“I’m willing to try things,” Billups said. “Several teams are playing big — Cleveland, Denver, Memphis … I’m going to try having (Clingan) and D.A. out there together. But it depends who is on the floor. Is it Jaren Jackson? Is it Aaron Gordon? Is it Evan Mobley?”
Billups nods his head in the affirmative and continues: “What I’m not going to do is put him out there to guard Jayson Tatum. Or Kevin Durant … it’s going to be situational. But I’m telling you, I think the league is going to try and get bigger in the interior. So, I think it will be fun.”
It’s too early to say definitively whether the Blazers will enter September’s training camp with Ayton and Clingan. The Blazers have the maximum 15 players under contract, but Cronin told The Athletic he remains in a proactive mode of upgrading the roster.
Billups said he will employ the same drop defense he used last season (the center drops toward the basket while defending the pick-and-roll), when Portland ranked 23rd out of 30 teams in defensive efficiency. Dropping to protect the rim is Clingan’s strength, which is accentuated by his ability to stay vertical, a skill he said was honed by Connecticut coach Dan Hurley.
During his pre-draft workout in Portland, Clingan stunned the Blazers with his outside shooting, which included NBA 3-pointers.
“I was shocked. Really shocked,” Billups said. “He shot it, and it was like … an easy shot.”
After the workout, Billups took Clingan into his office and interviewed him. One of his first questions to Clingan was why he attempted only nine 3-pointers over two seasons at UConn.
“He gave me one of the best answers a kid could have given me: He said, ‘I just wanted to do what coach needed me to do to win.’ And to me, that’s just a winner.”
Billups said Clingan will enter the season with a green light to shoot 3-pointers, provided he is open and it’s a smart shot.
by sewsgup
8 Comments
I’ve seen the workout footage of Clingan draining threes, which is nice, but everyone has seen enough footage of Ben Simmons hitting jumpers in the gym. If he starts sinking from them deep in actual games, I’ll be a believer, until then, consider me a skeptic.
All Ayton ever wanted to be was a finesse big man shooting middies. I get whey the Suns never let him, but for the Blazers, what do they have to lose? Maybe he fully buys in playing the way he actually wants and becomes better than expected.
Awesome, I was hoping they would try this
I doubt this will work but we’re tanking so why not.
Hey what’s the harm in trying, if it works it could be great, and if it doesn’t, well, we have a Flagg to chase
We don’t have an identity yet, might as well try it.
He should look at every second of Aldridge tape he can get his hands on
Hey why not? We’re gonna be a bottom feeder team if we play by the normal rule book so throw it out and let em cook.