewhere? Maybe, but I think fans value those much more than NBA front offices do.

Could they have traded with NO instead? That's a good argument. But in the end,we did get a future first (along with the bevvy of first we got with the Dame trade and potentially some other assets in the "trade to be named later" Cronin was talking about) along with two seconds that could be flipped for something somewhere. It honestly isn't a bad trade if they thought he should go in the first round somewhere.

Will he pan out? No flippin' idea. I personally kind of like his footwork on the low post for someone 19. And he looks like he can finish a pick and roll reasonably well for someone his age as well. Maybe he becomes a decent rotation center on the cheap for a few years while we set up for a big haul from Milwaukie's collapse? I honestly think it doesn't matter that much because once we lost our chance at Flagg this draft to me was a throw away. We weren't going to get much that was going to be better than what we had, so it seems like the perfect occasion to take a flyer.

I totally get why people hate this. Cronin is a pretty divisive drafter (as was Olshey before him) and has a mixed record, and the team's future is in flux. Totally get that. And this is a team that overachieved last year to get to where they got. So adding in a really speculative talent when this team is probably closer to the 20s than the 40s for wins is going to really rub a lot of fans the wrong way. IMO, picking at 11 was really a no win anyway. You were not going to get anything that would push you out of mediocrity any time soon IMO. That's not a happy place to be. And picking a player that looks two years away from any real contribution doesn't help that. At the end of the day, I don't have any real argument against this position. Just that when the other choices won't move the needle it seems to me that taking a real chance isn't as condemnable an approach as many are painting it to be. And while Hollinger is a "what does he know?" kind of guy, he's also a guy that misses massively from time to time. After all, he had Deni as a potential bust in his draft year, which just goes to how this is such a crapshoot.

Spicy indeed.

[Case2012]

And we don't know if he lost this trade/ draft of Yang, we did get an unprotected 1st in 2028...f*cking relax

Case making me agree with m0ng0 here... yeesh.

Labeling a player a bust literally less than 24 hours after the pick is incredible. I don't have high hopes, I wholeheartedly agree with Case's post about the measurements hit-rate for NBA players and the insanely low success rate of Chinese players in the NBA, but I'm not labeling players as anything until I see them play.

Ok, he didn't lose the Deni trade on a talent level, fine.

He also didn't lose the Dame trade I would argue. I would also say he didn't "lose" the Simons trade either... somewhat unconventional, but they got the better player in the deal and created an actual runway for Scoot hopefully (finally).

The team is still set up in a way that by the time a new ownership group comes in and potentially (please god) installs a new management team, that team should have pretty clear books to work with for the most part. Guys like Jrue and Grant will be in the final years of their deals, so the new group should have some expiring contracts and a decent collection of FRPs from 2028-2031, plus the Chicago obligation will mercifully be extinguished.

Ok ok, I will chill. I really WANT Yang to do well, I'm just looking at facts man. We will look back for years and compare Yang to every player taken after 11 in this draft and the odds are against him.

Like you can say we cleared the way for Scoot but I don't think Holiday comes off the bench dude. When they keep doing things so illogical, my autistic brain just can't make sense of things and i go into this rage.

Everyone knows i was Coward fan number one and i got this brief moment of validation after weeks of posting about him just to have it ripped away for the lowest probability of success possible.

My reactions would be proportionate if Joe made moves that were actually good btw.

[oldfishermen]

My biggest concern with Yang is defense. I do not see any D skills on any level.

Yes he is huge, and will get in the way. But other than that, nothing on D.

[BlazersBroncos]

Ya I am just rolling with it. No reason to get too worked up. I mostly disagree with the pick since we spent 7 last year on a position locked C who is a good player in DC.

But on talent and development - who knows.

Early on Yang was getting some Top-5 hype (Back when he was 16/17/18). He sorta dropped off as new hot names appeared and then he came back in a big way with his play during the combine. I have not watched much of his play in China and I know the TO and shooting numbers are not great but I wonder how much of that is him being game planned for on defense?

