Ever since Wednesday’s NBA Draft, Portland Trail Blazers fans have been crushing tape on the team’s new 7-foot-1 rookie Yang Hansen.
It’s been a fun mad dash to participate in and witness as fans scour internet corners for all the footage they can find on the Chinese center. The exercise should at least satiate all our appetites until Hansen (presumably) takes the floor for his NBA Summer League debut on July 11.
The Trail Blazers organization have helped out in the scavenger hunt. The franchise released a three-minute highlight reel of Hansen’s Chinese basketball highlights. Portland also released some footage from Hansen’s predraft workout with the team. The event was the final major step in the front office’s multi-year scouting effort on Hansen before taking him with the No. 16 overall pick.
That workout on May 29 was the most notable of the publicly announced predraft workouts the organization held this spring. It was flush with projected first-round talent — so much so, that Hansen felt like an afterthought when reading the list of six names at the time. Along with Hansen, the day featured Georgia center Asa Newell; St Joseph’s forward Rasheer Fleming; Michigan State guard Jase Richardson; UConn forward Liam McNeeley; and Illinois forward Will Riley. Hansen was the only one not projected to go in the first round, and he was relatively unknown to most people in the States. (You can tell that was the case if you look at the comment section from the workout announcement on our site where he’s hardly mentioned).
At the media availability session for the event, I was a part of the local media scrum that conducted individual interviews with Newell, Fleming and Richardson. I noticed Hansen across the gym, and his presence was also marked by a Chinese camera crew waiting to interview him separately, but I was just as clueless about the prospect as the rest of the general public. After the event wrapped, I was disappointed we didn’t get more interviews beyond the three (during a slow May news period, I wanted that sweet, sweet content!). But truthfully, I wasn’t thinking about an interview with Hansen. I was hoping to speak with Riley or McNeeley, assuming they were much more likely to end up in Portland.
Regardless of national reputation or this reporter’s assumptions at the time, The Trail Blazers have now come out saying — as their draft selection affirmed — that Hansen dazzled at the event.
“He’s the best player in the gym,” Portland head coach Chaucey Billups said in a review of Hansen’s workout that day, according to a June 27 piece from The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
The 20-year-old center would indeed go on to be the highest draft pick among the six. After Hansen at No. 16, Riley went next at No. 21, followed by Newell at No. 23, Richardson at No. 25 and McNeeley at No. 29. Fleming, who was a draft prospect darling among many Blazer’s Edge readers, went last in the group at No. 31.
Looking at the highlights from Hansen’s workout, you can see the advanced passing skills the organization has been raving about. Multiple assists in the short video — particularly a slick backdoor bounce pass — elicited calls of “nice pass!” from the coaches and spectators in attendance. You can also see the crafty footwork in the post on patient counter moves and nifty spins.
All of these skills are enhanced by Hansen’s large 7-foot-1 frame. Newell, an undersized big at 6-foot-9, didn’t seem to stand much of a chance containing Hansen in the post due to the size mismatch. Then there was poor Jase Richardson —measuring at around 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds — fighting admirably in the post on one play as Hansen backed him down. Hansen easily shedded the small guard aside with a physical left arm, then lays it in for two points.
That clip at the 1:17 mark made me think back to when I asked Richardson how he dealt with all the size at the May workout. He was, after all, the only point guard at the event.
“I mean, they got a 7’3 guy,” Richardson said with a humble smile. “There’s not a lot I can do there.”
Blazer’s Edge readers, if you’ve found Hansen highlight clips online, this comment thread below is the one to drop them in. From the most popular to the most obscure, lets make this thread a fun resource for all to study up on Portland’s new rookie until we get fresh tape!