Donovan Clingan’s performance in summer league is indicative of what he’ll do this season in his first year in the NBA for the Portland Trail Blazers.
His strong two-way interior presence averaging nine points per game and 4.3 blocks through four games — along with a Summer League-best 12.3 rebounds — shows the type of talent and tangible points he offers this league as he transitions from college ball to UConn. A two-time champion with the Huskies, Clingan averaged lower numbers than his Summer League days in college outside of his point total, where he averaged 9.8 points per game over his career.
Obviously, these four games won’t mark a linear progression for Clingan for the majority of this season, but they do serve as a good benchmark to see how he might fare against NBA-level competition – and with the way he’s competed, it’s promising for the Trail Blazers organization to see what they have in their young big man.
Clingan, who likely learned to play alongside Deandre Ayton for much of his rookie season and has benefited from a rebuilding period for Portland that was dead last in the Western Conference a year ago, will find himself with plenty of playing time as the seventh overall pick. And with a team relatively deep in guards, his impact as a valuable big man on both ends will be huge in determining how much the Trail Blazers can improve this year.
For a team that was the NBA’s worst in defensive rebounding a year ago, Portland has found the perfect man in Clingan to hopefully propel them higher in that department and increase their chances of improving on their 23rd-ranked defense from a year ago.
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