How Will Donovan Clingan Fit with the Portland Trail Blazers?

How Will Donovan Clingan Fit with the Portland Trail Blazers?

last night Donovan kingan went seventh overall in the NBA draft to the Portland Trailblazers so I had to bring on someone who covers the team to give us a little insight into what Donovan will be walking into uh starting pretty shortly so joining me today we got Sean hiken of the the Rose Garden report he’s a veteran NBA beat writer so Sean welcome to the podcast thanks for having me on yeah uh really excited to dive into the team a little bit with you uh because I know Yukon fans are eager to follow Donovan to the next level it seems like from some comment that the the GM of the team Joe Cronin said last night it seemed like Donovan had been on their radar for a while what did what did you hear about that the team’s thoughts on Donovan heading into last night they’ve liked him throughout the whole process and I thought it was pretty telling that Joe Cronin was asked last night where exactly he was on their board as far as like you know where he was ranked and he said that he didn’t want to say where he was ranked because he didn’t want to put added pressure on him that’s kind of an accid like that to me says like he was probably one or two on their board but especially in this draft where it’s so spread out that like teams had so many different guys at the top you know Atlanta ended up taking Zachary Reese number one overall but like there were teams that liked Alex SAR there were teams that you know Donovan kingan at one point was rumored to be in the mix to go number one and I know there were people in the Hawks organization that really liked him and would have leaned that way obviously they ended up taking re a shap and then after that like there were teams Memphis kind of Chief among them that were trying pretty hard to move up ahead of Portland to go get Donovan kingan and they I think teams around the league kind of knew that if he fell to seven he wasn’t getting past seven so they they really they they felt like and this is you know every GM after a draft is going to say oh we had this guy High we couldn’t believe this guy was available it’s like that’s like GM speak 101 but they were they were very very happy when he was still on the board at seven I’ll say that just looking at some of the the post first round reviews and writeups that you get from the from the different people covering the NBA I saw ESPN’s Jeremy woo said it was the pick of the night um I think the worst grade I saw in this pick was a was a B minus where where do you kind of put it based on you know what you know of Donovan and what you know of the team as is right now in Portland the Blazers need good basketball players Above All Else they’re kind of at the point in their rebuild where you have to take the whoever you feel is the best player on the board and not really like I I don’t think they were going to take another six foot two guard I’ll say that like because they already have scoot Henderson and an Fredy Simons and you know they’ve also got Shaden sharp in the back court I think taking a guard was the only thing that was off the table because they’re so bought in on the guys they kind of already have in that spot but everything else I think was kind of up for for grabs you know DeAndre Aton did have a really good second half of the year last year and I think for right now they’re comfortable moving forward with him as their starting center but you shouldn’t not take somebody that you feel is the most Talent is the best player in the draft or one of the best players in the draft because of DeAndre Aon like I that’s kind of where things are at and the other thing is you know you look at uh last year the Blazers were the second worst Rim protection team in the league and Donovan kingan is one of the best Rim protectors in recent college basketball history so it’s pretty obvious what they saw that they liked and what they thought fit some of the needs that they had like it just it just especially when they when he faed seven and they didn’t have to trade up or give up stuff to move up to get him it just see it was just the logical pick across the board they were happy to do it yeah you you mentioned the DeAndre eight and point and that’s something I think that was kind of just curious to to me as I I’m seeing this play out how do how do you see that Dynamic play out with the two of them I mean obviously it seems like it gives Donovan some time to adjust to the league and you know kind of have some time to to get his feet wet but it seems like you’ve got two big time centers there competing for big minutes well then you also have to throw in Robert Williams the third who you know I don’t know if Rob is ever gonna be healthy again at this point he’s had surgeries on both of his knees he missed most of last season with a knee surgery I so I don’t know where he factors in I but I know that you know when he’s healthy he’s been you know a starter on a finals team and he’s been you know he’s also got to be in the mix there so right now it’s pretty crowded what I will say