We Know Why The Blazers Drafted Yang Hansen

We Know Why The Blazers Drafted Yang Hansen

Allow me to show you the greatest picture in summer league history. As you can see, on one side you have the three-time MVP and best player in the world, Nicola Jokic. On the other side, you have the soon-to-be three-time MVP and best player in the world, Yang Hansen. In other words, handsome and young. Or you can just call him Chinese Jokic. Hansen with the block. Time for a vacation. Oh, Young Hansen. Okay, we might not have enough evidence to suggest he is a future three-time MVP just yet, but I think we can all agree that we have seen enough from Young Hansen to show exactly why there have been comparisons to Nicola Joic. And more importantly, to show exactly why the Trailblazers took a chance on drafting him so high, because it’s easy to forget he was never supposed to go 16th overall in this year’s draft. Just to give you an idea of how shocking that pick was. He was sitting in the stands when he got drafted. There were people who didn’t even have him projected to be drafted at all. Most people thought he would be drafted somewhere in the late30s or 40s. The Blazers thought differently. And depending on who you listen to, this will either be a genius pick or well, according to certain people, this could lead to some people being fired. This is how polarizing the draft pick of young Hansen was to a lot of people. Two games into summer league. And if you were a believer before, you’re even more of a believer now because the dimero we saw in the CBA and even in his workout clips for Portland where he was consistently dicing up the defense. Oh yeah, we are seeing that in summer league as well. It took approximately 10 seconds of his first summer league game to showcase that he gets the ball at the top of the key. Sissoko moves towards him and that sharp change of direction and Young just puts it in his pocket for the dunk. And this is a play you will have to get used to with Young Hansen because anytime his guard makes a cut back door, he’s going to find them every single time. And he can do it in a multitude of ways. How about this time where he has the ball out top again and this time with the defenders back to him. It’s another cut back door and the wraparound pass. If you thought the first pass was somewhat average, there are maybe a handful of centers in the NBA that can consistently make that kind of pass from that position on the floor. And Young is showing that 5 minutes into summer league. Or this one, which might be my favorite. He gets the pass from his point guard. He moves towards him like they’re going for a DHO. But with the defender pressing up, he cuts back door and it’s a perfect dime. And what you don’t see from this clip or the highlights is just a couple of minutes earlier, it was the same guard who Yang absolutely dimed up. Unfortunately, he smoked the layup. But after getting that kind of dime, there is a willingness to cut because you recognize you will get the ball if you cut aggressively, which is exactly what happened. And this is such a great skill to have in the modern NBA because of how aggressive the defense is in protecting the three-point line. Now, if you’re wondering why the big is up so close to Hansen on a lot of these plays, not only is that to try and prevent pull-up threes off dribble handoffs, but despite not being a three-point threat himself, Hansen is capable of creating from the three-point line if he gets the opportunity. How about here where he gets the ball at the three-point line? It’s that little brush screen to slow his defender and watch him casually put the ball on the floor and finish. But that’s light work for Hansen. Look at him here getting pressed to the top of the key. He spins to create that initial room. And watch here with the help defender lurking, he goes with the low dribble before spinning back the other way, absorbing the contact and finishing. And this is one thing you will notice with Young Hunen. Even if he’s not a three-point threat at this stage in his career, he can put the ball on the floor, spin off defenders, move around defenders, get to the rim. He has great footwork for someone his size. And whilst he might not be the quickest, it is that coordination at that size to be able to handle the ball whilst moving laterally that is so hard for opposition bigs to defend. It is similar to a guy like Nicola Joic who we all know isn’t the quickest but when you pair that rare combination of size, strength, and coordination, all of a sudden it makes them so much quicker with the ball in their hands. And in just two games, we’ve seen him already make multiple plays like this. Another here where again, it’s a screen from a guard and watch him spin off the guard and then taking off from about 8 ft away. and the soft touch with the underhands. I mean, the finish on that play, the spin that is not regular from a 7 ft rookie. Now, if he adds a three-point shot to this and all of a sudden can start pump faking and taking players off the dribble, can start screening and popping out, that will absolutely unlock everything in his game. But even without a three-point shot at this stage, even though he did make one in the first game of Summer League, a banker, but it was a three-pointer nonetheless. But as of now, you were still seeing the playmaking. You were seeing him as a role man on different possessions. You were seeing the footwork, the agility, all of the traits that he showed in the CBA to be the MVP of the league at 19 years old, you have seen in some league. Now, one thing I am interested that we haven’t seen much of is the postup play. This is an aspect of his game that could really determine if he is maybe a bench player or a potential starter is how much opportunity and how much he can take advantage of this size, this touch, and this footwork on posttops. Because if he can become a consistent postcorer and if teams will be willing to give him the ball in those positions that’s just going to open up all those opportunities for him to playmake out of the post like we see with Nicola Joic like we see with Damontis Sabonis these guys are great playmakers because they are more respected as scorers and the more he is respected as a scorer the better his playmaking is going to be because we can see passing the ball comes naturally for Now, in saying all of this, he’s not a perfect player, hence why some people thought he would go undrafted. I think those people look wrong at the moment, but he is not perfect. If there is one standout weakness, I would say it’s his conditioning, which shouldn’t be surprising given he’s 7’1, 250 lb, and just played in a backto back. And a lot of people hear conditioning concerns and think it might be him being lazy or he might not run the floor. It’s not necessarily that. just makes you a little bit heavier. The lactic acid buildup, you can see it on some of his rebound attempts where he is boxing out. He is getting his hand up, but he just doesn’t have the lift in his legs on those second jumps to really secure some of those rebounds despite being in great position. And I think that is a result of his legs just being heavier from having to run the floor so much. And I think sometimes we overlook just how much effort goes into playing 25 to 30 minutes a night as an NBA big man. The constant box outs, the constant screens. And when you are trying to be a playmaking big like Young or obviously Nicola Joic, so many plays are running through you and you need to be in the absolute best condition. Now, let’s not forget it took Nicola Joic a few years to get in the best shape of his life. And I think this will just improve over time. And as it gets better and as he becomes more fluid and lighter on his feet, he’s just going to become more dangerous on both ends of the floor. But as of right now, the flashes are there. Chinese Yic has arrived. Now, if you want to see me talk about him and more content like this going forward, subscribe to the channel. Dropping a like would be nice. Have a great day. Bye.

Chinese Jokic is here…
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