Yang Hansen is the best defensive player in the CBA; how did he become a defensive liability in the NBA? Here are two reasons!

I want to share a strong impression about Yang Hansen’s NBA preseason debut.

Yang Hansen was already the best defender in the CBA, so how did he become a defensive weakness in the NBA? How did Post get past him so easily...

One point I have always mentioned is that the difference in competition environments is huge.

In the NBA, after guards use pick-and-rolls with the center, there are two must-have skills; players lacking these are essentially unemployed.

1. Conditioning ability.

2. Quick separation.

Therefore, the defensive demands on the interior are very high, or else the player becomes an easy target.

It’s predictable that defending pick-and-rolls will be a challenge Yang Hansen faces throughout his NBA career. Today it’s Curry; tomorrow it could be Doncic, Eastbrook, Murray...

In the CBA, he couldn’t develop these skills due to the lack of such defensive scenarios.

In the CBA, big centers can often rely on crouching or retreating, but try that in the NBA?

The two core reasons are:

1. Our guards’ skills are outdated and lack aggressiveness.

After a pick-and-roll, who can create separation?

Currently, I can only think of two: Wu Qian and Lin Wei. Unfortunately, the former lacks physical strength and toughness, while the latter is young and both have less than ideal size.

On the national team, Hu Mingxuan and Zhao Rui can occasionally shoot after a pick-and-roll, but none have a reliable pull-up jumper...

In the NBA, there are many players like this...

2. To be honest, our interior pick-and-roll quality is also lacking...

Together with wing players who are mostly like “Zhai Xiaochuan” or “Zhu Junlong” lacking ball-handling skills, our offense struggles in international competitions.