Blazers are suddenly sitting on a goldmine after Donovan Clingan’s monster leap
Donovan Clingan entered the league as arguably the most secure choice in your complete 2024 draft class. With its measurement, rebounding, and rim safety, it was clear its defensive affect would translate into day one. That resulted in an All-Rookie marketing campaign for the UConn product, making him the primary Trail Blazer to obtain the respect since Damian Lillard in 2013.
Clingan’s rookie season was as marketed, already justifying Portland’s No. 7 general choice. But a shocking second-year offensive leap is now making this appear to be an absolute steal.
A dependable three-point shot is elevating Donovan Clingan’s ceiling
Clingan has emerged as a two-way heart, impacting the offensive finish along with his newfound three-point shot and underrated court docket imaginative and prescient. In his first 20 video games this season, Clingan regarded kind of like the identical participant we noticed as a rookie. The conditioning degree definitely improved over the offseason, and his numbers went up as a results of his elevated function following Deandre Ayton’s buyout. But he was nonetheless restricted offensively, with the overwhelming majority of his scoring coming from offensive rebounds or being arrange for simple appears across the paint.
He made a level of increasing his sport past the three-point line, but it surely wasn’t proving efficient, as he shot 24.6% in that first 20-game stretch. We even criticized Clingan for not playing more to his strengthsbecause it was irritating to observe a 7-foot-2, 280-pound monster accept the shot the protection desires him to take on each possession.
But to Clingan’s and the Blazers teaching workers’s credit score, they by no means wavered from the plan. Suddenly, Clingan’s three-point shot reworked from being a win for the protection to a professional a part of Portland’s offense.
In his final 20 video games, the Blazers’ massive man is averaging 14.8 factors per sport whereas capturing 40.6% from past the arc. It’s been a powerful leap for somebody who’s simply 22 years outdated and nonetheless has the most effective basketball in entrance of him.
Clingan helps remedy Portland’s star energy drawback
Clingan’s inventory has skyrocketed because of this improvement. The discussions have gone from how excessive he would climb in a 2024 redraft to now, what number of facilities you’d take over him in your complete league.
Having an elite defensive anchor who can stretch the ground is a participant archetype each workforce covets. It offers Portland a large benefit nightly, as few groups can replicate what Clingan now brings to each ends of the court docket.
There are the Rudy Goberts of the world who can present the rim safety, or somebody like Karl-Anthony Towns who gives dependable flooring spacing. The record of facilities able to doing each? Victor Wembanyama, Joel Embiid, Bam Adebayo, Chet Holmgren, and the thought of Myles Turner, which everyone knows is approach higher than the precise factor.
Clingan’s uncommon heart skillset has suddenly put him within the dialog with the league’s finest bigs. His breakout marketing campaign has him climbing up The Ringer’s player rankings to No. 76 general, and even that is likely to be too low. What he brings to the Blazers on each side of the ball is proving invaluable, and Portland is fortunate to have him as a constructing block for the foreseeable future. They would possibly simply have a professional star on their fingers.
