Portland media personality: Yang Hanshen still needs several years before he can contribute; right now, he doesn’t resemble an NBA player at all.

On December 1st Beijing time, in the newest edition of the Blazers Upside podcast, Portland media members Torey Jones and Eric Brandt talked about Yang Hanshen and gave a detailed breakdown of his current situation. The key points are as follows—

If our record were something like 2 wins and 19 losses or 4 wins and 16 losses, it would be unreasonable not to give him playing time, but he is simply not ready yet—He still needs several more years before he can make a positive impact on the NBA court. Today I posted on social media that “he still needs two more years to even reach the stage of ‘needing two more years’,” which sums up my true feeling. Many aspects of his game don’t look like those of an NBA player, especially on defense.

His defensive skills are far from sufficient; he cannot handle responsibilities on his own. Whenever he steps onto the court, the team has to immediately switch to zone defense because he can’t guard Holmgren or defend the perimeter. On offense? He could have finished with a simple jump hook layup, but instead he tries awkward one-handed dribbles and side floaters, which are totally unnecessary. He also missed all three of his three-point attempts. Moreover, he nearly committed several three-second violations in the paint, but the referees didn’t call them.

I knew from the draft that he was a developmental prospect, but his defensive gap is huge and there’s so much he needs to improve. I’m genuinely worried whether he can catch up in critical areas—he definitely has some raw talent, but so far it hasn’t translated into on-court effectiveness, and many of his issues are fundamental flaws.

Additionally,his only path to success is through basketball IQ, because his athleticism won’t help him at all. Simply put, he relies on his tall frame and hopes to make smart positional reads, but don’t expect him to be a rim protector who thrives on athletic ability.

I’m also unsure whether the G League is the right environment for him. This is the problem with drafting a player who isn’t ready to contribute—although everyone said he was ready at the draft. So whether he can be developed over the next few years remains uncertain, but given the current team situation, I really don’t understand why anyone would want to tank just to get him minutes, because the chances of him performing well now are less than 50%, and forcing him onto the court isn’t worthwhile.

If his issues are communication, adapting to team culture, or adjusting to a new environment, those don’t have to be solved through official games. So if these are the barriers, forcing him to play won’t help.

Some say 3-4 minutes of playing time is too little to find rhythm, but the rhythm he’s finding is negative: getting scored on by Holmgren, being fooled into fouls by fakes, and many similar situations. His current level is nowhere near enough to establish any rhythm in the NBA.

The key point is that he was originally labeled as a “stretch five,” and people said, “We drafted a 7'2" big man who can shoot threes, pass, and handle the ball,” but last year in the CBA his three-point shooting was only 27%, and in the NBA he’s made just 1 of 14 attempts, a 7.1% rate. He is nowhere near a qualified NBA three-point shooter, but because he hit some threes in the CBA and his shooting form looks decent, people assumed he could shoot threes in the NBA. I always thought people only watched highlight reels and ignored the actual stats—27% from three last year means he has a long way to go to be a reliable shooter.

As for post moves, nowadays very few teams run low-post plays, so he must excel there to earn a spot on offense.Sometimes he shows flashes, but his post game basically involves dribbling six times to back down the defender before scoring, while the NBA pace is much faster.So at this point, he doesn’t deserve any playing time and should be in the G League.

The G League might help him, but he needs significant technical improvement in three-point shooting, quick decision-making in the post, and recognizing NBA-level passing opportunities (which he currently lacks entirely). Defensively, he faces a long learning curve. Even if he plays 10 minutes, it will be hard for him to find offensive rhythm; at best, he might have a couple of games with some offensive highlights—random three-pointers or a few good post plays—and then people will say, “See, I told you he can play in the NBA.”This kid has talent but requires a lot of time and hard work. Everyone must be patient with him, and the Blazers must also be patient because right now he simply cannot consistently help the team in NBA games.

You say he “always tries to do too much,” but almost all 14 of his three-point attempts this year were wide open shots. Should he not take open threes just because he isn’t ready to shoot well? I don’t get that logic—he was supposed to be a three-point shooter, that’s what we expected from him initially, right? He just shoots poorly; his attempts at scoring in the post are because that’s the role he’s meant to fill. So he’s basically playing according to his role, just not skilled enough yet to have a positive impact.

Also, I want to say,if he knows he will get almost no playing time and finally receives 3-4 minutes, he shouldn’t try to “do too much.” Instead, he should focus on not making mistakes—secure rebounds in his area, box out, execute details well, set good screens (he actually set a few decent screens today, I admit that), and take smart shots when opportunities arise. This is how he can earn more minutes: if he doesn’t mess up during those 3-4 minutes and the team performs okay, maybe he can get 6-8 minutes next, and then we’ll see how he does.

But ultimately, even if he gets more playing time, he’s not a good three-point shooter and will keep missing threes; defensively, more minutes won’t fix his problems—it will only expose him to opponents targeting him, forcing the team to play zone defense. If opponents break the zone, the defense is completely helpless; this is the core issue Yang Hanshen faces right now.