Game Recognize Game: Boban Has Officially Stamped Yang "The Chinese Jokic" Hansen As The Next Great NBA Big Man

Lachlan Cunningham. Getty Images.

There are a bunch of intriguing players I can't wait to watch once the NBA season kicks off, especially from this year's rookie class. Obviously, the entire world wants to see how Cooper Flagg looks, and given what we're seeing from him in the preseason, that's going to be awesome. I'm also interested to see how Ace Bailey handles basically being given the keys to the Jazz right away, obviously I'm all in on Hugo Gonzalez, I think Cedric Coward is going to be a monster for the Grizzlies etc.

But somewhere high on that list is Yang Hansen. You may remember him as the 7'1 20 year old center from China that the Blazers took a leap of faith on when they took him 16th. He definitely did not expect it, giventhat  he was in the nosebleeds when it happened

and why would he? A lot of mocks at the time had him going in the 2nd Round, so to be selected right outside of the Lottery is a pretty big jump. Many people thought the Blazers reached on that pick, not realizing at the time that there's a strong chance the Blazers actually drafted Chinese Jokic once we got our first look at him at Summer League

Dominating Summer League is one thing though. Plenty of prospects look great in Vegas and it doesn't exactly translate once they are tasked with being effective against better competition. So logic would tell you to take how he looked in those fake games with a grain of salt.

Well, what about if he's also been given the stamp of approval by the legend himself, Boban??

Look, if I'm going to take the word of anyone when it comes to how an international big will translate to the NBA, Boban is high on that list. He played 9 years in the NBA (331 games), and while his raw numbers were modest because he was only playing around 10 minutes a game, to give you an idea how impactful he was, just look at his Per 36s!

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so if Boban is telling us that Yang Hansen is going to be the next dominant big in the NBA, who are we to call him a liar? Plus, just look at how he's doing against better competition in preseason!

I don't care if these are fake games. You can see the foundation. At the very least, Yang Hansen is going to be fun as hell to watch, and if he actually is the Chinese Jokic? Well then, the Blazers just got much more serious as a rebuilding team. I'm not sure enough people realize that, since January 1st of last year, the Blazers owned the 6th best defense in the NBA. Post All Star Break? It went up to 4th. Anyone who's ever seen a team take a leap will tell you that it starts on the defensive end. Once a team figures out that end, then the wins start coming. If that second half of the year proves to be legit, now with Jrue Holiday also in the mix as well as Hansen, why can't the Blazers take a step forward this year? 

They won 36 games last year, and 39 was the final Play In spot (Mavs). Is it insane to think the Blazers can get into the high 30s/low 40s this year with good health, and if a few things break their way? I don't think so, especially if you're adding the next great NBA big man to your rotation.