is that rookies especially rookie big man even guys who did as much at the college level as Donovan fingan did rookies struggle at the NBA level like even if you you know you were a dominant you know defensive Center in college that doesn’t mean you’re going to be that right away in the NBA it usually unless it’s like Victor wanyama where it’s like you know this thing that no literally nobody’s ever seen before physically like it takes guys time to learn NBA and I don’t I’m not expecting like as much as I think you know Donovan kingan is going to be really good I don’t think it’s going to be like he comes in right away and he’s like at All-Star level like it it just doesn’t work like that for rookies especially at that position like so having DeAndre Aon there who they’re comfortable with as their starting center and you kind of know what he is that takes a lot of the pressure off of kinging to have to come in right away as the number seven pick and you know you have to contribute right away and if you if if it takes you some time to get your feet wet people aren’t going to be calling you a bust because people kind of know what the deal is with yeah Rook coming in so I I think for right now it’s a pretty it’s it’s a fine situation you know DeAndre Aton has two years left on his deal so if he’s out of the picture in a couple of years then hopefully at that point that you know that’s when kingan is really starting to come into his own and he’s really ready to kind of step in and you know become the full-time starting center but it gives him a little bit of Runway to do that I will say that it’s going to be kind of interesting the you know from like the personality Dynamic of it because DeAndre Aton in his you know career you know both in Phoenix and then here last year in his in his first season in Portland he’s a guy that you know you kind of saw how things went at different points in Phoenix where you know he can kind of check out sometimes get moody about different things if he doesn’t feel like he’s getting the ball enough or or enough you know minutes or what ever like that’s a thing that I like DeAndre a lot as a guy and I obviously had a really good season last year at least the second half of it but like that is a thing that has been a factor in his career so I will be interested to see how he kind of reacts to them drafting somebody in the top 10 that plays his position I will say that the team last night for I don’t know how much you want to read into anything as far as like Social Media stuff but uh the team last night on their Instagram account posted a video of Donovan klling and getting his name called and walking across the stage and shaking hands with Adam Silver and DeAndre Aon like commented yes sir with like five exclamation points in the prayer hands Emoji so at least publicly like outwardly right now he’s he’s showing that he’s excited about it but long term like I I think I think long term like I don’t think I I think as of right now unless he’s traded which I don’t think he will be people are kind of going into into this season expecting DeAndre Aon to be the starting center which I think is normal I don’t think it’s normal even for like a rebuilding team for a rookie Center to come in and be starting right away and you know I I think if it takes Donovan klling in a year or two to earn the starting spot I don’t think that’s the worst thing in the world and I don’t think that says anything about what they’ve see him as long term in the NBA Summer is here and if you want to be champion of the grill make sure you’re serving the best hot dogs around I’m talking about Martin Ros our friends in New Britain have been making their small batch gourmet hot dogs for four generations using Martin’s original recipes from 1928 so if you want to dominate your cookouts just like the huskys dominated the tournament be sure to grab some Rosal dogs at your local grocery store or pay a visit to their retail store on Grove Street in New Britain as always go support a Yukon fan-owned business and now back to the episode for for Yukon fans who might not be as attuned to you know some of the NBA Dynamics and what’s some of these teams are like right now I know obviously I think everyone knows just based on where they were picking Portland is in a a re building stage but take us through what things are like right now in Portland and kind of what stage this rebuilding process is in well last year was the first year of the rebuild because they obviously the traded Damen Lillard to Milwaukee and it was kind of an interesting season because you know you trade Dame and you’re kind of anointed like successor starting point guard of the future was scoot Henderson who they took with a third overall pick last year came out of the g-league ignite and he struggled for a lot of his rookie season which just like I was saying earlier with Donovan Clingan most rookies are bad in the NBA like unless it’s like Victor wanyama or like two other guys in the last 20 years if you’re a 19-year-old rookie and I know Donovan clingan’s a little bit older he played college for two years he wasn’t a