{"id":166289,"date":"2025-07-12T20:03:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T20:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/166289\/"},"modified":"2025-07-12T20:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T20:03:11","slug":"trail-blazers-yang-hansen-says-he-can-do-better-after-stellar-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/166289\/","title":{"rendered":"Trail Blazers\u2019 Yang Hansen Says He Can Do Better After Stellar Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Portland Trail Blazers rookie Yang Hansen dazzled in his NBA Summer League<\/a> debut Friday night against the Golden State Warriors<\/a> in Las Vegas. The 7-foot-1 center from China dropped head-turning dimes, scored buckets on graceful spin moves, blocked shots at the rim, directed teammates on offense through a language barrier, and mixed it up with opposing big men and laughed at their frustration. He even banked in a 3 (unintentionally, but shhhhh!).<\/p>\n

The performance added up to 10 points, five assists, four rebounds and three blocks for the No. 16 overall pick. He also shot 3-7 from the floor, 1-3 from deep and 3-4 from the free throw line, helping the Summer League Blazers capture an easy 106-73 win<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The debut was a successful first step in the Yang Era. The baseline of competence and flashes of brilliance from Yang lived up to the colossal level of intrigue that has followed the 20-year-old since his surprising draft-day selection<\/a>. Fans were clearly delighted by the game, raving on social media and ready to declare Portland\u2019s first-round gamble on Yang a win after one exhibition game. This writer even toyed around with writing an emergency article late last night with the leaning-into-the-pitch headline of \u201cThe Night I Saw God (and His Name Was Yang Hansen)\u201d but then wisely went to bed instead.<\/p>\n

So what did the man, himself, think of his first performance? Speaking with reporters after the game, Yang wasn\u2019t satisfied.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that was an impressive game for myself,\u201d Yang said via his interpreter. \u201cBut I will be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was just one of the answers Yang gave in an 11-minute media availability session<\/a> following the debut. Below are more excerpts from the interview (all given via Yang\u2019s interpreter):<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Yang on what he thought of the way he played:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the game, Coach had told me go to the high post and be a playmaking player today, be like a hub for everyone, so I just follow Coach\u2019s execution and do my job.\u201d<\/p>\n

On how it looked like he was having fun out there:<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy winning moments, but losing, uh-uh, I don\u2019t like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

On how he\u2019s adjusting to the new pace of play:<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a little bit of improvement [in this game compared to his first practice], but I gotta keep grinding, try to work harder, just getting better \u2014 chase the pace.\u201d<\/p>\n

On what he thought about leading the team in assists:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy teammates, they are great shooters and some of them are great penetrators, so for me, I just try to make the play and make everyone stay engaged in the game, so just enjoy the game together.\u201d<\/p>\n

On what he said to a teammate after he got subbed out in the fourth quarter:<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018yes, sir,\u2019 and the other words, I might get fined so, sorry, I can\u2019t say that here.\u201d<\/p>\n

On what Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said to him during a conversation on the sideline:<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I make some mistakes, I always talk to my teammates like, \u2018my bad, my bad.\u2019 And [Billups] told me, \u2018Hansen, no. No more of that, no more. Just help each other, have fun. No more.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

On his previous comments about the physicality in the NBA being \u201cmore civilized\u201d than the Chinese Basketball Association, and if his opinion changed after the Summer League debut:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CBA is a real physical game, but today the Warriors players, when he tried to push me on the fast break, I feel great. \u2018Oh, somebody made contact with me, I go. I go to him.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

On what questions he\u2019d ask Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic, who Yang has called his idol:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Picture, signature, please?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Yang discussed more topics during the interview, including his thoughts on all the fan support he received Friday, particularly from Chinese fans, and how he dealt with the language barrier in game one. I recommend you watch the video to get the full scope and better see Yang\u2019s personality behind each answer.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Blazers Summer League head coach Ronnie Burrell spoke with media following Friday\u2019s win. You can find that video here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Yang and the Blazers have a quick turnaround. They\u2019re back in action Saturday night against the Memphis Grizzlies at 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Portland Trail Blazers rookie Yang Hansen dazzled in his NBA Summer League debut Friday night against the Golden…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3784],"tags":[945,7,1966,41,601,824,2280,3141,43,28,22418,2749,6,687,471,3967,42,767,30995,688,1617,9349,794],"class_list":{"0":"post-166289","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-portland-trail-blazers","8":"tag-after","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-better","11":"tag-blazer","12":"tag-blazers","13":"tag-can","14":"tag-debut","15":"tag-do","16":"tag-edge","17":"tag-front-page","18":"tag-hansen","19":"tag-he","20":"tag-nba","21":"tag-portland","22":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","23":"tag-portlandtrailblazers","24":"tag-s","25":"tag-says","26":"tag-stellar","27":"tag-trail","28":"tag-trail-blazers","29":"tag-trail-blazers-roster","30":"tag-yang"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114842055789227025","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}