Portland Trail Blazers Media Day 2025 came with hints and foreshadowing of what to expect during a fresh season in Rip City.
Blazer’s Edge already covered some eyebrow-raising quotes from Blazers veteran Jerami Grant. But there’s still much more to highlight from Monday’s three-hour event that included interviews with Blazers president of business operations Dewayne Hankins, general manager Joe Cronin, head coach Chauncey Billups and several players.
Here are more storylines and notable quotes from Trail Blazers Media Day 2025.
The Blazers closed the second half of last season strong to finish just outside of the Western Conference Play-In with a 36-46 record. Following that improvement, Cronin said at his end-of-season presser that the playoffs would be a reasonable goal for Portland during the 2025-26 campaign.
However, on Monday, Cronin’s messaging about season expectations echoed similar to what he said this time last fall. Again, he expects to see improvement, but he isn’t ready to declare making the postseason as the primary barometer for success this year.
“The goal is to compete every night,” Cronin said. “Do we want to make the play-in? Yes. Do we want to make the playoffs? Yes. Do we want to win 16 playoff games? Yes. I don’t have expectations, and I won’t be disappointed if those things don’t happen as long as we’re continually growing. We’re still thinking big-picture with this roster knowing that until our young guys are ready to really fuel winning we’re not going to be good enough, and we’re going to take that approach. But with that, we’re confident in our abilities, we’re confident in the additions we’ve made. We’re expecting to be a quality team each and every night.”
A reporter asked Cronin how the team can balance the understanding that its young guys need to take developmental leaps, while also integrating new players like Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday, two veterans in their mid-30s. The GM said those moves follow the organization’s priority of teaching players how to play the right way by establishing “guard rails” to help their development.
“We’re not just going to hand [our younger players] the ball and 36 minutes and say, ‘Go nuts, figure it out,’” he said. “We want them to learn to play the right way, to earn what they get, to have accountability in their play.”
Regarding guards Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe, Cronin said this philosophy has shown in how Billups has expanded and tightened their minutes depending on their quality of play.
“Some of it’s to protect them,” he said. “Some of that is just to develop them the way we think is best, which is a hands-on approach. In time, we hope, it solves itself. … In time, you hope that eventually those guys just go get the ball and then never give it back. With some of these guys, they’re already there — a guy like Deni [Avdija]. With others, it’s still going to take some time.”
Unsurprisingly, Media Day featured lots of discussion about the team’s newly established defensive identity and how it can reach new heights this season. Many speakers believed the Blazers could tout one of the top defenses in the league this season given the returning personnel and the addition of Holiday.
While the defense will look to continue its momentum, Billups wants to establish a new offensive identity this season. Part of that mission will feature a schematic overhaul centered around playing faster, less pick-n-roll and more off-ball motion, among other differences.
”I expect for us again to play faster,” Billups said. “Not only that, but even in the halfcourt, some of the cutting patterns and things like that will be totally different — not as much standing around or just run the pick-n-roll and the other three guys are just kinda standing and watching the entire time. … We’ll be better about that and not being as predictable.”
The coaching staff hired two assistants this summer to help implement this new offensive vision: former NBA center Tiago Splitter, who spent last season as the head coach of the Paris Basketball Club, and former Memphis Grizzlies lead assistant Patrick St. Andrews.
”What I want to do with our offense, those two guys have done it,” Billups said.
Players also voiced excitement about the team’s new offensive system.
“The way we’re playing this year is going to be a lot faster,” Henderson said. “We always talked about how we wanted to play fast, but there was never really any construction around it, so we were kinda just free-roaming a little bit. But I feel like this year with [St. Andrews] and Tiago and [Billups] as the head of the snake, I think it’s going to be a lot of fun, a lot of unexpected cuts, and I’m gonna be able to know where everybody’s at. We’re all gonna be moving in unison.”
“For players who tend to get stuck in the corner, this offense is really great to get you involved, to make you feel like you’re involved,” Blazers wing Matisse Thybulle added. “Ultimately, with any offense, that’s the goal: keeping guys engaged. And offenses just have a tendency to have certain players get stuck in spots on the court where they don’t feel like they’re a part of things, and then that creates all types of problems, whether it’s engagement, buy-in or effort on defense. Not that those are things were necessarily worried about, but the fact that everyone’s gonna be more involved, everyone’s gonna be more of a threat, I think it’s going to be exciting for guys like myself and Toumani [Camara], defensive players who sometimes tend to get lost in the corners.”
The Yang Hansen Experience
Media Day also brought another episode of the Yang Hansen Experience, starring Portland’s 7-foot-1 rookie sensation from China and his interpreter Chris Liu. The comedic duo once again made for an entertaining interview, delivering answers with wit and levity.
With big grins, they both used the phrase “Chenglish” to describe Yang’s progressing but still-influent English. Yang also said he’s been utilizing his smile a lot while getting to know his teammates this offseason because nobody would ever slap somebody who’s smiling.
“Even if I say something wrong or act weird,” Yang said, “I just use my smile to stop them until the next move.”
Yang again complemented that humor and charm with a humble attitude, as he gave textbook answers about work ethic and being a good teammate heading into his rookie season.
“I’m still in the process,” Yang said when discussing how he has been dealing with the pressure of representing China in the NBA. “I have achieved nothing here, so I don’t have to think that much right now. I focus on my game, just follow my teammates together, see what I can do for them, what I can do for the team.”
When asked about Yang, other Blazers players gushed about their rookie teammate’s potential, particularly his cerebral play style. One of those players was center Robert Williams III when he was asked which of his teammates stood out to him most during offseason workouts.
“Probably Hans, man, I’m gonna be honest,” Williams said. “I didn’t get to see Hans a lot, so just watching him adapt to the game, watching him pick up a concept when he might not even understand what you’re telling him, and his drive to play and learn. For sure, Hans.”
At another point in the interview, Williams expanded on what makes Yang special:
“His ability to think on the fly is different. And, like I said, there’s not too many people who can do stuff, and they can’t even understand what you’re saying. We’ll yell at him for two minutes straight, and he’ll happen to get it. … He gets it quick. He wants to learn it. That’s the most intriguing part.”
With another Media Day in the books, the Blazers will kick off training camp on Tuesday morning. Camp will include practices on Tuesday-Friday and then close with Fan Fest on Saturday.