oneandone guy but uh rookies usually are not good in the NBA right away and so it’s normal for guys to struggle and Scoot Henderson very much did struggle and you know for most of his rookie season and you know I think he started to come around towards the end of the season and I think people are really optimistic about where things are headed with him and they’re they’re excited about him but they they’re kind of in this weird spot in the rebuild where when you look at like the young who you look at as like the young upand cominging teams in the NBA and they all have the guy whoever the guy is with Minnesota it’s uh Anthony Edwards with Orlando it’s Paulo banero with uh with Oklahoma City it’s Shay gilas Alexander it’s like Tyrese halberton in Indiana like whoever it is like you know who you look at these like upand cominging you know young teams you know who the guy is the Blazers right now don’t have the guy like maybe it’s maybe scoot turns into that guy maybe it’s Shaden sharp maybe you know next year they win the lottery they get Cooper flag and that ends up being the guy but right now they don’t have the guy so they’re just kind of trying to find guys that they’re going to be able to put around whoever the guy is when they get the guy and so that’s sort ort of the stage of the rebuild that they’re in now the problem with this past season their record was about what everybody thought it was going to be after they traded D they were 21 and 61 they had the fourth worst record in the league you everybody kind of knew once once you trade damee you know that’s that’s it that’s what the record that the record is going to be that the thing that I think was frustrating for a lot of people was they just had so many injuries that when when you go into a season knowing that a team is going to be bad you want to see the young guys that they’re building around be able to play a lot together and develop together and grow together that’s what a lot of fans I think wanted to see out of the season so the five most important players on the Blazers roster last year which were scoot Henderson Anthony Simon Shaden sharp Jeremy Grant DeAndre Aton they were all healthy together for four games they only got to play Four there were only four games last season where all five of those guys played crazy yeah like at the entire season like somebody was out for a while with an injury and then as soon as they come back back somebody else goes out and they just there was no continuity there was no like so it was like a quote unquote developmental year where the whole point was seeing guys develop and guys didn’t even stay healthy enough to develop so last year was kind of a lost year even though that you can point to some individual stuff like uh like you know like I said scoot Henderson kind of started to turn the corner the second half of the Season DeAndre Aton also post allar really kind of started to hit his stride tumani Kamar who was kind of a throwin from the Dame trade who came came out of uh Dayton and was a late second round pick last year started a lot of the Season as a rookie and I think he’s a guy that they see as someone who’s you know worth building around now like they had there were some like nice individual like stories with the season but collectively I don’t think people saw the development that they wanted to see and now this is going to be a really interesting season coming up because now and this is I mean Joe Cronin might have accidentally telegraphed what is going to happen because at one point you know he was kind of asked what’s next and you know you you made your pick in the first round and then obviously also yesterday they traded Malcolm Brogden to Washington for Denny AIA who is another piece I think that they see as somebody that’s going to be a part of this thing long term but so you did those two things what do you see as being the next things and Joe said you know we’re committed to scoot Henderson and Shaden sharp as the two guys that we building around and I I heard that in a moment and I was like uh he did not mention Anthony Simons there that’s interesting so you you look at him you look at Jeremy Grant you look at matis thel you look at Robert Williams if anybody has interest in him if he can if if you know with the injury history whatever but uh there they have Malcolm brogen was like the most pressing guy that they like absolutely had to trade this summer and they did that yesterday but there are other guys I think they’re going to look at moving so I don’t think the roster that exists today is going to be the roster that exists here in uh October when training camp starts so if if Yukon fans are watching the Blazers it’s going to be a lot of losing for at least the first couple years unless they they they get they get Cooper flag next year maybe then they start accelerating some things but it’s going to be a lot of losing Donovan kingan is probably as long as DeAndre Aton is here Donovan kingan is probably not going to start his rookie here and that’s fine because rookies usually don’t come in and immediately start and if they and if Donovan kingan