The Trail Blazers officially announced the demotion of Yang Hansen! Team reporter cites his biggest weakness as physicality: the need to simplify offensive moves.

On December 17th Beijing time, the Trail Blazers sent Yang Hansen down to the G League’s Rip City Remix, where he will still take part in today’s back-to-back match against the Stockton Kings. Team reporter Mike Richman addressed fans’ inquiries on his podcast, providing thorough explanations about Yang Hansen. Details are as follows—

A fan asked, “Do you believe Yang Hansen can make significant progress relying solely on NBA training and G League playing time? Without NBA minutes to refine his skills, would the team’s investment in him be wasted?”

Richman began by discussing Hansen’s recent practice. He deliberately sat at the baseline under the basket where Hansen was training to closely observe his drills. He knew that during that night’s game (Trail Blazers vs. Warriors), Hansen was unlikely to get playing time—Robert Williams and Klingen were both back from injury, and the team would likely favor a small-ball lineup against the Warriors, leaving no opportunity for Hansen.

Therefore, his main task that day was about 15 minutes of one-on-one pregame training under the guidance of the player development coach. He worked very hard during the session, sweating profusely.

From close observation, I noticed his jump shot mechanics remain the same—his release is somewhat slow. Although his shooting percentage in NBA games is low, his form isn’t bad. Given time, he could definitely develop a consistent three-point shot.

However, at present, his biggest shortcoming is his physical strength.During training, the player development coach specifically intensified the physical contact drills, having him practice finishing plays under contact. The drill was simple: receive the ball near the paint, dribble once to generate power, use the shoulder to hold off the defender, then complete a layup or dunk. This is high-intensity, NBA-level contact training.

But even during these drills, when the coach applied real physical pressure, Hansen struggled to create space for his shot. At only 20 years old, his body still has much room to grow, and his strength will improve over time, but currently, lack of strength is a major challenge for him.

Of course, Hansen’s basketball skills are quite good—his ball handling is very smooth, and his passing vision is solid. However, these skills have not fully manifested in NBA games yet, mainly due to two reasons:First, the pace and athleticism in the NBA far exceed what he is currently accustomed to; second, the intense physical defense from opponents makes it difficult for him to comfortably execute his passing skills.Given time, he should be able to showcase his passing talent.

But in my opinion, what he needs most right now is to simplify his offensive moves.I admit, I made a mistake when watching his games before—I was attracted by his flashy footwork in his draft highlight reels: for example, in low-post back-to-the-basket situations, he would continuously fake, spin, and use a series of dazzling moves to finish at the rim.

But on NBA courts, these fancy moves don’t work—the defenders are too skilled. To score in the low post, a simple spin move followed by a hook shot finish is enough, just like Robin Lopez used to do: establish position, spin, shoot. It’s that straightforward.

In the NBA, you simply don’t have time to perform those “fake left, then right, then pull back” flashy combos.Even if you try, you need tremendous physical strength to hold off defenders; otherwise, help defenders will quickly collapse on you, forcing a contested shot against multiple defenders.

So, what Hansen needs most now is to build up his physicality to create offensive space, while also paring down his offensive moves to the essentials—for instance: spin to the left and finish with a right-hand hook shot; or establish position, catch the ball, spin left, and hook shot. Standing 2.21 meters tall, he is one of the tallest players in the league. Mastering these simple moves can bring offensive value.

Once he solidifies these fundamental skills, he can gradually integrate those flashy techniques to truly unlock his potential. His skills are indeed excellent, but without sufficient physical strength to support them, all the skills are just empty talk.

As for defense, I’m unsure whether he can develop adequate defensive capabilities in the future—his defensive anticipation and mobility seem less than ideal.However, as his physical strength improves, he can at least become a useful player offensively, then gradually enhance other aspects of his game.

Returning to Tyler’s question: Does Hansen really need NBA playing time? I think this is a difficult question. However, the example of Sisoko is quite instructive—Sisoko barely saw any NBA minutes last year but after a summer of hard work and this season’s opportunities, he has grown into a competent NBA player.But Hansen’s situation differs from Sisoko’s—he jumped straight from an overseas league to the NBA, so he has more adjustments to make and likely needs some NBA minutes to gain experience.

However, the Trail Blazers obviously won’t give him playing time easily because the team’s goal this season is to make the playoffs. I suspect when the team drafted Hansen, they didn’t expect him to be a “raw gem” needing such a long development period.They probably assumed Hansen would adapt quickly to the NBA and contribute immediately. But now it seems his growth curve is much flatter than expected, forcing the team to adjust their development plan for him.

His preseason performance and the first few minutes of his NBA career show he is not yet ready for NBA competition.

Therefore, the team can only have him play in the G League for now. The G League games do help—he needs game experience to improve his conditioning and physicality, as the pace and intensity of G League games are closer to the NBA level.

The G League is indeed a good place for him to accumulate game experience and refine his skills, but at the same time, he also needs to learn the NBA pace. So the team cannot let him stay in the G League for a whole month, completely detached from the NBA training environment.Being around NBA professionals daily, learning their training habits and game tempo, understanding NBA survival rules—like when to do strength training versus skill training—are all essential parts of a player’s growth.

So, it’s a tough choice. But overall, if Hansen wants to truly fulfill his potential, he probably does need some NBA playing time. The reality is, those opportunities won’t come out of nowhere—it ultimately depends on him improving his skills and physical condition through hard work to earn a place on the team. This will undoubtedly be a huge challenge for Hansen.