This will be my last prospect breakdown until the NBA Draft begins tomorrow at 7 PM CT. The last name I want to talk about is Donovan Clingan, the traditional big man from the UConn Huskies. Clignan, a 7’3″ 265 pound defensive anchor, averaged 13.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 2.5 blocks in 22.5 minutes per game during his sophomore year at UConn. He is a two time NCAA men’s national champion in the March Madness tournament bracket. Although I believe Clingan is not the correct fit for the Rockets, he is still an intriguing prospect for other teams to look over.

Strengths

For starters, Clingan has a great body for the center position. Considering his role as a traditional big, he has a perfect frame fit for setting screens and playing bully ball on smaller defenders. Along with this, he brings a lob threat to a team with a playmaking point guard, which is an important factor seen in the NBA today with players like Mavericks center Dereck Lively. If the Hawks were to draft Clingan at one, they could have a lob threat for Trae Young and Dejounte Murray. This will allow for pressure on the rim, which opens things up for Young and Murray, just like we have seen with their current center Clint Capela. Clingan is also a great finisher, posting a 70% rate on his shots at the rim within the 3 foot restricted area. Not only is he a great finisher, but Clingan is an underrated playmaker, especially seen in dribble handoff decisions. Clingan averaged 4.1 assists per 100 possessions against only 2.2 turnovers. His DHO decision making is something that could be implemented into whichever team decides to pick him.

He also brings an undervalued quality in today’s NBA, which is offensive rebounding. He posted an elite 13.8% offensive rebound percentage, which ranks him among the highest of all college big men this season. With his 7’7″ wingspan, it’s not surprising that Clingan is also is a very reliable defensive anchor as a center. He has a block percentage of 11.4%, which is also among the most elite rates of all big men in the country. He provides great communication to his teammates that allow for him to organize his troops around into different defensive coverages. One of the best games we saw this in was his Elite 8 defensive performance against Illinois, where he showed a variety of defensive coverages that allowed his team to get the win.

Weaknesses

Althougt Clingan does posses many strengths that will help him in his NBA career, he also has a couple of issues that need some work. Clingan doesn’t posses the elite lateral quickness of someone like Alexandre Sarr, so he will most likely be a target on pick and roles for a quicker iso player like Kyrie Irving to attack. The disadvantage to this is that as the game becomes more skilled, you are going to have more players like Kyrie Irving, so it will be hard for him to adapt to guarding these guys. Clingan’s main deficiency, however, is his shooting ability. Although he has a solid shooting stroke, Clingan only shot 57% from the charity stripe, which limits his potential as a shooter in the NBA. Clingan did have a great combine shooting the ball, which shows the work that he is willing to put in to try and fix his jumpshot.

If Clingan can become a respectable spot-up shooter, he will open up his game so much more because he already does everything else at a very solid level.

Overall Thoughts

Since Clingan is limited offensively, his ceiling is not at the level as someone like Alexandre Sarr. The good thing about Clingan, however, is that you know what he will bring defensively, which is important due to the decreasing amount of defensive bigs in today’s league. Clingan is definitely deserving of being a high lottery selection in this year’s draft class, but I don’t think he is too much of a risk to pick. I think Clingan has a very high floor, which is why he will end up being a solid pick for any team in the draft. He reminds me of Clint Capela with more playmaking abilities and a slightly better jumpshot, but I don’t think he’ll end up developing into the offensive role of someone like Karl-Anthony Towns. As for his fit with the Rockets, I think it would be best if they didn’t use their pick on him if he’s available because of the floor spacing issue we currently have. I also think that Alperen Sengun wouldn’t mesh well with Clingan, which even further confirms my belief of him not being a great fit for us.