Summer League's Mini Jokic? US Media Suggests Bulls Trade for Yang Hansen: Two Factors Could Lead Trail Blazers to Give Up on Him

On March 12 Beijing time, the well-known US media Bleacher Report offered recruitment advice for the future of 30 teams, listing three suitable targets for each team. Among the three targets suggested for the Bulls, the name of Chinese player Yang Hansen appeared. The media's specific analysis regarding the Bulls' recruitment is as follows—

Bulls' Three Potential Recruitment Targets: Lively, Yang Hansen, Missy

In this analysis, we first make three premise assumptions for the Chicago Bulls:

Premise One: The management is truly determined to follow a gradual path and will not pursue big-name stars that require sacrificing core assets.

Premise Two: The Bulls prefer to use salary cap space to absorb undesirable contracts from other teams in exchange for draft pick compensation, rather than splurging haphazardly in the free market.

Premise Three: Finding a long-term reliable center will be the team's top priority.

None of these are certain, especially Premise One and Premise Two. The Bulls are still the Bulls; after tanking for nearly half a season, they could equally choose to suddenly accelerate their rebuild.

If the Bulls stick to their current path, Lively would be an excellent target. The Dallas Mavericks might not want to actively trade him, but his injury history could make him an asset available at a low cost.

Convincing the Trail Blazers to give up on Yang Hansen after just one season of development is very difficult. He is almost destined to be called "Mini Jokic" again in the Summer League. However, with Clingan's emergence and the Trail Blazers willing to play smaller lineups, Yang Hansen falls into the category of a "no harm in asking" inquiry target.

Missy might not be a long-term solution, but he is not just a temporary filler either. He can push the pace in transition, has rim protection close to league average, and can crash the offensive boards; if his catching ability improves further, he could become a reliable finishing option for the Bulls' guards around the basket.

So far this season, Yang Hansen has played 38 games for the Trail Blazers, averaging only 7.3 minutes per game, scoring 2.2 points, grabbing 1.5 rebounds, and providing 0.6 assists, with a shooting percentage of 30.1%, a three-point percentage of 12.5%, and a free throw percentage of 82.8%. He has been repeatedly assigned to the G League's Remix team for training and games.