As for athleticism, he certainly isnt Dwight Howard but he ranks well compared to the other R1 centers (Arguably Wolf isnt a C) -

Yang - 20yo / 7'2.25 / 7'2.25 WS / 253lbs / 30" Max Vert / 11.79 lane agility / 3.01 shuttle / 3.38 3/4 sprint / 9'3 standing reach
Maluach - 18.75yo / 7'2 / 7'6.75WS / 253lbs / 30" Max Vert / 12.05 lane agility / 3.44 shuttle / 3.50 3/4 sprint / 9'6 standing reach
Queen - 20.5yo / 6'10.5 / 7'0.5 WS / 248lbs / 28" Max Vert / 12.45 lane agility / 3.27 shuttle / 3.52 3/4 sprint / 9'1.5 standing reach
Sorber - 19.5yo / 6'10.5 / 7'6 WS / 263lbs - no athletic testing
Wolf - 21yo / 6'11.75 / 7'2.25 WS / 252lbs / 30" Max Vert / 11.26 lane agility / 2.91 shuttle / 3.51 3/4 sprint / 9'1 standing reach

Compared to the other C taken in the 1st Yang actually tested very, very well.

I am sort of shocked he tested this well.

[m0ng0]

Nobody remembers Portland worked him out around the end of May also.

[DusterBuster]

Ya I am just rolling with it. No reason to get too worked up. I mostly disagree with the pick since we spent 7 last year on a position locked C who is a good player in DC.

But on talent and development - who knows.

Early on Yang was getting some Top-5 hype (Back when he was 16/17/18). He sorta dropped off as new hot names appeared and then he came back in a big way with his play during the combine. I have not watched much of his play in China and I know the TO and shooting numbers are not great but I wonder how much of that is him being game planned for on defense?

As for athleticism, he certainly isnt Dwight Howard but he ranks well compared to the other R1 centers (Arguably Wolf isnt a C) -

Yang - 20yo / 7'2.25 / 7'2.25 WS / 253lbs / 30" Max Vert / 11.79 lane agility / 3.01 shuttle / 3.38 3/4 sprint / 9'3 standing reach
Maluach - 18.75yo / 7'2 / 7'6.75WS / 253lbs / 30" Max Vert / 12.05 lane agility / 3.44 shuttle / 3.50 3/4 sprint / 9'6 standing reach
Queen - 20.5yo / 6'10.5 / 7'0.5 WS / 248lbs / 28" Max Vert / 12.45 lane agility / 3.27 shuttle / 3.52 3/4 sprint / 9'1.5 standing reach
Sorber - 19.5yo / 6'10.5 / 7'6 WS / 263lbs - no athletic testing
Wolf - 21yo / 6'11.75 / 7'2.25 WS / 252lbs / 30" Max Vert / 11.26 lane agility / 2.91 shuttle / 3.51 3/4 sprint / 9'1 standing reach

Compared to the other C taken in the 1st Yang actually tested very, very well.

I am sort of shocked he tested this well.

Yang apparently had a great combine. He also apparently **** the bed in the Klutch Pro Day.

So legit, who the **** knows with this pick. Again, this is the kind of pick that if it pans out, might save their jobs with new owners. If it busts out, they're getting fired in the first 30 seconds of the first meeting with the new ownership group.

Some fun non-on-the-court conspiracy theories for why the Blazers took Yang. Potentially a China based ownership group like the Nets owner coming in to buy the Blazers. Huge interest in Portland from the China NBA market could help the $$$ side of the house for the next couple years with the pick... as crazy as it sounds, Yang could be top 10-20 in jersey sales from China alone.

Some other notes from the first round, apparently a lot of scouts had questions about KJ's confidence. It was bad in college and in all his workouts, he was never anyones top performer for any team he auditioned for, hence his slide from 11 to 20.

