Young Hansen’s very shy debut with the Blazers

After Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi or encore Yi Jianlian, Yang Hansen officially became the 8th player from China to participate in an NBA game. It was last night on the occasion of the arrival of Wukov. An introduction that was not easy for the 20-year-old player.

Chauncey Billups sent to the floor after five minutes of play, the pivot distinguished himself by camping his racket on defense. The result: a logical sanction for three seconds in defense. Enough to return to the bench, after only three minutes of play.

The Zibo native had the right to a second sequence in the second quarter, once again blowing out starting center Donovan Clingan. Time to make two free throws, see Rudy Gobert block his “hook” and most of all experience his famous “Welcome to the NBA” moment.

Jaden McDaniels showed no mercy to a one-handed poster of rare violence. « I felt like I needed to be better at my positioning, that I needed to work harder to adjust better. I have to work on what I haven’t mastered yet and learn from my weak points », shows the Chinese giant at a press conferencethinking that if he had gone on the defensive earlier, he might not have met this fate.

Damian Lillard to the rescue

The fact remains that his coach preferred not to use him later. Jang Hansen therefore only played five minutes in total and spent the rest of the time standing on the sidelines cheering on his teammates despite the language barrier is still evident. During the game, he even got some advice from local legend, Damian Lillard, in civilian clothes on the Blazers bench.

« He gave me his experience, mostly in the defensive aspect, and told me to pay attention to the three-second rule on defense. He also taught me attacking moves, and he never held back, he always threw everything at me », reports the insider, drawn in the 16th position in June.

The latter, despite the flashes of talent on display in the preseasonhe is aware that he has a long way to go to establish himself permanently in the league. “ It’s a completely new experience to be on the field. I was discovering a new league and a new level of intensity. I have to adapt to the league and improve in areas where I am not good enough yet », term-t-il.