The Portland Trail Blazers are in the thick of a postseason chase in the Western Conference. Now, as we've officially reached the All-Star break, the time for experimentation for this team might be over. In other words, the Blazers don't have much room for error in the "second half" of the season, meaning we likely won't see much Hansen Yang the rest of the way.
That's not a knock on Hansen — as I've said before, his development was always going to be a project for this team. But with every game feeling important for the Blazers (who are currently tied with the Clippers for the No. 10 seed in the West), there won't likely be a ton of minutes for Hansen, who is still learning on the fly.
It's okay if Hansen spends most of his time with the Remix the next few months. Robert Williams III has been as good a backup center as Tiago Splitter could ask for, providing the rim-running and athleticism that Donovan Clingan lacks.
Yang Hansen's development could interfere with Blazers' playoff push
There's a delicate balance between teams trying to win games and allowing their young players to develop. But the Blazers, who are 27-29, aren't blowing teams out like, say, the Thunder, who trot out a half dozen players every night that nobody has ever heard of and are still going to be one of the best teams of all time.
Basically, 5 to 10 minutes from Yang Hansen every night could be the difference between a win and a loss, and one game could be the difference between a home-court play-in game and a road one. I know that sounds harsh, but after years of tanking (whether intentional or not) the Blazers are a fun, near-.500 team, and playing guys solely for the sake of their development doesn't make much sense the next two months.
Guys like Caleb Love and Sidy Cissoko will continue to get minutes, but that's more out of necessity than anything else. The Blazers are thin on the wing and in the backcourt, meaning those young guys are going to get plenty of run. But Clingan and Williams III are a solid center rotation, and playing the guys who give this team the best shot at winning every night is how the team has to operate from now until April.
No one should give up on Yang Hansen yet. But right now, letting him cook full-time with the Remix is probably the best route for himself, and for the Blazers at large.