[oldfishermen]

Not sure anyone in China has the appetite right now to invest large sums in the USA, for two reasons.

China's economy is in a tail spin. Thousands of factories have closed.

Not sure of all the details, but. There appears to be a huge shift in politcal power at the very top taking place. Rumors have the military taking more control, for now. But the political power situation is fluid.

People in China with or controlling large sums are are not making large investments in the USA. China has sold off large amounts of a US dept. Not sure if accurate, but one reports claims China sold off $100 billion in the last year.

[mighty_duck]

That said - even in the rosiest of scenarios, he is at least two years away from being a rotation player.

In fact, he was a full time starter on his team in China. I know CBA is not the strongest basketball league around the world, but the same time he can't be compared to folks like Dragan Bender who had almost zero professional basketball exposure prior the NBA draft.
Yang either starts contribute after a short accomodation period or we can write him off quickly.

Anyway, his stats on the Chinese team look interesting. It seems he could really put the ball into the basket there. Makes sense why Blazers FO decided to roll a dice to see if his balling ability translates well into an NBA level and they managed to snatch another international talent like Sengun.

I hope you're right.
But young centers usually take more time to develop even when facing good competition before coming to the NBA.

On offense, he's going to find it hard to get the deep positioning he got in the CBA playing against NBA guys that are about his size, but quicker and stronger.
Making quality reads at the NBA pace takes experience, especially given that his Ast/TO rate suggest he already needed development making reads at the CBA level.
Can he box out against NBA athletes?
Can he defend other centers? Will he get killed on switches? Can he avoid fouls?

I doubt he checks any of those boxes consistently in year 1 or 2. The optimist in me hopes he'll get there eventually.

[DusterBuster]

Mid-day show had a draft writer on, one of the few who mocked Yang a 1st round pick. He said he's been following him for a few years, says he has a much better "feel" for the game than people realize. He also talked to ex-NBA players in the CBA and they all told him he's a NBA quality player... so take all that for whatever you will.

[Norm2953]

Not sure anyone in China has the appetite right now to invest large sums in the USA, for two reasons.

China's economy is in a tail spin. Thousands of factories have closed.

Not sure of all the details, but. There appears to be a huge shift in politcal power at the very top taking place. Rumors have the military taking more control, for now. But the political power situation is fluid.

People in China with or controlling large sums are are not making large investments in the USA. China has sold off large amounts of a US dept. Not sure if accurate, but one reports claims China sold off $100 billion in the last year.

China still holds $800 Billion in American debt and likely will own more if Trump's Tax Bill get's through

[BlazersBroncos]

I think the draftnik community has never wiffed on a prospect as much as they did Yang. Its very clear NBA FOs were much higher on this kid than the casuals and the draft media. I think it speaks in a way to recency bias - Yang has been on the radar since he was like 15. In that time tons of new names have popped up and he sort of slid into the background in terms of his prospect status. Then the combine hits, he shows out, and gets a bit more chatter (He was projected UDFA to late R2 - after the combine he shot up to high R2 status). End of the day the guys that are paid to scout prospects are much less likely to basically forget about a guy than the draftnik community is.

This pick sort of reminds me of Santi Aldama - hyped a bit in U-16 when he posted like 18 / 5 / 4. Then he sort of just disappeared, went to Loyola a college off the radar and suddenly MEM takes him 30. If I remember correctly he was a projected UFA in that draft.

As for Yang, there are numerous reports that MIN was targeting him 17 and BRK was for SURE taking him 19 or 22. Think its notable that he was at the draft to begin with - I would put my money on him having a promise from BRK at 19 or 22.

Its pretty wild to me. If he went in any of those slots - whether it was 22, 19, 17 or 16 - it would have drawn gasps. I will be optimistic. I am a sucker for bigs that can pass and his style of passing and general play reminds me a ton of PDX era Sabonis.