Hansen Yang Scouting Report
It's easy to fall in love with the highlights, but substance always prevails when evaluating NBA talent. Is the hype around Hansen Yang real? Here's all you must know about his long-term potential:
Hansen Yang — Qingdao Double Star Eagles (China)
7’2” — Power Forward/Center — Born: Jun 26, 2005 (19 years old)
Introduction
As the CBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2024, Yang is one of the best shot-blockers in Asia. On top of that, Yang has shown dominance with his skill level when playing against his peers in FIBA-organized tournaments. The lack of a defensive structure in a scoring-heavy Chinese league makes the context essential when evaluating Yang’s profile.
It’s easy to fall in love with the flashes. However, in terms of substance, Yang has a long path of development to go before he will effectively touch an NBA floor. Regardless, his talent level is enticing and makes him a worthy NBA prospect. His long-term potential and a feasible role to grow into are the emphasis of this scouting report.
Physical Profile
At 7-foot-1 without shoes, Yang is a long and wiry athlete with improving upper body strength. He’s continuing to add muscle and has broad shoulders. At 252.6 pounds, there’s still room to fill his frame and strengthen in the next few years. When comparing him to eighteen months ago, there’s a difference between day and night. He’s in tremendous shape and worked hard to get stronger. On top of his huge hands, Yang has great length at a confirmed 7’2.75” wingspan.
His slow feet, combined with a lack of lateral quickness, take away the switchable character of his game. On top of that, Yang is an underwhelming athlete, which makes it a must to bring an elite level of skill to the NBA. He’s decent vertically but underwhelming laterally. Yang makes teams vulnerable against five-out sets due to the lack of speed to defend in space.
Offense
Skill and shot creation via post-ups
Yang is a skilled forward with great footwork. He’s comfortable moving his hips and does well to create angles by using head fakes and hesitation moves. He’s most comfortable finishing over his left shoulder. However, his goal is to lower his head and fake himself to angles to duck inside the paint. As the chart above shows, Yang shows decent touch at the rim at 56% over the span of the last two full seasons. His physicality often puts him on the charity stripe as well, finishing 67.7% of his attempts this season.
In the first possession below, Yang shows his biggest area of development. When he’s facing up, he takes the defender in this back to bully the smaller defender. As a result, he had the help defender coming over. This type of advantage creation must lead to the extra pass. In this case, it was the above-the-break shooter who was waiting. However, Yang opted to finish against two defenders instead. That’s a bad decision. It’s largely caused by his young age, where NBA coaches must help him to always value the extra pass. In the second play, Yang shows his active cutting and quick feet. He’s always looking to find ways to seal off assignments and position himself for easy finishes inside the painted area.
He’s good at using his physicality as well. In the third play, he positioned himself to receive the high post-entry pass. However, the area of attention for Yang is to work on not lowering the ball, as it leads to the advantage of a bigger chance to score while imminent and-ones if the defense does try to hack him. Regardless, there’s a world of promise for Yang as a post-up creator and bullying scorer hunting mismatches.
Passing, ball-moving, and playmaking
Yang’s gaining popularity with his creativity as a passer. He’s an absolute maestro at utilizing passing angles with flashy passes. But that’s not the focus of this evaluation. For an NBA five, it’s vital to get the ball out of their hands quickly while making purposeful passes where they can combine the pass with their physical presence. Quick screens in handoffs are the most essential ones. Therefore, the flashiness of his passing is less relevant for the NBA, but it’s all about substance leading to quick decision-making as a ball-mover and additional playmaker.
At 2.8 assists per game, he shows decent returns. He’s averaging more turnovers, but that’s not relevant as most of these are live-ball turnovers where it’s clear which read he wants to execute, but often gets misunderstood by his non-American teammates. Coaches would want Yang to get rid of the ball quickly in the NBA. The first two plays show examples. Less-experienced fives would contemplate making a play in the first one below, but Yang recognizes open ball-handling options on the perimeter and defers to them instead. In the second play, Yang hands the ball off and screens to the outside, forcing the defender to move over the screen so his roll can be hit, or another extra pass can be made. His purposeful screening alongside his passing is a big positive.
