Preseason game 1 Portland vs Golden State 7:00 pm

[dckingsfan]

* I never bought into the Yang hype. And I'm not impressed with the Blazers using two straight lottery picks on slow-footed 7' C's. They can't play together, and there's not enough minutes for two drop-coverage C's n the modern NBA. It won't matter much when they are both on rookie scale deals. But IMO the Blazers will have to make a choice when they graduate to 2nd contracts and I can't see Yang ever being as good as Clingan. That said, I think he'll be better than he was last night.

So, I don't disagree with the final assessment. But...

If Clingan is a 28 min per game guy and and Yang is a 20 minute per game guy - you have your C rotation down for a few years. That isn't a bad thing.

I also noticed that Clingan was moving really well until the ankle thing. I am not sure I will concede Clingan as "slow footed" at this point. Is he going to go out and pickup fast PGs - no. But he is a solid defensive anchor.

My expectation was that Yang wouldn't be this far along at this point - so, maybe a different perspective.

Clingan might not be the fastest but he was part of the team massively improving on paint defense, he was one of the best at protecting the rim last year and that's despite being not the most agile. He has a great BB IQ and that's just evident watching him play, I believe he was easily the best pick at that point.

Yep, spot on. My only point was he was moving much better than last year - I think that is only going to improve.

[Walton1one]

Yeah, but Yang has got to rebound\position himself better, Beyond the, he fouled out in 20min of play, he netted 4 rebounds in those 21 minutes.

DC got 7 in 11min, Sharpe 6,Avdija 8, Wesley 6, Rupert had 5 in 14min, Grant...GRANT had 5

Certainly he can improve on that? He likely is not going to get any faster\quicker than he is, but he should be able to position himself better, but then again, I never saw it with this guy anyway.

[dckingsfan]

Agree with the sentiment Yang may have time in the G League, especially with strong center play elsewhere on this roster. He has nice skills but man is he several steps slower than anyone on the court right now.

G-League is not going to help with that....

Or they were just really bad players... maybe???

Agreed, both things can be true though.

I caught the last 3 quarters of the game, stupid antenna...

Sissoko is not an NBA caliber player, neither is Love for that matter or 26yr old Cook, and yet all are on 2-way contracts.

b\u center figures to be an issue this year, and if DC goes down for any time, oh boy....

Reath looked ok, but he is a 3rd string center. The more he plays, the worse he looks. I have zero faith in Williams staying healthy for any amount of significant time and Yang....well, he is a LONG way from helping, if at all.

yeah, if there is one thing that left me chilly on this FO was the poor formation of their two-way players and getting young players into the development process... really not a good look.

[Wizenheimer]

* I never bought into the Yang hype. And I'm not impressed with the Blazers using two straight lottery picks on slow-footed 7' C's. They can't play together, and there's not enough minutes for two drop-coverage C's n the modern NBA. It won't matter much when they are both on rookie scale deals. But IMO the Blazers will have to make a choice when they graduate to 2nd contracts and I can't see Yang ever being as good as Clingan. That said, I think he'll be better than he was last night.

So, I don't disagree with the final assessment. But...

If Clingan is a 28 min per game guy and and Yang is a 20 minute per game guy - you have your C rotation down for a few years. That isn't a bad thing.

I also noticed that Clingan was moving really well until the ankle thing. I am not sure I will concede Clingan as "slow footed" at this point. Is he going to go out and pickup fast PGs - no. But he is a solid defensive anchor.