does come in and actually earn the starting spot that might say more about Deandre and then it says about anything else but I I would expect kingan to probably come off the bench at least his first year but I think it’s a long term it’s a good situation that he’s walking into if you know if if they can get a couple other good pieces and you know it’s a it’s a guy that he’s a guy I know that I know they like I said earlier I know they’ve liked him throughout this entire draft process and it was it was not he was not like they settled with him when he fell he was they were hoping he would fall yeah I I’m curious and I’m not sure how much detail uh GM might have gone into a little bit yesterday but I know a big emphasis obviously taking his game to the next level is is becoming more of a shooter even as even as a big guy how do you see that Evolution kind of playing out as he makes that transition from college to the NBA I’m gonna be really curious about that because the other you the other centers that they have you know taking us taking out Robert Williams who barely played last year because of the injuries but like DeAndre Aon is a really good midrange like that 15 foot jump shot he’s like pretty much automatic from and then their other Center that played a lot of minutes last year is duop wreath who’s like a three-point pick and pop threat kingan is not as of right now as of right now he’s not a shooter that doesn’t mean he can’t become one but as of right now he’s not one it’s just not part of his game so he is you know I I I don’t I don’t think they made the pick saying this isn’t going to work unless he develops a a a jump a three-point shot but it would not hurt if he was able to add that to his game at the NBA level it’s it’s never a bad idea for a especially for a center to in the modern NBA to have that in this game but I think they feel like you know Joe Cronin talked last night about his passing ability and his screen setting which is something that they are kind of lacking from their you know centers that are currently on the roster like he does enough other things that they like that they feel like they needed and that they feel like have had hold uh on the roster that they they like what he does enough to be willing to kind of Overlook what he doesn’t do and hope that the stuff that he doesn’t do maybe he’ll be able to grow into at some point but so I I’m not sure if he’s ever going to become a a you know knockdown three-point shooter but I I I think I I don’t think they’d be against him adding that to his game if he ended up doing that yeah and just from someone who who’s kind of on the scene there what was the fan base reaction like to this this cling pick is it this one they were excited about people seem pretty happy about it like they’re it’s it’s it’s it’s a pretty I thing you don’t you don’t really have to work very hard to sell guy to sell people on Donan cling people know who he is everybody watched him win back-to-back national championships at Yukon he went to a major college that everybody’s heard of it’s not like you know a couple years ago they drafted Shaden sharp at number seven and he was you know a guy that you know apparently like the the idea was like Wow apparently he had these amazing highlight videos from these aaou games but he didn’t actually play at all in his freshman season in Kentucky so nobody really knows what he’s going to be and you know you have to kind of sell people on it with Donovan kingan it’s like everybody has seen him play before everybody knows that he’s wanted a high level everybody knows what like it’s pretty obvious what he’s going to be in the NBA you don’t have to say well you know this is a really raw developmental guy it’s a home run swing we don’t know if he’s ever going to turn into anything but it might it’s very easy to look at Donovan kingan and say this guy who was an elite rim protector in college and Elite rebounder is probably going to also be good at those things in the NBA and like I don’t think people are going to be looking at Donan kingan in five years and being like wow what a bus like he wasn’t a good NBA player at the very least like I think it’s very easy to look at him and say this is going to be a good rotation Center in the NBA and that’s at the at the low end may maybe he you know turns into you know a long-term starter and that’s great but I I don’t I don’t think there’s a lot not to like about this pick and I think based on the fan reaction that I saw last night tonight I think a lot of people feel that way awesome well Sean I I really appreciate you taking some time off to come on the podcast give us a little insight into Portland Rose Garden report for anyone looking to uh stay in touch with the Blazers here and follow Donovan throughout his his rookie season and Beyond in Portland so Sean appreciate you coming on today yeah thanks for having me on

Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report joins us to talk about the Blazers drafting Donovan Clingan 7th overall. We talk about the current roster, the rebuilding process in Portland, expectations for Donovan, and more.