Yang Hansen Impresses in 1st Summer League with the Trail Blazers | Bonus Overreaction Episode

Yang Hansen Impresses in 1st Summer League with the Trail Blazers | Bonus Overreaction Episode

I’ve seen 23 minutes and 35 seconds of Yang Hansen in a Trailblazer summer league uniform and I’m ready to overreact. Welcome to a bonus episode of Locked on Blazers. Let’s get into it. You are Locked on Trailblazers, your daily Portland Trailblazers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. What’s up world? It’s your past first point guard and trailblazers reporter Mike Richmond and you are listening to a bonus episode of Lockdown Blazers where we’re going to overreact to everything we saw in Hansen’s debut in summer league. Blazers win tonight against the Warriors. They play again tomorrow night, Sunday’s regular show. We’ll talk about all of the other things that happened. And uh if you are new to the program, this is a five days a week uh 30-inut program that comes out every single weekday, Monday through Friday. So tell your friends about the program and tell your and make it part of your daily routine. But today is not a daily routine. Today’s a special edition. Today is an overreaction bonus episode cuz Yang Hansen went nuts. Maybe not box score nuts, but if you watch the game, it was just so much to appreciate for the rookie big man in his uh summer league debut. I was going to call it NBA debut. This isn’t the NBA. Let’s be clear. That Warriors team is bad. Uh but but Hansen was really, really, really good from the moment he stepped out of the game. That’s what we’re going to talk about today. Uh this will be a quicker one than normal, but all things Hansen, all things his first game in summer league. He has finishes with 10 points, four boards, five assists, a steal, and three blocks. That’s a quintuple single to go along with three turnovers and six fouls in 23 minutes and 35 seconds. I’ve seen enough. The dude’s got some stuff and it happened right out of the stinking gate. The very first play of the game, you saw so much of what might make this dude special, right? I I I am going to use some more definitive language than maybe I would in some other times cuz it’s a bonus show and we’re overreacting. First play of the game, players win the tip, come down getting a little bit of a confusion cuz they kind of push to see if they can get an advantage and they can’t. So, they need to set it back up. Typically, first place NBA games are scripted and guess what? But Hansen knows the script. He goes to the corner and directs his guards right away. Hey, hey, you’re you go up here and set the play. Set the, you know, set the screens. He knows what it is. It’s a stagger screen for him. So that’s two guards coming from up high, the top of the key towards Hansen in the corner. So he gets two screens coming up towards the top of the key. Looks like it’s going to flow into a pick and roll or a dribble handoff. Hansen gets the ball at the top of the key and instead of flowing into a natural dribble handoff, CD Sissoko cuts back door. Hansen feeds him with a very clean, perfectly placed bounce pass. Great touch, great read. Uh, skim the rim type of dunk layup for Soko. The first stinking play of the game. You see the IQ, you see the passing skills. Hansen’s got me hooked. I’m hooked. Couple plays later, gets the ball at the top of the key, starts to uh sort of dribble towards his left and and sees a cutter or uh sees a cutter. He starts to sort of, excuse me, pivot to his left and sees a cutter, takes a one dribble to his right, and then off the dribble, a live dribble, one-handed pass, loop pass to a cutter, going to the rim. Dime dude’s just the passing skills were the thing that if you if you if you you know watched his highlights or whatever, they stood out the most. It’s like this is what makes this guy really special. He has some other skills, but the passing stuff is what really makes him special because you can learn some of the other things, but I think good passing good passers, particularly good passers at a very young age as a 20-year-old, um, like it is an innate skill, something that makes him special. And it didn’t even take three stinking minutes into his first summer league game to him to make two passes to say, “Yeah, that dude passes like someone who can really pass. Yeah, that dude is Pow Gasol. That dude is Boris Diao. That dude is Arvda Ceronus. This is Ly Dvahhatch. This is Bill Walton. This is like these are the great passing bigs. And Hansen looks like one of them right away three minutes into freaking summer league. The feel is what really impressed me. Not like he he had um another pass on a cut where he kind of looped the ball around um around the defender as like re you know it’s he catches at the top of the key. They ran a lot of this is like some jargony, but I think you’ll hear them talk about it a little bit. So, it’s worth to know the jargon. um a delay action, which is typically when the sort of center is at the top of the key and then you run cuts off