Team reporter questioned the Trail Blazers: Hexion became a victim of Cronin s strategy and keeping Lowe prevented him from realizing his potential.

On November 24, Trail Blazers reporter Reese Kunz wrote an article reporting on Yang Hansen's current situation, believing that he was a victim of the Trail Blazers' current strategy, and said that the team's retention of Lowe actually hindered Hansen from realizing his potential. The following is the full text of his report -

With the 2025-26 season starting one month ago, "Bleacher Report" reporter Buckley recently took stock of the biggest regrets of each team's offseason. Regarding the Portland Trail Blazers' chapter, he believes that this regret stems from their unconventional selection of Yang Hansen in the draft. The problem is not the draft itself, but the Blazers' failure to fully utilize the value of this pick, leaving Yang Hansen deep in the end of the rotation and unable to get a chance to play.

"Given the unique skill level of his 2-meter-16, 122-kilogram frame, this is an extremely attractive bet and makes the Trail Blazers a must-see team in the summer league. However, even before he joins, there is a burning question: Can he keep up with the pace of the NBA game?" Buckley wrote.

Yang Hansen has shown some promising flashes to justify this draft bet. But as Buckley pointed out, he has yet to get consistent playing time in the Trail Blazers' crowded frontcourt, especially since there are still legitimate concerns about his ability to adapt to the rhythm of the NBA.

Buckley also said: "These questions have not yet been answered because he is ranked too low in the rotation. You know, the Trail Blazers only selected another center Klingen with the No. 7 pick last year, and now they also retain Robert - Williams and Dupu-Reese. This is why Yang Hansen has played so little NBA playing time so far. "

Isn't it an essential part of Yang Hansen's learning curve to let him face the hardships of the game and experience the pain of growth? The Blazers seem to be delaying the inevitable process - leaving Williams III as "insurance" in case Yang Hansen fails to play, but the existence of Williams itself may be hindering Yang Hansen from realizing his potential!

Yang Hansen has never been able to stably enter the rotation of interim head coach Split, which highlights the "dilemma" the Blazers are in in terms of lineup construction. As a rebuilding team, they placed too much emphasis on veterans and stayed on the team for too long; they should have put the young core first from the beginning, but the Blazers are now eager to pursue results, making it difficult for young players to obtain the most conducive development environment for growth.

Henderson and Sheldon Sharp have faced this dilemma before, and Yang Hansen seems to have become the latest victim of general manager Joe Cronin's attempt to "dual-track" (taking into account both reconstruction and record) strategies.

Having said that, the Trail Blazers actually don't have many offseason regrets, because Cronin has been relatively successful in controlling the rebuild so far. The departures of Anfernee Simons and Ayton are both "subtractive reinforcements." Even if Ayton leaves the team, the Blazers' center position now has a new and difficult problem to solve-the one ahead of Yang Hansen is Klingen, whom they selected last year.

This makes people question: What are the Blazers' plans for Yang Hansen? Why did you choose him in the first place? In particular, the team also has other obvious lineup flaws such as insufficient shooting ability, which have not yet been resolved.