'It's Not Bad to Have Pressure': Yang Hansen Opens Up About Rookie Struggles, Goals for the Future
In his first-ever extensive interview in English, Yang reflected on a whirlwind rookie season and the pressure of representing China in the NBA.
Fire/WNBA
Portland Fire Finally Have Basketball Players Ahead of Inaugural WNBA Season
Bridget Carleton and Nika Mühl headlined Portland's haul in the WNBA expansion draft
8 min read
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📍PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Fire have existed as a basketball team for 19 months. Until Friday, they had no basketball players.
As a friend who bought season tickets put it to me recently, the entire operation has felt more like a Supreme merch pop-up than a team you're going to be able to watch play games. A months-long CBA battle that delays the WNBA offseason will do that.
With Friday's expansion draft, the Fire and the other new team, the Toronto Tempo, finally cleared that hurdle. Now they have actual players to sell jerseys and put on billboards.
Some good ones, too.
“Honestly, today went better than anyone expected,” general manager Vanja Černivec said to open her post-draft press conference in a meeting room at the Hyatt Regency hotel in northeast Portland.
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