Rebounding and interior defense is and always will be important in the sport. Also he can finish inside. I don't think we really need a 3pt shooting center. We could sign Meyers Leonard if we needed one.
Draft is a crapshoot. Cronin used the opportunity to balance the team and improve our talent. Taking a swing at a 7fter seems as good of a risk as anything.
I really like him. He soaks up lessons from his coaches and then is able to read the floor so well. The lessons can be taught, but the ability to understand those lessons and see them real time on the court is pretty damn rare. The earlier joke about Meyers Leonard was funny but honestly the brain is what separates them, and thats a huge advantage to Clingan.
Sam Vecenie made a grrreat interview. He asked technical questions and got technical answeres. Clingan can verbalize, unlike most players who just grunt in self-praise. I'm talking about IQ, not personality. Before seeing this, I said that Clingan's ceiling is Nurkic. Now I think it's certain that he'll get to that level. But he'll be a little taller. The only uncertainty is whether Clingan will eventually get the quality of coaching he got from Dan Hurley.
Like i already said. You may want to dispute that and you can throw as many smokescreens out there as you want. I actually thought you would go for Oden vs Durant or even Bowie vs Jordan rather than bashing Scoot, but the fact remains he was widely considered the BPA when Portland took him. You might have been able to go after Lillard when he was picked also? Certainly would have had a great case bringing up Collins. We will see where this all shakes out in time. Yes, I'm sure both of us will be here to talk about it. At least I hope you will be. I wanted Holland with the 7th pick. That was not to be. Now It seems Joe has a plan with the trade with the Wizards (Deni Avdija) and the obscure pick up from China Yongxi Cui ( That is pronounced "Jacky Cui" as I understand) so I'm on board with the process. Not only was Clingan considered the BPA but he might even be both the BPA and most needed position when all is said and done.
Does anyone know if Roy Rogers is coming back? Is there a better Big man coach on the team? Can they get one at some point?
I definitely think this was an insurance move against contract negotiations with Ayton. If he truly thinks he’s a max contract player than we’ll have to either trade him or let him walk no way we sign him to max
15-25 mpg is totally fine for a 20 year old rookie center, I have zero concerns about him being able to get enough minutes next season. Gobert averaged 9mpg when he was a year older and then jumped up to 26mpg the next season at age22. If Clingan is amazing as a rookie then perhaps next summer it could become something to address, we can only hope.
I don't think this played a direct factor at all in the draft, it was a pure BPA move by the Blazers with a long term outlook. Not saying Clingan is for certain the BPA - just that the Blazers judged him to be. Cronin basically confirmed as much in the press conference as the team is in talent acquisition mode and not worried about rotation/roles/etc. Obviously GM don't speak 100% of the complete truth, but their comments do give us some insight. Insurance for Ayton eventually being elsewhere is a bonus, but even if the Blazers firmly plan on keeping Ayton here long term or plan on him departing soon they always would make this same pick.
I'm convinced the Blazers judged Clingan to be the pure BPA on the board at #7. Now what the outside consensus is or whom later becomes the best player might be interesting for us to debate but that isn't a factor at all nor should it be in whom the Blazers select. I'm not a fan of the Clingan pick because I don't think lumbering centers have much value. But there really wasnt any other great option at #7. I'm glad the Blazers have selected whom they judge as BPA in the last 3 drafts. At least they didn't reach for a lesser prospect because they consider Ayton/Scoot to be locks long term at C/PG as a GM like John Nash probably would've done.
Given the apparent enthusiasm our FO has for Clingan, I doubt they took him so high in the draft for "insurance."
The trade balanced the roster by sending out a pg and bringing in a guy who might be our best forward since Aldridge. They just drafted the guy they thought was the best player available. No point in worrying about balance with a guy we don't expect to contribute for a season or two. Amd let's be real. We have 1 center and some practice players. We'll see if Timelord can contribute, and if he can he'll likely be moved.
This appears to be a trend with Cronin. Drafting dudes high in the draft regardless of position. I am squarely in the BPA boat but he gives such little thought to roster construction. Drafting high ceiling prospects who need time to develop....only to put them on tbe bench for a few yrs. He had the same plan with Scoot until Dame forced his way out. Even Chauncey has complained that the rooks need time to play but the roster just doesnt allow it. I don't think this is an unfair criticism.
I agree I know they liked him and to be honest I like the pick. Just another reason to draft a center when you maybe have bigger needs. At this point the only position I’m concerned about is PF. We have two guards that have potential to be really good, our SF looks really good with Dani and Camara, and Center now has Ayton and Clinigan.
Ayton has averaged 31mpg in his career, 32 last year - so that leaves ~17mpg for Clingan. If both are playing excellent they could explore 5-10mpg of twin towers against select teams such as Minnesota or second units. There will also be games missed which will open up tons of minutes - Ayton has averaged 59 games per season in his career. While Timelord may get minutes game1 if healthy I think that would be very temporary with him traded very soon after or out with an injury. Timelord can play all his minutes at PF if required. Duop is a perfect 2nd/3rd string option who can play those backup minutes if Clingan isn't ready or there are injuries, but he can be beat out and pushed to third string if Clingan deserves it. Our roster has such little talent and has plenty of openings for players to earn minutes, too much talent isn't an issue at all. This is nothing like the 2000 Blazers where Jermaine was on the 3rd string or the next year where Rod Strickland was the 3rd PG. Hell we had a quad guard lineup of players deserving minutes last year and they completed a whole 0 healthy games together. With how many shit G league or lesser players we have had on the roster playing major minutes the last three years I don't understand why so many posters think there will be some sort of minute crunch.
I bet he doesn't see the floor for the first part of the season. If Ayton and Williams are here, they will get all the minutes. I think we'll trade one of them, but Williams needs to play to show other teams that he's still effective. I think the bring DC along very slowly.