of that and teams either run like little flare cuts or what the Blazers run is split cuts which means that a guys screen for each other and you can make reads off of the like this you get to read each other and make decisions off the screen as opposed to like and there’s rules based on what this what decisions you make but it allows for little backdoor actions and because Hansen’s out of the paint I’ll talk about this more in a moment he’s able to make reads and they ran so much of this delay stuff and it was another one where he’s like looking to see what’s going to happen. He he has the ball at the top of the key and there’s a there’s that screen action away away from him on the wing away from the ball on the wing and he’s looking to see is is the guard going to come up towards the top of the key and flow into a dribble handoff. Is the screener going to slip? Is the screener going to make contact and then roll and open up? And it was a slip and he just reaches around his defender while he’s looking hard at that action and doesn’t stare down the pass. waits just enough just enough um sort of gives it just enough time and then make sure that he sees the cut and makes the read. Throws it inside just soft little touch pass inside for another layup. Just dude has a real feel. Um he didn’t really struggle on defense. I think this that was notable like you know he he um he blocked he blocked three shots and had a steal. Um, I don’t think any of the blocks are they’re were the like, oh my goodness type of blocks, but like he’s 72 and he just naturally can just like he’s just naturally going to get, you know, block some shots in a 24-minute stretch, right? Um, that’s good stuff, right? That’s good stuff. And I don’t think he looked terribly out of place on defense. Uh, granted competition level and all that, but like I thought, um, for the most part, he was he was just like um he didn’t get exploited at all in that. And I think that’s um I think that’s meaningful. He banked in a three, which was pretty funny. Uh cuz he that was not a good-looking shot. And then it went in and I was like, “My king, let’s let’s go. Let’s go.” But when it left his hand, uhoh. And then it goes in, it’s like everything’s coming up, Richmond, baby. Um and then he had his best offensive play starts is in the third quarter. Uh cursed by ESPN’s obsession with picturein picture. uh interviews. All of they just do these interviews with half the screen is on uh is on the whoever the interviewee is. Um like whoever the subject of the interview is in this case is Donovan Klingan and like cool man. I’m glad we’re hearing from Donovan Klingan. But I want to see Hansen Hoop and we missed his best bucket. We didn’t miss it. We just had it on a tinier version of the screen that was deeply unnecessary for my purposes. I want to appreciate it. But he gets going to his right like he’s going to flow into a dribble handoff again. and he’s spending all his time on top of the key. I’ll talk about that in a moment. Uh he’s he’s flown into a dribble handoff, right? It’s going to it’s I believe it’s um it’s Caleb Love. And instead, Love sets a screen for him. That is the point guard screening for a center. And when you are skilled as young as skilled as Hansen Young Hansen, excuse me, excuse me, skilled as Hansen, a point guard screening for you is an advantage. He gets that screen. He sees that he’s going to have a smaller defender on him. He spins back to the the middle of the court as opposed to heading drifting more towards the sideline. He gets his shoulders inside his defender and past the the smaller guard. Gets himself to the rim. Scoop layup off the glass with his right hand. Oh boy, that’s a skilled move. That’s a skilled move. Um, yeah, there were just there were just he just like we’re talking to dude who had 10, four, and five with three blocks, but if you watch the game, I think the skill stuff stood out, the feel, the the reads, the passing, a couple nice offensive plays, um, own individual offense, but I think the most important thing that happened was there were very few moments where he looked outclassed. Very few moments where he looked like a fish out of water. For the most part, he played a game in control with very few yikes moments. Let’s talk about the lack of yikes and the little things that did go wrong and where he can clean those things up in the third segments. Plus, Hudson’s got beef and he ain’t afraid. Let’s celebrate it. Let’s continue to overreact. Join me uh in the second segment, won’t you? All right, let’s keep it rolling. A bonus episode of Locked on Blazers. Hansen was impressive because of all the skills he showed, but he was also extremely impressive. And I think this was in some ways for me the most notable part of his performance. so few yikes moments. I mentioned that he didn’t look like outmatched on defense. There were some times, right, like in the first half, he kind of bit on a on a on a jab step from uh from Evan Moley’s brother at the top of the key and he kind of got turned