My expectation was that Yang wouldn't be this far along at this point - so, maybe a different perspective.

you're not going to play 48 minutes with a pair of drop coverage C's. NBA opponents are going to run a lot of small ball....it's how the league has evolved. Obviously, with injuries and missed games, you can't just equate minutes/game with 48 as a cap. Last season, Portland's 4 C's averaged 76 minutes. But if it's a primary 2 man rotation at C, the Blazers are going to need a backup more like Timelord or Lively, than a weaker rebounding and worse rim protecting C than Clingan.

the hype for Hansen has been wild. It was like he was ready to pass Clingan for minutes when the reality is he's a project C that may never do essential C things as well as Clingan

[dckingsfan]

* I never bought into the Yang hype. And I'm not impressed with the Blazers using two straight lottery picks on slow-footed 7' C's. They can't play together, and there's not enough minutes for two drop-coverage C's n the modern NBA. It won't matter much when they are both on rookie scale deals. But IMO the Blazers will have to make a choice when they graduate to 2nd contracts and I can't see Yang ever being as good as Clingan. That said, I think he'll be better than he was last night.

So, I don't disagree with the final assessment. But...

If Clingan is a 28 min per game guy and and Yang is a 20 minute per game guy - you have your C rotation down for a few years. That isn't a bad thing.

I also noticed that Clingan was moving really well until the ankle thing. I am not sure I will concede Clingan as "slow footed" at this point. Is he going to go out and pickup fast PGs - no. But he is a solid defensive anchor.

My expectation was that Yang wouldn't be this far along at this point - so, maybe a different perspective.

you're not going to play 48 minutes with a pair of drop coverage C's. NBA opponents are going to run a lot of small ball....it's how the league has evolved. Obviously, with injuries and missed games, you can't just equate minutes/game with 48 as a cap. Last season, Portland's 4 C's averaged 76 minutes. But if it's a primary 2 man rotation at C, the Blazers are going to need a backup more like Timelord or Lively, than a weaker rebounding and worse rim protecting C than Clingan.

the hype for Hansen has been wild. It was like he was ready to pass Clingan for minutes when the reality is he's a project C that may never do essential C things as well as Clingan

This will be interesting to watch going forward, for sure.

Again, I didn't think he would be a meaningful contributor this season - so maybe a different perspective. What did shock me was how good Clingan was last year. If Hansen develops over the next season or two - I am good with that.

[DusterBuster]

It absolutely makes my blood boil. Deni has poured his blood, sweat and tears into carrying this team, and Grant is there getting paid more than double the money to be a flog.

If Billups has any backbone he'll make this swap and move Grant to the bench. He's an absolute flop.

Billups said he is trying a different starting lineup in every single pre-season game the notion that the players we see out there are the for sure starters on day 1 is bull.

I just came in here to post this same thing. The Blazers are a surprisingly deep team this year so there will have to be some tough decisions on playing time. This is part of an effort to manage that. If anything, Billups had his one player who will likely get the most PT on the bench as a goodwill message that players should feel they have the ability this preseason game to earn time in the rotation.

Agree with the sentiment Yang may have time in the G League, especially with strong center play elsewhere on this roster. He has nice skills but man is he several steps slower than anyone on the court right now.

Sharpe and Camara looking like they want to get PAID. Both were stellar tonight.

Camara was always gonna get paid. I've been beating the drum that I think Camara can be a Butler / PG lite player when his career is said and done. Just being a little older doesn't mean you can't continually improve. I think a lot of fans look at the fact that he came in as a 23yo rookie to unfairly cap what he can be.

Sharpe was more of the questionmark, but he's clearly on a mission to erase that asap.

[monopoman]

* I never bought into the Yang hype. And I'm not impressed with the Blazers using two straight lottery picks on slow-footed 7' C's. They can't play together, and there's not enough minutes for two drop-coverage C's n the modern NBA. It won't matter much when they are both on rookie scale deals. But IMO the Blazers will have to make a choice when they graduate to 2nd contracts and I can't see Yang ever being as good as Clingan. That said, I think he'll be better than he was last night.

So, I don't disagree with the final assessment. But...

If Clingan is a 28 min per game guy and and Yang is a 20 minute per game guy - you have your C rotation down for a few years. That isn't a bad thing.

I also noticed that Clingan was moving really well until the ankle thing. I am not sure I will concede Clingan as "slow footed" at this point. Is he going to go out and pickup fast PGs - no. But he is a solid defensive anchor.

