Ronnie Burrell Media Availability | July 5, 2025 | Portland Trail Blazers

Ronnie Burrell Media Availability | July 5, 2025 | Portland Trail Blazers

Uh so Ronnie, first off, uh how would would you say the first day of practice went?
It’s a success for me, man. I think uh the guys that we have, man, everybody here has has a you know, a common goal, but they’re at different points in their careers and and they showed a hunger today that I’m impressed with. And uh they were welcoming to each other. They were welcoming to Hansen and um it was smooth. It went smooth.
How would you describe how how Hansen looked or performed in his first practice?
He looked I it’s it’s hard to say. He looked like his first practice, you know what I mean? but he the talent level that he has and his size, he’s always going to stand out and be impressive. So, he was impressive and obviously there’s things he’s going to learn really really quickly and um he’s expected to have his struggles and also have some success. So, he looked good today, man. He’s he’s a pleasure to work with.
I guess part of the goal for you guys as well is probably just get him acclimated to to kind of the way practice works and and kind of some of the communication pieces as well. I I would assume at least.
Yeah. I mean, this is I can’t imagine being in his shoes. You know, this is all new to him, the language, the culture at his age and he handles it amazing, man. I’m highly impressed with So far, I mean, the kid has maturity and he’s got character and he’s picking up things fast and he’s going to have a really good summer league.
Is there a plan in place or one formulating in terms of how you guys plan to use him in Vegas?
It’s formulating. Yeah, it’s formulating. It’s all new to us as well, you know, and that’s part of uh welcoming a new player to our organization, you know, and uh for this summer, obviously, we’re going to build some things around him and help him succeed.
Do you have anything specific you’re hoping to see out of him during summer league?
Um, you know, there’s a lot of pressure on that kid, man. I I just want him to go out there and have fun first, you know, and obviously I want him to learn things that he’ll be able to take into the NBA season and make him successful once training camp for the Blazers comes around. It’s a lot on him, you know, and he’s prepared and he’s talented enough. So, no, I don’t have any specific goals. Um, there’s going to be a lot of people talking to him. I want him to go out there and to learn our system, to learn about the NBA while you got to understand this young man is adjusting to life, you know, in a new country and, uh, it’s all hitting him at once and I just want to be there to support him really. That’s all. I don’t want to pressure him too much.
Coach, you got RPS who can he is the one guy who has the kind of the system vernacular, the understanding, the knowledge that he can kind of lean on. Is that something you’re going to try to use kind of use RPS a little bit to kind of help not only him, but the other guys just kind of get acclimated to the system a little bit more?
Not not only RPS, but we’re all in this together for the summer now. We have other guys on the team that have been around the block a bit. You know, we have a coaching staff that has been around the league and around um summer league and around this organization. So, we’re all here to help each other. Roups is, yes, he’s a third year. You know, he knows our culture, he knows our system. Um, and he’s expected to lead. You know, there’s guys in leadership positions now that aren’t during the season. So, that’s why what makes summer league great for me. Um, and he’s doing a great job of it so far. You know, I’m going to push all those guys to to try to pull up the other. you know, it’s not just the the culture change, but for Hon, it’s, you know, whether it was playing for China or for the CBA, he was a featured guy that played either on the block or played above the three-point line, which is different from how you guys on the NBA level have kind of used Biggs. How are you kind of trying to work through how you can get him the ball, where you can get the ball, kind of how you’re going to utilize him, not only to for here, but kind of to springboard into the NBA? Yeah, I think that’s the great thing about having, you know, all of our staff present while the young guys are around while he gets to kind of get acclimated to us is we get to get acclimated to him. So, there’s going to be a whole lot of change um as we integrate him into our offense. You know, that remains to be seen, you know. So, some of it’ll be surprising even to me, but you know, I don’t know. We’re we’re really uh we’re really excited about it. It’s very rare that you get a guy with that skill set at his size, you know, so and obviously that’s going to make your team offensively and defensively look a little bit different than uh than the normal kind of NBA uh team. So, yeah, we’re working on it. We’ll see how it comes out.
How did you navigate the language barrier today? How’d that go?
Well, obviously he has his translator with him. Uh that makes practice and meetings look a little bit different. And we for me, I’m adjusting quickly. I almost forgot I’m so used to um you know, just speaking and no one else speaking while he’s speaking in the meeting or whatever, but he has his translator, you know, and he’s a great guy. He does a great job. I can’t imagine kind of how difficult that would be. So, I’m really personally just amazed at how well that kid handles all of this stuff. You know, he also is a very smart basketball player. You can tell by the way he plays whether you speak to him or not. So, he picks up things really fast.
And on the court, the same dynamic. You say something, you say something directly to him and the translator hears it and says it to
when I’m speaking to him, I just speak to him.
Okay.
I just speak to him and u his translator does his job really well. But as of now, it’s not like we have to hit the brakes and go really really slow for him. And it’s it’s impressive to watch. I think that uh I don’t know. It’s hard to tell how much he understands, you know, when you speak quickly to him, but he’s doing a great job. He’s hasn’t been an issue at all.
And so, it’s been kind of seamless then like in the communication.
No.
Okay.
No, no, he he is he’s impressively smart, you know, so I don’t worry about him understanding what we’re doing.
How do you feel? Just one more though. How do you feel like you did today? Obviously, getting this opportunity to to kind of run this team. I was I feel great, man. I’m just I’m just happy to be here. I’m thankful for this opportunity. I hope that I’ll judge my success off what the players feel at the end of summer league if they got something out of it or not because it’s about them, you know. It’s not about me. I’ve been around this stuff um in different roles and um I’m I’m really excited to get to work with this group, man. I just hope that they can get a whole lot out of this summer. Awesome. Thanks, coach. Appreciate it, coach.

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