around, right? like he started to retreat into the paint and then he realized his man was still there and he spun around and took this big wide step and then kind of lunged back for a like half-hearted contest on the three and Moy, you know, bricks a three-pointer cuz it’s summer league and people shoot bricks. But there was like but that was it. That’s like the notable moment. There was a play in the third quarter um when he when uh he got was guarding a pick and roll and he was in drop coverage and the and the guard kind of got him to bite on a pump fake and he bit it’s like you’re going to give up buckets, you’re going to foul. He committed six fouls. Um, I’m not too too worried about that. It is six fouls in 24 minutes. I guess it’s something to monitor when the games actually happen. But in summer league where you get 10 fouls, do it. One of his fouls was a push off on offense. That’s also one of his turnovers. He had three turnovers, but but that’s a that’s both a foul and a turnover. He just uh he was trying to get a hand he was trying to get into a handoff and he like straightened his arm into someone and I believe Moy again and he like got him up in the neck and they called an offensive foul. Um like there were just so few stinkers. There’s so few stinkers. so few just like so few yikes moments. So few like oh yeah well there were there wasn’t um a stretch where I I was thinking like well yeah he’s 20 he’s like he just didn’t have those. He had a play in the first half where he spun once on from the top of the key and spun back the other way and he’s just like come on and he got stripped going back up. It’s just like you’re not that’s that’s not going to happen but he didn’t it’s not he tried that again right like he’s just bang okay that that was too much. a double spin from the top of the key is too much. The aforementioned like uh you know kind of getting lost a little bit on a jab step and getting caught a little bit on a pump fake, but I wouldn’t even I wouldn’t even put that in the bucket. I’m just like kind of searching for things that kind of where he looked a little bit off on defense. I don’t think he was dominant by any means in this game, but so few yikes moments and a lot of stuff where it’s like that is interesting. Look at the skill set. He had a play in transition where he catches a you know they try to hit ahead and he intercepted the hit ahead pass. He runs in transition and then throws it to Caleb Love kind of in a look away off the dribble. Um and Love throws down a dunk and Hansen’s just like, “Yep, that’s what we do.” Kind of a little bit of swagger. And I love the swagger from him. Got in a couple minor skirmishes where he just got phys, you know, guys got physical with him. He didn’t care. There was where there was one where I believe Ro was guy’s name for a Golden State kind of got mad at him on on a foul. First Ro fouls him and then got mad at Hunson for for I guess being physical with him like and he just laughed. He smiled. He’s like he’s he’s ready to mix it up. I love that. Never going to back down. If you watch any of his highlights from the CBA, you knew that physicality wasn’t going to be a problem. Um he’s he’s a dude who who understands what it’s like to be big and and and take that um take that beating, right? Like he’s just like, “Yeah, you’re going to grab and pull and claw and we’re going to like we’re going to shove a little bit. Great. Let’s do it again.” Like I love I love that attitude from a 20-year-old. I love the I love a little bit of smack talk, a little bit of toughness, and a big a big kind of uh haha, this is fun type of smile. Dude was loving it. It was fun to watch. Um, so not only the yikes, the no yike stuff, like so few big bold underlying rookie mistake type of things, which is so huge in summer league, right? It’s not even necessarily your peaks. It’s like it’s like if there aren’t really any valleys and you’re kind of you’re mostly just like doing your thing. I guess the other thing to note is like he stood in the key the entire time. There’s no defensive 3 seconds in the CBA. China does not have defensive 3 seconds. The NBA does, but in summer league, they just weren’t calling it. And clearly they talked about it, talked with him about it in the um in in the at halftime because he didn’t do it as much in the second half, but in that first half, particularly early in the game, Hansen just stood in the paint on defense and waited. And at summer league, they didn’t call it. Um but like that’s a that’s a learning thing, but I think that goes in like the sort of the funny bucket. But I mentioned so much in my preview of Hansen in my shows. And again, if you’re um if you’re if you’re listening to this in a bonus episode and you’re like, um, what is this? It’s a daily daily Trailblazers podcast, but and and so I have five of these a week and and two of them this week I talked about like the most curious part about about what they were going to do with Hansen is how they used him, how they deployed him, like in what ways. He did