There’s serious promise to grow as a short-roll playmaker. Yang often gets bailout passes after his role, as his teammates don’t respond well to hard hedges of blitzes. Hereafter, he’s instantly looking to hit cutters. That’s the nature of his passing. The third and fourth plays show examples. Regardless of his struggles in the third play, the NBA will help a lot as there’s a constant motion for Yang to utilize his passing. The fourth play shows how quickly he recognizes an angle. It’s imminent that Yang will be an above-average playmaking five at the next level.
Catch-and-shoot
The best way for Yang to stay on the floor is to shoot threes in volume. His passing gravity in a five-out scheme gives him the highest chance of playing serious NBA minutes. However, his shot needs work. That’s normal when considering his young age and having to adapt to a changing game so quickly. Often for young seven-footers, the frame is later to catch on, which made it a must for Yang to continue to strengthen by being physical inside the paint. Despite the need to shoot, Yang had to focus on his interior game to speed up his development and keep up with the top of his peers. Therefore, NBA scouts must always consider the context here when judging his 28.6% three-point shooting this season.
Yang shows good touch as a shooter. But there are fundamental mistakes that need to be corrected. He reminded me of Luke Kornet immediately in terms of how Kornet shoots now. His no-dip threes are the base for his success because he built the strength to shoot consistently while keeping the ball high. In Yang’s case, his shot improves if he doesn’t lower the ball. Often, lowering the ball to his chest or even waist takes away the full value of the possession, as Yang’s passing instincts and scoring prowess are most dangerous when he has the ball over his head. Regardless, the first play shows an example of him using his passing gravity well to scare defenders off to get close to him.
The other side of the coin is some stinkers of shots as well. The second, third, and fourth plays show examples. It’s not to criticize his shot but to show that Yang must learn a habit of keeping the ball high on the perimeter. When he’s handing the ball off, it’s more dangerous to do it by keeping the ball high and then lower instead of the other way around. The passing gravity prevails in his situation, and Yang has the touch to shoot in volume when he keeps the ball high. His body improved tremendously in the last eighteen months. That’s the base for his future success and potential as a shooter. But Yang’s only shot at becoming an effective floor-stretcher is embracing the role of a no-dip shooter. That’s making him a big offensive threat, considering his passing gravity as leverage.
Offensive rebounding and putbacks
Yang’s other big addition to an NBA team is the rebounding, especially on the offensive end. Yang has a great feel for the game and knows where missed shots will land. He has good footwork, throws in his body actively in box-outs, and collects rebounds like he’ll collect his future paycheck—in bunches. Yang has big hands and good coordination and is one of the best rebounders in this entire draft class. His back-to-back seasons with double-digit rebounds per game are an example of the outcome.
His biggest weapon is not to stick around in the dunker’s spot, but to relocate and then make a move so the defender can focus on him during box-outs. The third and fourth plays show examples. He’s agile and moves well with no space around him. However, the other side of the coin is Yang lowering the ball out of habit. That’s a no-go for the NBA. It opens up opportunities for opponents to hack him and send him to the line, saving points and taking away the game’s pace. When teams want to play fast, Yang must embrace keeping the ball high. The Gasol brothers were elite rebounders because of it. Yang’s positional feel and coordination make him an above-average rebounder in the NBA. But it’s all about converting those second-chance points. That’s where Yang’s game needs to work toward.
Defense
Pick-and-pop
The biggest area of development is Yang’s struggle to defend in space. He’s too heavy-footed to use speed as his weapon. However, he’s holding his ground at the highest level in China because of his fluid hips and great footwork. That’s the base of his success in the NBA as well. There are enough slower-footed fives who find success while diversifying their game by not solely playing drop coverage. It will take a few years, but Yang has the opportunity to stick in the league. One of the positives is his screen navigation. With his size and fluid hips, he shows moves to play around screens while having good decision-making in when to dive and contest against spot-up shooters. That's a must-have skill for drop coverage to work.
