That doesn’t mean though that there wasn’t any hype around the team on Thursday.
“That’s a lot of pressure from the cameras,” said Yang Hansen with a laugh surrounded by a large media contingent. “I can feel that, yeah. I don’t want to make any mistakes in front of the camera.”
Nearly two dozen Chinese reporters descended upon Trail Blazers practice on Thursday to catch up with the Blazers draftee.
It’s not hyperbole to say the 20-year-old has the weight of the world’s second-largest country on his shoulders.
In fact, the NBA intentionally set his first summer league game to begin at 8 p.m., which is noon in China.
“I work hard and will learn a lot of stuff from here and try to bring everything I have back to China,” said Hansen. “Once I get a chance to be on the national team, I will try to protect my national team’s honor.”
It seems his adjustment from one nation to another continues to be relatively smooth.
Both his Summer League head coach Ronnie Burrell and Summer League teammate Caleb Love gave shining reviews.
“He is just a pleasure to work with, a pleasure to be around,” said Burrell. “His energy and his approach to the day just kind of brings everybody up. He’s got such high character. I’m really impressed with how quickly he’s picking up things that we want from him, and his ceiling is immensely high.”
“That’s my guy, man,” said Love. “He’s picking up everything pretty quickly, and that’s honestly impressive to see obviously with the language barrier. Off the court, he’s funny. He always greets us and has a lot of energy so he’s fun to be around for sure.”
All of this attention combined with Hansen’s personality leads to a natural next question from the Chinese media: When will he get the ultimate seal of NBA approval and get his own signature shoe?
“It’s time to ask my sponsor, don’t ask me.” said Hansen with a big smile. “I’m ready for that too.”
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