not catch a pass inside the ark. Never. Not Not only did he not get a direct post up, right? like he they didn’t I mentioned like I watched him play in the summer league with with China last year in the Cali Classic and it’s like they were running those little wedge screens to like get him a catch a direct post up and like throwing them the ball and say go to work big fella and it’s like the Blazers don’t really do that in their natural offense in the in in with the big club but I was like well maybe they’ll do it a little bit with him in summer league not a single time but not only did they not like throw post ups to him he didn’t I do not by my count he did not catch the ball like he was not thrown the ball inside the ark the entire game. I think that’s curious. One, just like I want to see him, he’s got good feet in the post. I want to see him post up. But two, they were really trying something specific. Five out, spread the floor and let Hansen handle at the top of the key in that delay series delay action. Um, and in that when the center’s at the top of the key and the center can pass, the paint is empty. You can spread the floor to the corners and you can allow guys to cut. And then if I if the cutters don’t work, you again, you’re five out, you’re spread, you have a center who can pass and be a hub and dribble handoffs and pick and roll stuff. Uh allows you to drive drive and kick and get into stuff. They they intentionally opened up the paint because I don’t think um they thought they were going to be super effective by like throwing the ball into Hansen and they didn’t. They and I don’t think he was super good as just a roll man with pick and rolls. Um that’ll be something he’ll have to work on. They really just played a game that spoke to his strengths. How did they use him? How did they deploy him? He caught the ball at the top of the key and they let him make reads, let him make passes, let him flow into dribble handoffs, flow into pick and rolls, get into those offense with a little more sort of um it’s creating space sort of that is uh inorganic, right? Because you’re starting with the guy ball in his hands who’s like maybe the non-shooter and there’s movement off the ball. So, it’s like, hey, instead of standing still and making them um, you know, and having a single action that that says like, well, we’re not worried about him shooting. We’re going to pull in the defense and help all the way. It was, you know, four guys off the ball engage and a passer at the top of the key who showed enough off the bounce willingness that you needed to stay near him. It created space. I thought it was um it wasn’t like I would have liked to see a little variety there, but I totally get what they were trying to do. And I actually think it really um it was a game plan very specifically to design the gifts of Hansen. And guess what? Right away in the first 3 minutes, he’s like, “You want to see these gifts, boy?” Dude was hooping. He was hooping. He looked like there’s some stuff he’s going to have to clean up, and we’ll talk about that in the future. Like I think the functional he wasn’t super like the functional strength will have to get a little bit better. The rolling to the rim I felt like he was he didn’t have great timing with that stuff. How he’s going to get some individual offense maybe eventually because he does have some good touch. How can I get that to that? But just the like I I can score a little bit off the dribble. I’m a really good passer and because of my gifts, the offense has opened up and we’re rolling. Pretty fun. Pretty fun. Um here’s your final over reaction. just the greatest trailblazer of all time. No, I’ll leave it here. I’ll leave it here. That was I I I had I don’t know if I had high expectations. I don’t even think I had high expectations. I had um I had a great deal of intrigue. I was very very intrigued. I was very curious and very excited to watch Hansen because the stuff he does is really fun. He lived up to that level of interest. He lived up to that level of excitement. This was a really, really, really, really solid four. That’s a three really. That’s the three really guaranteed. The really, really, really solid debut. There were so many flashes of what this young man can do and so few oh yikes moments where you’re like, that could be a problem. One game, 23 minutes 35 seconds, a long way to go. But night one of the Hansen era was dang enjoyable. Um, Blaze play tomorrow night. I will do a full show, record it sometime on Sunday. It’ll be in your feeds late Sunday, early Monday depending on some timing stuff uh with my real life. But this is a bonus episode to get your fix and get your haunt appreciation rolling. Um come back 5 days a week. Revet podcast also on YouTube. Uh tell your friends about the program. I appreciate you listening. I’ll talk to you soon.

Yang Hansen made his summer league debut with the Trail Blazers in Las Vegas on Friday night and looked darn good. Let’s overreact.

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