My expectation was that Yang wouldn't be this far along at this point - so, maybe a different perspective.

you're not going to play 48 minutes with a pair of drop coverage C's. NBA opponents are going to run a lot of small ball....it's how the league has evolved. Obviously, with injuries and missed games, you can't just equate minutes/game with 48 as a cap. Last season, Portland's 4 C's averaged 76 minutes. But if it's a primary 2 man rotation at C, the Blazers are going to need a backup more like Timelord or Lively, than a weaker rebounding and worse rim protecting C than Clingan.

the hype for Hansen has been wild. It was like he was ready to pass Clingan for minutes when the reality is he's a project C that may never do essential C things as well as Clingan

Keep in mind a large portion of that hype is from China and the Chinese fans, he is their biggest hyped player since Yao Ming. Now Yao had a much higher chance of panning out, but when you have a potential 1.49 billion fans, and a high prospect player out of China comes around so rarely it's a huge deal.

It would be one thing if China produced a 1st round draft pick every other year, but that is not the case. Obviously we are insulated a bit from the hype since most of us are not reading Chinese social media, or watching Chinese news but it still causes ripples here.

[Wizenheimer]

So, I don't disagree with the final assessment. But...

If Clingan is a 28 min per game guy and and Yang is a 20 minute per game guy - you have your C rotation down for a few years. That isn't a bad thing.

I also noticed that Clingan was moving really well until the ankle thing. I am not sure I will concede Clingan as "slow footed" at this point. Is he going to go out and pickup fast PGs - no. But he is a solid defensive anchor.

My expectation was that Yang wouldn't be this far along at this point - so, maybe a different perspective.

you're not going to play 48 minutes with a pair of drop coverage C's. NBA opponents are going to run a lot of small ball....it's how the league has evolved. Obviously, with injuries and missed games, you can't just equate minutes/game with 48 as a cap. Last season, Portland's 4 C's averaged 76 minutes. But if it's a primary 2 man rotation at C, the Blazers are going to need a backup more like Timelord or Lively, than a weaker rebounding and worse rim protecting C than Clingan.

the hype for Hansen has been wild. It was like he was ready to pass Clingan for minutes when the reality is he's a project C that may never do essential C things as well as Clingan

Keep in mind a large portion of that hype is from China and the Chinese fans, he is their biggest hyped player since Yao Ming. Now Yao had a much higher chance of panning out, but when you have a potential 1.49 billion fans, and a high prospect player out of China comes around so rarely it's a huge deal.

It would be one thing if China produced a 1st round draft pick every other year, but that is not the case. Obviously we are insulated a bit from the hype since most of us are not reading Chinese social media, or watching Chinese news but it still causes ripples here.

it wasn't just China. It was heavy hype in Portland and around the blogosphere. Here are some Youtube titles:

* Chinese Jokic DOMINATES Summer League!
* Yang Hansen SHOWED HIS BAG
* This Chinese NBA Player Has Taken The World BY STORM!
* The Trail Blazers Have Found A New Identity...Yang!
* 7'1" PHENOM Yang Hansen
* The Blazers Are Planning a Genius Move with Dame and Hansen!
* Why The Blazers Are Risking Everything For Yang Hansen
* Yang Hansen Summer League Debut Was INSANE!
* You CANNOT Make Up What YANG HANSEN Just DID
* Who Let The Blazers Get Away With Yang Hansen
* Every Reason Yang Hansen Might Be the Steal of the 2025 Draft Explained In 12 Minutes
* Yang Hansen DESTROYS Blazers’ Starters in Scrimmage!
* The “Nobody” From China Who Is Already Outsmarting The Entire NBA

I get that Youtube content creators want to drive traffic to their site, but all of those were from youtubers in the US. Like I said, the hype was nuts

[zzaj]

Speaking of #16 pick Hansen Yang...#24 pick Nique Clifford, who a lot of us liked, looked very good last night.

