Yang Hansen: The new hope of the Trail Blazers center, moving from the edge to the center of the stage

On the fierce competition stage in the NBA, every rookie has a dream and longs to shine in the spotlight. Recently, a series of decisions by the Trail Blazers have pushed a young Chinese player, Yang Hansen, to the spotlight. Trail Blazers and team reporters Sean Highkin and Yahoo Sports both confirmed that most of the new season's center position will be played by 21-year-old Klingen and 20-year-old Hansen Yang. Robert Williams, the "glass center" who was once highly anticipated, has become the third choice in the new season, with limited playing time and completely missed the back-to-back game. This change undoubtedly brought a major turning point for Yang Hansen's career.

Opportunity comes: "Glass Center" gives up space

Yang Hansen landed in the United States, and the gears of fate began to rotate. An internal report from the Trail Blazers coaching staff shows that the team has completely lost confidence in Robert Williams (Roway). Rowe has been out of the game for several years due to knee injuries and ankle surgery, and has averaged only 17.6 minutes per game last season. Although he is efficient in protecting the frame, his injury problems are like a "luxury product", which is visible but difficult to fully play in the game. After weighing the pros and cons, the management finally made a decision: Rowe's playing time is strictly limited in the new season, and even banned him from participating in back-to-back events. This decision made Yang Hansen break out the living space for the Trail Blazers.

Competitive Challenges: Teammates' shortcomings and their own difficulties

However, Yang Hansen faces a smooth journey. As the No. 7 show in 2024, Klingen seems to be a solid starting position, but has obvious hidden dangers. Last season, Klingen averaged 2.8 fouls per game in just 19.8 minutes, which translates to 5.1 times in 36 minutes. What's even more difficult is his physical fitness problem. He averaged only 24.5 minutes per game after being promoted to start. He was decided by the coach many times in the final quarter not to let him play (DNP). The combination of these two major shortcomings makes the Trail Blazers urgently need to reserve a reliable substitute who can stably take over more than 15 minutes of playing time, and Yang Hansen became the only candidate.

But Yang Hansen himself also has problems, and foul trouble is his number one enemy. In the summer league, he averaged 4.3 fouls per game in 24.5 minutes and even graduated with five fouls against the Rockets. However, the team did not lose confidence in him because of this, but instead increased their efforts to conduct special training on him. 8 sets of "sliding + cross-step" moving training every day, combined with "5-second defensive challenge", require him to complete the entire process from sticking to blocking the small man's breakthrough in 5 seconds. After two weeks of hard training, his lateral movement speed increased by 15%, and his fast break back defense rate soared from 58% to 72%.

At the same time, in response to Yang Hansen's weak spots, the Trail Blazers Power team introduced wrestling skills training to improve his core stability by simulating close-fitting fighting. Currently, Yang Hansen weighs 109 kg, and the goal is to increase it to more than 115 kg before training camp to break the embarrassing situation of less than 40% success rate in the summer league basket.

Unique advantages: "Non-mainstream skill package" stands out

The reason why Yang Hansen has made his mark in the competition is that he has a unique "Non-mainstream skill package". When Klingen focused on pick-and-roll competition and rebounding, Yang Hansen's high-level support became the key "transmission" in the second lineup. In the summer league, he averaged 3.8 assists per game, behind which he made several hit passes that cut the defense with precision like a scalpel. In the match against the Pelicans, he made 3 of 6 shots and scored 15 points. Even coach Billups publicly positioned him as a "future outside pitcher." This kind of alternative center trait that can support and shoot from a long time is the puzzle that the Trail Blazers most desire during the reconstruction period.

Business help: Market popularity accelerates growth

In addition to its own strength, business value is also accelerating Yang Hansen's growth process. Within 24 hours after the official announcement of joining, the Trail Blazers' social media fans soared by 3.8 million, 72% of which came from China. Chinese fans bought 43% of the home tickets for the Warriors in the preseason game. This heat made the Trail Blazers management realize that every minute of Yang Hansen's playing time in the preseason is equivalent to releasing sincerity to the Chinese market.

In fact, the Trail Blazers' emphasis on Yang Hansen has long been symptomatic in the subtle changes in the team's positioning. This summer, the team decisively cut off No. 1 Aiton, who had an annual salary of 35.55 million, and put Loway on the shelves, but retained the No. 16th show full guarantee contract for Yang Hansen. General Manager Cronin's sentence on draft night, "We want the most suitable player" seems to point to this Chinese boy.

The final sprint: The key test of the short training camp

The rookie short training camp on August 11 became the last battlefield for Yang Hansen to conquer the coaching staff. His task list clearly shows: prove that his ability to fight after muscle building is not inferior, demonstrates the stability of three-point shooting (Summer United's three-point shooting percentage is 33.3%), and effectively controls the number of fouls. If everything meets the standards, Chinese fans may witness the starting point of a new generation of NBA support centers in the preseason opening game against the Warriors on October 9.

Yang Hansen's story is a story about opportunities, challenges and growth. In the new journey of the Trail Blazers, he shoulders the expectations of the team and carries the dreams of fans. Whether it is overcoming his own difficulties or seizing rare opportunities, he is working hard to write his own basketball legend. Let's wait and see if this young Chinese player can shine on the NBA stage.