I haven't paid attention but yikes! Minny is in 2nd apron hell the next 2 seasons. According to Spotrac, they are 16M over the 2nd apron right now. Their estimated tax bill for this coming season is 106M
The "Plodding C" is more of a Meme than a reality. Kelel Ware is a normally-agile and swift Center, what percentage worse would a "Plodding C" be? I would say at least 50 percent slower or worse. These were the % difference between Ware and Clingan in the combine. 9% slower in lane agility 14% slower in shuttle run 5% slower three quarter sprint Here's the "Plodding C" in action.
Thats what I called DC right after they selected him for the reasons you sited. Weighing in on the topic of the moment, another one of his pluses over JP is better hands as that was one of Joel's worst traits. Donavan may not be elite in this regard, but he's much better then Joel STOMP
I’ll admit, I didn’t see the vision until I saw Clingan hitting 3’s. That drastically changes everything. I always knew he was going to be a good defender, but I was always worried he’d be Gobert. Gobert is a great player, but even today I wouldn’t want him on this team because of his limited offensive skillset. 4x DPOY, only 3x AS despite his impact on the game because he’s a career 12ppg player. I don’t expect to even see one DPOY from him in a Blazers uniform, but we know he’s going to be a defensive impact. With Avdija and Scoot on this team, I can see him getting 10-14ppg off shovel passes, put backs, lobs, and free throws. Hitting 1-2 3s a game is going to put him into that 20/10 category if he could ever hit them consistently. Ant + Shae + Avdija + DA + Clingan I wonder how much this lineup can stretch a defense out. DA is going to be bigger than most PFs, where if he got the ball at the elbow, he could make the choice to either pop or back his guy down with 1-2 dribbles for a small jump hook. We’d only be waiting for Scoot to adjust on his foul trouble, because I would would swap Scoot in for Ant as soon as the foul trouble is settled. Putting Scoot into the starting lineup when he is so foul prone will potentially ruin the flow of the game as soon as Scoot gets his quick two fouls.
You've got your margins all fucked up. When you're dealing with anything more than a 5% difference in these drills you're dealing with a huge difference. No one is saying that Clingan or Gobert for that matter wouldn't be extremely athletic at a local YMCA... it's for the NBA and what teams can put out on the court these days that they become comparatively "plodding". What happens to Clingan's defense when an opposing team goes 5 out? What does he look like against a guy like Bam? Those are the factors that limit his value. If he can make our defensive lane a no fly zone that is where he will redeem that loss of value because I don't know if any team is equipped to make us pay for having a more traditional center for even half of a game. Clingan will be fun to have if we have a roster that allows us to dictate the match up problems and not the other way around.
There's a major hitch in how you see things going if we put Clingan on the three point line. At that point a PF would be on him and a C would be on Ayton. These lineups with Ayton and Clingan that people keep fantasizing about don't work on defense and they don't really provide us with enough of an advantage on offense to balance that out. Deandre is nowhere close to as mobile as KAT and Minny has had a lot of problems making the KAT/Gobert combo work when teams want to punish them for it on D. Also neither DA or Clingan have the kind of perimeter offensive repertoire that KAT does to try and balance things out and again teams were able to play Gobert off of the floor a lot last season or at least make Minny choose between KAT and Rudy. If both Clingan and Ayton come out this season hitting efficient numbers from the three point line and doing it with a decent amount of volume then we might have something that gives opponents headaches, especially if I'm wrong and Ayton can defend really well on the perimeter against the second least mobile guy in an opponent's lineup. Both of those situations seem like they have long odds.
it's crazy town in here right now Clingan is 3-13 on three's in SL. He was 2-9 in 2 years and 74 games at UConn. That 5-22 (23%) from three in 78 games and people are pointing at that like it's a good thing. It's nuts Clingan has showed he can dominate the paint & protect the rim defensively against SL competition. He appears to have good instincts and reactions to activity in the paint and actually seems to understand defensive rotations but offensively, he's shooting 36% on FG's and 23% on three's; he's averaging 2 assists and 3 turnovers. Those are shitty numbers. The best attribute he has on offense right now is that he's averaging 5 offensive rebounds/36. He should not be drifting out to the 3 pt line; that's taking him away from what he does best in order to have him do what he does worst. Yeah, it's just SL but the fact that people are excited by him chucking three's is weird
Or, it's summer league and he should be doing this to get better at it in in-game situations. Let the guy work on his game.
This kid is going to be really useful against big teams like Minnesota. It'll take this season for him to get up to NBA speed but he's going to be a really solid center for a long time. Great pick in this draft. He excels at everything Meyers Leonard sucked at except for maybe passing. They can both pass well
'That 5-22 (23%) from three in 78 games and people are pointing at that like it's a good thing." Who exactly is pointing at 5-22 on threes being a good thing? And you say "people." Which people? A straw man (also known as "strawman") argument is one in which the person sets up and then attacks a position that is not actually being debated.
Im sure he being coached to take a few threes a game especially if left wide open. Ive seen him shy away from it and also take a few. Id be more concerned if it was Sarr we had and he was being pushed around a lot and no shot a all.
if you don't feel like wading thru the game thread posts from last night, just look about a half dozen posts earlier in this thread when somebody said: "I’ll admit, I didn’t see the vision until I saw Clingan hitting 3’s. That drastically changes everything." that's what I was reacting to and it came after last night's game thread
While I'm optimistic about Clingan flashing some game early on & preseason play hasn't dampened that, I'm not expecting regular production his rookie year. I doubt we see much of him paired with Ayton either. Give him a year and I'd guess he's solidly in the rotation, but in the meantime he's a 20 year old rookie. I'm looking forward to seeing how a frontline of Clingan, Camara & Avdija blends in 2025-6... thats a lot of D STOMP
this is the sensible take. he's not david robinson who will dominate year one. even joker had to backup nurk. the high expectations only sets him up for failure (see scoot)
If he's shooting under 30% from 3 and I'm coaching against him we'll leave him wide open. Math is a wonderful thing.