[monopoman]

you're not going to play 48 minutes with a pair of drop coverage C's. NBA opponents are going to run a lot of small ball....it's how the league has evolved. Obviously, with injuries and missed games, you can't just equate minutes/game with 48 as a cap. Last season, Portland's 4 C's averaged 76 minutes. But if it's a primary 2 man rotation at C, the Blazers are going to need a backup more like Timelord or Lively, than a weaker rebounding and worse rim protecting C than Clingan.

the hype for Hansen has been wild. It was like he was ready to pass Clingan for minutes when the reality is he's a project C that may never do essential C things as well as Clingan

Keep in mind a large portion of that hype is from China and the Chinese fans, he is their biggest hyped player since Yao Ming. Now Yao had a much higher chance of panning out, but when you have a potential 1.49 billion fans, and a high prospect player out of China comes around so rarely it's a huge deal.

It would be one thing if China produced a 1st round draft pick every other year, but that is not the case. Obviously we are insulated a bit from the hype since most of us are not reading Chinese social media, or watching Chinese news but it still causes ripples here.

it wasn't just China. It was heavy hype in Portland and around the blogosphere. Here are some Youtube titles:

* Chinese Jokic DOMINATES Summer League!
* Yang Hansen SHOWED HIS BAG
* This Chinese NBA Player Has Taken The World BY STORM!
* The Trail Blazers Have Found A New Identity...Yang!
* 7'1" PHENOM Yang Hansen
* The Blazers Are Planning a Genius Move with Dame and Hansen!
* Why The Blazers Are Risking Everything For Yang Hansen
* Yang Hansen Summer League Debut Was INSANE!
* You CANNOT Make Up What YANG HANSEN Just DID
* Who Let The Blazers Get Away With Yang Hansen
* Every Reason Yang Hansen Might Be the Steal of the 2025 Draft Explained In 12 Minutes
* Yang Hansen DESTROYS Blazers’ Starters in Scrimmage!
* The “Nobody” From China Who Is Already Outsmarting The Entire NBA

I get that Youtube content creators want to drive traffic to their site, but all of those were from youtubers in the US. Like I said, the hype was nuts

A portion might be from those in China though that are using AI or other tools to translate it into English, or that have the ability to speak English.

I'm sure most of the hype on Yang is in Chinese, but English as a language, is becoming more and more pervasive as time passes and China definitely has made that a focus. China is one of the countries were learning English is compulsory for kids, now that doesn't mean they are incredible at speaking/reading it but that shows how much China values it.

They also have started kids as early as 5 on English which makes it far easier to learn and retain, since kids are typically the best at learning languages and having it stick. You see that commonly in America where you have some fluent in Spanish and English since they were raised in a house where some of their family spoke Spanish heavily.

[mojomarc]

pre-season is more important and more predictive than summer league. Still, it doesn't mean a lot, especially game 1. That's a big reason why over the last 10-15 years the number of pre-season games have been halved. That, and the grind of the regular season

So you're saying it's not time for us to crack open each others' heads and feast on the goo inside?

[DeBlazerRiddem]

Media is so targeted these days. We all are doubtlessly on googles or youtube or whomever's list of people to feed Blazers content toward. It's not real, it's just an algorithm (also its likely the Blazers themselves spent quite a bit on various forms of hype because they want to sell their new guy).

He was an unexpected mid lottery pick, no one serious was putting a ton of stock in him. Intrigued, trying to understand what Portland saw maybe, but who of actual merit was seriously hyping the dude? Just hype sites trying to make money off hyped fans. Content creators saw the views coming from China and probably jumped on board but again, those aren't people who we should respect as having any real basketball insights. I watched some of those videos, it was the same re-hashed pointless drivel over and over. And it had its effect on regional fans sure, all summer it was easy to watch folks on social media with crazy takes but again, not any source worth taking seriously. New York fans weren't talking about him, Chicago, Dallas, LA none of them were going crazy with Yang hype. It was all targeted at Blazer fans. That is not real, that is just being caught in the windstorm of our modern media world.

[Walton1one]

Speaking of #16 pick Hansen Yang...#24 pick Nique Clifford, who a lot of us liked, looked very good last night.