In the first play, Yang keeps the ball handler away by closing the lane with his right foot while using his left arm to try to poke the ball early. Eventually, he hunts his man to stop the paint touch, forcing the dropoff pass. That’s the best counter he can have to be slow-footed and vulnerable against quick and explosive athletes. In the second possession, Yang shows great decision-making by not fully diving into his assignment after the dropoff pass. He drops his coverage but plays smart with the space around him. He didn’t fall for the fake and watched how the scorer double-dribbled him.
Even when biting on fakes, Yang shows an incredibly good second jump. The third play shows an example of another compensating factor for the lack of speed. Yang will never become a positive pick-and-roll or pick-and-pop defender, but there are enough feasible elements that’ll help him improve at the next level.
Pick-and-roll
Yang has a mature defensive game. That’s remarkable considering his young age while facing older players for two seasons in a row. He’s a good decision-maker despite his drop-coverage-heavy style of defending in the pick-and-roll. Yang has the feel for the game for not getting fooled by creative scorers. The positive factor is that he’s facing former NBA scorers in China. That helps him to understand how they create advantages and that Yang’s enticing length and size make it harder for them to get by him. When scorers attack his feet, Yang shows good footwork and hips to counter. Therefore, they must use fakes and other forms of creativity to create angles. The best way to describe Yang’s pick-and-roll success is his ability to close angles and slide his feet to compensate for the lack of speed.
The first play below shows Yang stepping back in the horns play to immediately pick up the ball handler snaking through the middle. He’s making the ball handler beat him off the dribble. That gave him the comfort to focus on the pull-up shot. In the second possession, we see a clear example of Yang knowing how he must defend. He checks if his pivot foot is still inside the arc. That’s giving him comfort in his positioning and to slide with the ball handler switching sides. That’s helping him close angles. He’s mapping the floor very well, and it helps him to make better decisions about when to contest against pull-up shooters. Yang leaves the interior in the third play but stays careful to not go too far outside. His feel to stay at 180 degrees of ball handlers helps him to close angles as well as he does. That’s a part of his game that came back on the second day of the NBA Draft Combine as well.
Defense away from the ball and against cutters
Regardless, there are serious lapses in Yang’s overall defense. He’s struggling to defend away from the ball. That’s partially on a non-existing defensive three-second rule, which won’t be applicable in the NBA. Yang struggles to stay in the paint because the nature of his game is to play outside the paint. He is vulnerable to showing help defense too early in the process. That’s making him a target for dropoff passes and getting scored or dunked on by play-finishers inside the paint. In China, those are often American centers. The positive here is that he’s learning to deal with better athletes. The importance is his quick second jump, and fluid hips are essential to play in the NBA.
However, the issue in Yang’s game is that he must learn how to master both better than he does now. The NBA is all about rim pressure. For defensive ratings to stand a chance of keeping sustainable with Yang on the floor, all he has to do is not bite on fakes and not overhelp. That sounds easier than it is. The first play shows an example of his issues. He’s tagging his man well but still overhelps early in the process. Knowing his enticing shot-blocking at 2.7 per game, Yang is better to keep by his man and contest at the rim. Because now he’s contesting further away from the rim and bails out the ball handler with the easy dropoff pass to where he’s giving away two easy points.
Yang is a traditional shot-blocker who does most of his damage around the rim. He’s a rim deterrent, and his best way to stop scorers is to make them beat him on his ground around the basket. The second play shows another example of Yang leaving his assignment to rotate to dribble penetration. The lack of speed gets in his way as on every dropoff pass it’s a certain two points being given away. Considering the NBA’s focus on handles and dribble penetration, that’s bad news for their defensive rating with Yang on the floor. That’s one of the reasons that it’s unlikely Yang will play NBA minutes early in his career.
NBA Draft Projection
Based on the strengths and areas of development mentioned in this scouting report, I project Hansen Yang to be an early second-rounder in the 2025 NBA Draft. He’ll sign a two-way contract. Hereafter, it’s continuing to improve his body while working on defending in space. The offensive skill is enticing and will earn him spot minutes, but the defensive lapses are too big to earn early minutes. Regardless, Yang has a future in the league.
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Awesome read Thank you. I've been hyping YANG as a early to mid second rnd pick and wouldn't be surprised if the Wolves, Lakers, Hawks try and get him.