If summer league and preseason are any indication, Yang Hansen is an absolute draft steal for the Portland Trail Blazers. The problem is that they also hit on their pick the previous season with the selection of Donovan Clingan. The Blazers now have two traditional centers that could be getting in the way of each other's development.
There are only 48 total minutes for Chauncey Billups to allocate each game at the center position. Clingan has improved his conditioning with expectations of playing over 30 minutes a game in his second season. Doing some quick math, that leaves Hansen with just 18 minutes. That's not even accounting for Robert Williams III, who, when healthy, is arguably even more impactful than Hansen at this point in their respective careers.
Blazers' Donovan Clingan-Yang Hansen pairing might not work
Of course, it's not that black and white throughout the course of an 82-game season. Williams isn't even cleared to play and will likely sit out back-to-backs this season because of his injury history. Clingan could get in foul trouble certain nights, or potentially even sit out a stretch of the season himself. While we hope that isn't the case, the point is, it's a long season, and you never truly know what will happen.
Having two young, quality centers is a luxury that very few other teams in the NBA have. Portland has the safe floor of Clingan, who has already established himself as an elite rebounder and rim protector in his All-Rookie campaign. From a risk assessment standpoint, that pairs nicely with the risk-reward nature of the Hansen pick (although he also seems to have a higher floor than many anticipated due to his basketball IQ and overall feel for the game). They also complement each other well as centers with varying skillsets, giving Billups plenty of flexibility with his frontcourt options.
However, they don't complement each other in terms of being able to play alongside each other. The Houston Rockets' double big lineup of Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams is an exception to the rule. Hansen is a similar player archetype as Sengun due to his footwork and court vision, but his lack of quickness prevents him from playing out on the perimeter for extended stretches, at least on the defensive end.
Hansen should still have an immediate role as a rookie, but that role is very confined as a backup behind Clingan with little to no wiggle room. He will inevitably have growing pains as he continues to address some of his weaknesses that made him a universally projected second-round pick. But with Clingan in the way, it's that much more difficult for Hansen to reach his ceiling as he won't have as many opportunities to fail.
This catch-22 situation is reminiscent of how Portland approached Scoot Henderson's development. Despite being a rebuilding team that spent a valuable No. 3 overall pick on Henderson, they stuck him behind veterans on the depth chart. That didn't allow him the necessary room to grow, which prevented them from promoting him to a starting role because he still wasn't better than the player ahead of him. It's somewhat of a backwards way to approach a rebuild, as teams typically should be prioritizing their young talent.
At least in Hansen's case, Clingan is also a promising young center, which makes it easier to justify the center logjam. Still, Hansen has already proven that he has a star ceiling, and the Blazers should be doing everything they can to help him reach it.