Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups thinks rookie Yang Hansen is progressing well through his first three days of NBA training camp.<\/p>\n
Billups told reporters on Wednesday the 7-foot-1 Chinese center already has great offensive feel that\u2019ll help him succeed on that end. As far as defense and rebounding, Billups said Yang will require a larger learning curve for those skills, but Billups wasn\u2019t concerned. He knows it\u2019s par for the course for a 20-year-old making the leap to The NBA.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s defensively where he\u2019s a little behind,\u201d Billups said. \u201cRebounding the ball and getting down there is where he\u2019s a little behind, but in fairness to him, he didn\u2019t have to fight and claw and scrap for rebounds. He\u2019s just so good and so big [in the Chinese Basketball Association] that it would just come right to him. The NBA is totally different. The speed of the game is a little different; there\u2019s a learning curve for that. But he\u2019s right where a rook should be at, and I\u2019m happy with where he\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yang, alongside his interpreter Chris Liu, spoke with media on Thursday for the first time during camp. He was on the same page as his coach about areas for growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just try to catch the team\u2019s speed, and also I\u2019m trying to build more cohesion with all the players,\u201d Yang said. \u201c \u2026 I\u2019ve got some disadvantages, I know. I\u2019ve got some weaknesses on the court. I just try to pick everything up faster and try to help the team as much as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fortunately for Yang and his desire to learn, his head coach and teammates have been commending the cerebral parts of his game all week. Blazers forward Jerami Grant was the latest to do so, telling reporters Thursday that Yang was picking up the team\u2019s plays and movements quickly. He said the rookie\u2019s smarts were what stood out about him most during camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows how to pass the ball,\u201d Grant said. \u201cHe knows how to move the ball. He knows how to direct the offense. He\u2019s just smart.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of our basketball stuff, he\u2019s watching film everyday,\u201d added Billups, who said the team is taking an aggressive approach with his development. \u201cHe\u2019s going through things, kind of extra work for him everyday. He\u2019s in a crash course right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yang\u2019s teammates are also helping him adjust to his new team and navigate the language barrier. He said Donovan Clingan, Jrue Holiday, Deni Avdija and others have been guiding him through concepts and instructions.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone just helps me,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we play for the same team [during a scrimmage], every time during the timeout they try to tell me, \u2018Yo, Hansen, you can do that, or you can do that.\u2019 They just give me some instructions, so I can follow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yang\u2019s first week of official NBA practice is almost in the books, with the final day of Trail Blazers training camp coming Friday. Then the next step in his crash course is, perhaps, some lighthearted rookie hazing at Blazers Fan Fest on Saturday. It\u2019s become a team tradition for rookies to be forced to sing karaoke in front of the crowd at the annual event, although Billups wouldn\u2019t reveal if Yang would be given the microphone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure,\u201d Billups said with a smile. \u201cStay tuned, baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yang was familiar with the usual singing requirement, but he also wouldn\u2019t say if he was performing or which song he might choose.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll see you guys on Saturday,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ll see me there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups thinks rookie Yang Hansen is progressing well through his first three…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":273416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[1260,33761,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-273415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-nba","9":"tag-practice-report","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115307863416618321","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}