I have prached patience with Yang Hansen on this here website many times in the past few months. Right now, Thiago Splitter is adhering to that patience... Really staunchly. He's being so, so patient with Yang Hansen. Patient to the point of frustration from Blazers fans, who understandably want to see the team's first-round pick get some action (and not just a few garbage time minutes like he played against Milwaukee the other night.
Despite my refusal to be concerned about Hansen's development, I do understand why fans are growing more confused about the Blazers' handling of his minutes, especially when guys like Sidy Cissoko, Caleb Love, Ryen Rupert, and Kris Murray are all getting real run on a nightly basis.
If the Blazers were dominating the league with a team full of veterans, Hansen's exclusion from the rotation would make more sense. That's not the case, though; the Blazers have some thrilling wins, but are still under .500, and are dealing with injuries to some of their better players. Isn't that kind of the perfect opportunity to play Hansen?
Yang Hansen is not getting any consequential minutes for the Blazers
Again, I don't think Hansen should play 25 minutes per night or suddenly be tasked with running the Blazers second-unit. But if all the other young guys are going to get minutes... Why not let Yang cook a little?
It's not like Love, Cissoko or Rupert are much further along in their respective developments than Hansen is, either. Those guys are getting minutes that are essentially Splitter saying let's see what you can do. Sometimes they're productive, like Love's career night against the Warriors. Sometimes they're really ugly, like the very next game when Love went 3-13 from the field.
That's fine, though! Young guys should be allowed to have bad games, that's an important part of the learning curve of this league. The Blazers know that to be true. So why isn't Yang getting at least a few minutes of his own to either impress or learn?