The future of the Blazers has arrived in the form of a 7’2 monster.
Just a week ago, people were justifiably questioning what on earth the franchise was doing when it was run out of its own gym by a middling Memphis Grizzlies team.
Then, they finally unleashed Cling Kong.
Against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, Donovan Clingan was a force of nature. Playing a season-high 31 minutes, he brutalized the Timberwolves. He was a force in the low block on offense, chipping in 17 points, mostly from point-blank range. He cleaned up the glass with 12 rebounds when he wasn’t scoring. However, the most eye-popping stat was his eight blocks. He completely changed how Minnesota attacked the rim every time he was in the low post. Eventually, Timberwolves players would drive at him, quickly re-evaluate their life choices, and then kick out a pass to the perimeter, whether their teammate had an open shot or not. With the Blazers up six and looking to salt the game away in the final minutes, he came out of the game to bring in better free throw shooters. The Timberwolves immediately began attacking the basket again and narrowed the lead. Back in came Clingan, who immediately snuffed out the rally.
When Clingan was on the court, he helped enable the team’s guards to transition and at the perimeter, which allowed Shaedon Sharpe to have an absolute field day with 33 points against the Timberwolves.
The man, and it’s not even fair to call him a rookie anymore because he plays with at least as much fire and intensity as even the team’s most seasoned players, the team how to win.
The Blazers have a glut of post players, with Clingan, Robert Williams, and Deandre Ayton, and have been slowly bringing Clingan along.
That experiment should be declared effective immediately.
Number 23 should be on the court until he needs a break because his arm is tired from swatting shots.
Clingan entirely changes the team’s dynamic when he’s on the floor, whether he’s scoring or not. There will be rough spots for sure. Some teams will try to stretch him out of the key on defense. Veterans will figure out how to get him in foul trouble. That’s going to happen. But the time to learn those lessons is now.
If anyone can handle being tossed into the pool’s deep end, it is literally and figuratively the team’s tallest player.
This time, the team must get it right when developing a rookie and can’t afford to make the same mistakes they made with last year’s first-round draft pick.
Last season, the Blazers essentially wasted an entire year on Scoot Henderson’s development, and they are on track to do it again with him this year. They pull him when the going gets tough and stick him on the bench when he struggles. One would think the best person to teach a guard how to win would be a Hall of Fame point guard coach. Instead, Chauncey Billups doesn’t appear interested in doing it, so Henderson has primarily been left to flail about.
The Blazers were trying a similar track with Clingan, limiting his minutes to prioritize Williams and Ayton.
It doesn’t appear Clingan is going to let them do that anymore.
Yes, the team is tanking again.
No, they are still not a very good team.
Regardless, I would not want to be the front office executive who insists that the one guy the team has who gets the fans out of their seats for standing ovations should stay on the bench more so that the team can get more ping-pong balls.
Clingan has made it fun to be a Blazers fan for the first time in a long time.
The Blazers have found a recipe for success. It’s time to cook. If they start winning, great, the rebuilding is ahead of schedule. If they don’t, they can grab a missing piece in the draft and keep fine-tuning things because they know how to win games. The Blazers have been searching for an impact big man to build around. With his performance on Wednesday, Clingan has made it clear that the foundation is in place and is ready to rock.
It’s time to build on it.
