Team Insider: The Trail Blazers Must Prioritize Developing Yang Hansen; Willingness to Trade Robert Williams Is a Positive Sign

On December 1st Beijing time, Trail Blazers insider Kunz highlighted Yang Hansen in his newest article, emphasizing that the Trail Blazers need to focus on developing Yang Hansen first and that a willingness to move Robert Williams would be an encouraging sign. Below is his full report —

Yang Hansen’s showing in the Summer League revealed the Portland Trail Blazers’ front office’s visionary approach and validated their decision to select him with the non-traditional 16th pick in the draft. However, as his regular season performance fell short of expectations early on, the initial enthusiasm has cooled. This is not due to any fault of Yang Hansen — as a rebuilding team, the Trail Blazers surprisingly have not given this first-round pick enough attention.

The Trail Blazers invested first-round picks at the center position two years in a row: first selecting Klingen last year, then drafting Yang Hansen. Viewed independently, both choices made sense: in a draft class with overall weak talent and high uncertainty, Klingen stood out as the safest pick due to his elite rebounding and rim protection. It was precisely because of the baseline security Klingen provided that the Trail Blazers felt confident taking a high-risk, high-reward gamble on Yang Hansen. Concerns about whether his CBA playing style could effectively translate to the NBA caused his draft projections to generally fall into the second round before the draft.

Yang Hansen’s impressive Summer League stats helped alleviate some of those doubts, as he averaged 10.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.2 blocks per game. Yet despite a decent start, the Trail Blazers still have not determined if he is truly a hidden gem from the draft — because the team has given him too little playing time to gather enough meaningful data.

The Trail Blazers Must Prioritize Developing Yang Hansen

After that much-debated draft, head coach Billups emphasized that he did not view Yang Hansen as a long-term developmental “project” player, but also noted the intense competition for frontcourt minutes. This made the draft pick even more puzzling: even if Yang Hansen has solid potential, the Trail Blazers’ center position was already crowded, and the team had multiple other areas urgently needing improvement.

Current interim coach Splitter (a former NBA center himself) has taken a more patient and cautious approach to developing Yang Hansen. For most games, Yang has fallen out of Splitter’s rotation, with the Trail Blazers opting to use Robert Williams as Klingen’s backup instead. So far this season, Yang Hansen has appeared in only 10 of 19 games, averaging 7.1 minutes mostly during garbage time, contributing 2.8 points and 1.6 rebounds per game.

Although the Trail Blazers acquired Jrue Holiday via trade this summer, signaling a “win-now” attitude, GM Cronin still insists the team should follow a long-term rebuilding strategy. Considering the Trail Blazers currently have a win rate below 50% and lack true playoff competitiveness in a stacked Western Conference, this approach is understandable — but if so, why not give Yang Hansen more opportunities?

The team made an unexpected gamble no one foresaw (not even Yang Hansen himself, who was eating fried chicken in the stands during the draft), and Yang demonstrated top-tier upside among rookies through his Summer League performance, validating the team’s decision. Yet in the end, the Trail Blazers are reluctant to invest fully in this “draft steal” player?

Splitter is hesitant to rush Yang Hansen onto the court, but that is exactly what he and the Trail Blazers need to do this season. The core issue in the team’s rebuilding process is the failure to prioritize developing young core players, instead allowing veterans to consume too many resources. Although the team partially addressed this by buying out Ayton, Robert Williams still ranks ahead of Yang Hansen in playing time, showing this problem persists.

However, there is a positive sign: according to NBA reporter Jake Fischer, the Trail Blazers are expected to be more willing to trade Robert Williams before the trade deadline.Hopefully this news will come true — the Trail Blazers have already fallen into an unnecessary dilemma regarding Yang Hansen’s usage, which not only limits the player’s growth but also caps the team’s rebuilding potential.