{"id":131886,"date":"2025-04-01T06:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T10:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=131886"},"modified":"2025-04-01T06:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T10:15:09","slug":"donovan-clingan-is-trail-blazers-center-for-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/04\/01\/donovan-clingan-is-trail-blazers-center-for-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Donovan Clingan Is The Trail Blazers&#8217; Center For The Future"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rip City&#8217;s future is in good hands with <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/clingdo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donovan Clingan<\/a>, the Blazers&#8217; center. The former UConn Husky has proven himself worthy of being firmly A part of Portland&#8217;s rebuild.<\/p>\n<h2>Donovan Clingan Is The Trail Blazers&#8217; Center For The Future<\/h2>\n<p>The Portland Trail Blazers have been searching for a promising center to build around. Since the <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/odengr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Greg Oden<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/26\/blazers-contributed-greg-oden-downfall\/\" target=\"_self\">selection failed<\/a>, Portland has relied on guards to lead the way. Of course, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/aldrila01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LaMarcus Aldridge<\/a> did his best, but he was more of a power forward than the Blazers&#8217; center. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/n\/nurkiju01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jusuf Nurkic<\/a> is arguably the team&#8217;s best center since 2017, but Clingan could run away with that moniker.<\/p>\n<p>Drafted in the 2024 NBA Draft, Clingan has already made a big splash with the Blazers in the 2024-25 season. He entered the league as a winning player, due to his two national championships with UConn. Clingan is now getting more opportunities to shine for an NBA team while with the Trail Blazers.<\/p>\n<h3>Clingan Fits The Bill As The Defensive Anchor Of The Portland Rebuild<\/h3>\n<p>People hailed Donovan as a defensive anchor before the 2024 Draft. Standing at 7-foot-2, Clingan is an imposing presence in the paint. When he is on the floor, opponents must be wary of Clingan blocking or altering their shot. He plays a similar type of defense to <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/goberru01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rudy Gobert<\/a>, a four-time Defensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n<p>Clingan is not a finished product yet, especially because he still struggles with his conditioning. However, he has the <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.statmuse.com\/nba\/ask\/most-blocks-per-36-minutes-this-season-minimum-of-500-minutes-played\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">second-most blocks per 36 minutes<\/a> (minimum 500 minutes played) in the league. Donovan is only behind <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wembavi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Victor Wembanyama<\/a> with those numbers, which shows the center&#8217;s potential.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"nl\" dir=\"ltr\">D\ud83d\udeabN\ud83d\udeabVAN CLINGAN. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/w4ucGS2rd4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/w4ucGS2rd4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/trailblazers\/status\/1906428997203808572?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 30, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>For most of the 2024-25 season, Clingan has played behind <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/aytonde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Deandre Ayton<\/a>. Clingan has only played 18.8 minutes per game, averaging 6.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks a night. That is mighty impressive from a rookie, and he will only improve with time. Head coach Chauncey Billups knows how to handle minutes, and with an upcoming offseason, the Blazers&#8217; center can improve his conditioning.<\/p>\n<h3>The Blazers Have A Reliable Defensive Core<\/h3>\n<p>Clingan is not the only player who fits in a budding defensive core. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/camarto01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Toumani Camara <\/a>is such a spectacular defender that <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.thecamaracase.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Portland has run Defensive Player of the Year campaigns<\/a>. The Belgian regularly picks up his defensive matchup in a full-court man-to-man. He is also versatile enough to be physical in the paint, defending a player like <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jokicni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Jokic<\/a> without any issue.<\/p>\n<p><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/avdijde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Deni Avdija<\/a> is also part of the Blazers&#8217; defensive nucleus.\u00a0 Avdija is a 6-foot-9 forward like Camara, who can physically hang with big men. Versatility helps them compete with bigs and quick guards, making it easy for the coaching staff. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hendesc01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scoot Henderson<\/a> also deserves some hype because he is a competent defender with a limitless motor.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">SCooOooOooT \u203c\ufe0f <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/NITeU8KAp0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/NITeU8KAp0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/trailblazers\/status\/1888420854750421431?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 9, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Those four players are a fantastic core for the Blazers on defense. Thankfully for Rip City&#8217;s future, they are also improving on the offensive side. Avdija is turning into a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/22\/deni-avdija-all-star-leap\/\" target=\"_self\">borderline All-Star<\/a> with his <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.statmuse.com\/nba\/ask\/deni-avdija-stats-in-march-2025\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bonkers March 2025 numbers<\/a>. Henderson and Camara have improved their three-point shot, while Clingan is making his shots at the rim.<\/p>\n<p>Portland has done a great job with player development with these players. The coaches identified the young players&#8217; skill sets and are maximizing them. A good example of this is what they did with <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sharpsh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shaedon Sharpe<\/a> by challenging him to play better defensively. The young players always put in a concerted effort to play hard for their coach <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/24\/chauncey-billups-sees-blazers-potential\/\" target=\"_self\">even if they lose games<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Clingan has limitless potential as the handpicked center in the Portland rebuild. That kind of responsibility can be heavy, but he has proven he could be a leader. He already did it with UConn, so he will do his best to make that happen with Portland.<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: \u00a9 Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rip City&#8217;s future is in good hands with Donovan Clingan, the Blazers&#8217; center. The former UConn Husky has proven himself worthy of being firmly A part of Portland&#8217;s rebuild. Donovan Clingan Is The Trail Blazers&#8217; Center For The Future The Portland Trail Blazers have been searching for a promising center to build around. Since the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5385,"featured_media":132131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,23],"tags":[115,2831,4702,4600,49155],"class_list":["post-131886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-trailblazers","tag-chauncey-billups","tag-deni-avdija","tag-scoot-henderson","tag-shaedon-sharpe","tag-toumani-camara"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5385"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131886"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132132,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131886\/revisions\/132132"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}