Good to see. Yeah I don't see a a limited minute backup 20 year old being threatening to Ayton at all as so many have mentioned.
I saw an old article with quotes from Ayton in college. He was happy to play PF at AZ. I wonder if he still does? Not saying he should but maybe he wants to try.
I voted "meh", for lots of reasons others have already posted. But that won't stop me from making a bullet list: It was thought to be a weak draft, so my expectations for the #7 pick should be lower than normal (green is good) Clingan was thought to be going earlier in the draft, so him "slipping" to us is good There was no one else I really got excited to draft that we passed on when we took him He's going to be paired at the center spot with Ayton, and neither stretch a defense so I can't see them playing together Our team needs to look to BPA, rather than fit, and according to most analysts Clingan was the BPA at that spot The Blazers' brass really liked him, reportedly even a year ago I am not sure the Blazers' brass knows what it's doing The type of player Clingan is does not seem to be the best type of player to have at the 5 spot Clingan is young and might evolve a perimeter game and hone his passing to be the type of player the NBA generally wants at the 5 spot I don't think that Clingan is a future star and I think the team needs to try to get as many stars as possible. I love Scoot and am still optimistic about Sharpe, but they're still big question marks. I don't think anyone was a likely star that was available at 7, but I think that some players (Buzelis, Carrington, and Dillingham) have lower floors but a chance to be stars Clingan has very good positional size (which is something Scoot has, too, and with Avdija maybe it's something the Blazers are prioritizing, which is great) He shot under 52% at the line as a freshman and under 59% as a sophomore... that is worrisome as a skill and an indicator of future shooting prowess He hurt his foot in preseason and then missed almost a month after hurting the same foot... that's bad. So it all adds up to "meh". Or "wait and see", to be a bit less negative. I am not upset but also not enthusiastic, which is a step down from the Sharpe and Scoot selections.
nobody "knows" that. There may only role-players at 7 and later. Or there may be some all-stars. What many wanted was for Portland to swing for the fences and targeting Clingan sure doesn't seem like a home run swing for myself and some others, you have described a probable ceiling for Clingan: "A decent back up caliber center that may eventually grow into a serviceable big". You forgot to add a C that will be locked into drop-coverage schemes when the NBA has found lots of ways to play those kinds of C's off the floor as has been said here already, Portland invested A 7th pick in a backup to their most expensive player. The only way this pick makes much sense if there is a plan to move Ayton, and move him soon. The idea that Ayton can play a PF in the NBA is nonsense, IMO
I'll make sure to send him an invite to join here. To actually read what people on here think about the game....HA! I've show players in the past posts about them on here....they just laugh!
Well pretty much everyone who had any involvement in the draft process said at the time that after the 6th pick and before the 7th pick that Clingan was the clear cut Best Player Available to the Portland Trailblazers. Now you can try to dispute that and throw as many smoke screens as you might want but the fact remains that he was widely considered the Best Player Available at that time. Is there a possibility that someone picked after him could end up better? Sure. However that doesn’t diminish the fact that at the time of the pick Portland chose who was considered by MOST the BPA.