Yeah, I think there is going to be a fair bit of handwringing about the Yang pick compared to some of the other players they could have (should have?) taken...

Uh, the Blazers PR machine\Social media team did plenty of hyping about Yang....

[dckingsfan]

Speaking of #16 pick Hansen Yang...#24 pick Nique Clifford, who a lot of us liked, looked very good last night.

Well, I am on record as wanting to take the trade with the Pelicans. Getting their unprotected 2026 first-round draft pick and their 23rd pick would have been perfect (IMO).

If Yang is still there - fine. But Clifford would have been terrific!

Now I am hoping Yang develops in the next two seasons.

[Shem]

One thing that hasn't changed? Billups' unbelievably bad control over end game situations. lol

Or they were just really bad players... maybe???

If it's on the players then it's on the Starters too

Yeah, how dare Billups not play his starters in the 4th quarter. Putting in those scrubs that blew a 21 point lead is all on the coach. Got it!

[DaVoiceMaster]

Deni with the bench mob is just painful. Put Jerami with the 2s and let him bomb away. He plays much better with ISO ball, and it'll improve his trade value.

Pur him with the 3's.

[JasonStern]

Excited for my "big 3" of Sharpe/Deni/Camara. Pretty sure Jrue and Grant just phoned the game in since it's pre-season and they are veterans that don't really need to prove anything. Likewise, while I am not a Billups fan, he blew the game giving Ha 2.0, Rupert, Reath, Murray, Cisko, etc. solid minutes. I really don't think that Portland cared and this was more about evaluating players versus hanging some "2025 Pre-Season Champions" banner. Although, the random Vegas League championship that one year was the highlight of Olshey's GM career.

Respect to Golden State for holding Dame to zero points. I feel like this is a dad joke that I am going to use 82 more times, annoying a lot of posters.

Speaking of #16 pick Hansen Yang...#24 pick Nique Clifford, who a lot of us liked, looked very good last night.

Yeah, I think there is going to be a fair bit of handwringing about the Yang pick compared to some of the other players they could have (should have?) taken...

Uh, the Blazers PR machine\Social media team did plenty of hyping about Yang....

Ha 2.0 was always going to be Ha 2.0. Everyone got all offended and kept pumping some "Chinese Jokic" narrative. Everyone forgets that the Blazers got a future 1st to move down 3? spots in the draft to take a chance on a guy that still has Pryzbilla level upside. But now stores are closing. Portland doesn't even have stores anymore. Just boarded up buildings with plywood. And not even domestic plywood. It's terrible.

I was more disappointed in Clingan, that didn't seem to take any next step forward. Solid on the offensive glass, but kind of weak defensively.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Sucked that Grant started over Avdija. Decent game from Sharpe. He threw up a couple of 3s when I'd rather see him drive towards the basket. Fortunately he made some of them. Camara shot the 3 well. I'm guessing he was a bit overly aggressive because he knew he was only playing 3 quarters. I liked the defense. I could tell in the first 2-minutes of the 4th quarter the Blazers would lose cuz that 3rd string sucks!!! The Blazers would be better off without any of them.

[Wizenheimer]

pre-season is more important and more predictive than summer league. Still, it doesn't mean a lot, especially game 1. That's a big reason why over the last 10-15 years the number of pre-season games have been halved. That, and the grind of the regular season

So you're saying it's not time for us to crack open each others' heads and feast on the goo inside?

these would be RealGM heads...doubt there would be enough goo to make a feast for anything

[Sabzi]

pre-season is more important and more predictive than summer league. Still, it doesn't mean a lot, especially game 1. That's a big reason why over the last 10-15 years the number of pre-season games have been halved. That, and the grind of the regular season

So you're saying it's not time for us to crack open each others' heads and feast on the goo inside?

these would be RealGM heads...doubt there would be enough goo to make a feast for anything

This is rich from the worst talent evaluator in the history of the board. The god can't stop laughing.