The Brief Case, Episode 101: Picking Clingan and Make Trades At 2024 Draft | Portland Trail Blazers

The Brief Case, Episode 101: Picking Clingan and Make Trades At 2024 Draft | Portland Trail Blazers

greetings Blazer fans and welcome to the briefcase episode 101 of the briefcase I’m your host Casey holdall and the Portland TR Blazers 2024 Draft is officially over Portland started the day with four picks end up only using one pick but getting the guy they wanted all along Yukon Center Donovan kingan sophomore Center back-to-back National Title winner a player who according to Joe Cronin the team has been interested in for some time being selected with the seventh overall pick at the 2024 NBA draft quite a few moves for the trailers over the course of the first round on Wednesday and the second round on Thursday but a lot of those things I cannot talk about just yet because they’ve not become finalized but we will discuss the things we can talk about consider Donovan kingan joining the center rotation in Portland look at the trade that Portland TR Blazers did make that we can talk about in the second round on Thursday and hear from trbl general manager Joe Cronin on this edition of the briefcase it’s always a bit tough to separate the fact from the fiction in regards to the draft because you know there’s so much cause and reason for teams to not let other teams know what they’re doing and so a lot of times what that ends up in is teams maybe saying one thing but actually feeling something else but one thing you heard over and over and over again in the runup to the draft was how interested the Blazers were in Donovan kingan and it turns out that was actually the case the Trailblazers selecting Donovan kingan with the seventh overall pick some discussion that maybe he might go before seven I think there was maybe some consideration the budg might even try to move up if that were the case but it did not happen that way kingan was aail ailable at 7 tro Blazers did take him at 7even felt very good about it feel like they have a player going forward that can be a defensive force in the league someone who can grow with their young team Donovan kingan only 20 years old all he’s done at Yukon is win championships back-to-back National Championship winner came off the bench his rookie season at Yukon sophomore season started all but two games abl Yukon to one of the most dominant performance in the NCA tournament that we’ve ever seen actually may be the most dominant performance at the NCA Tournament winning all their games by at least double digits to win their second national title and now that player is coming to Portland in two seasons at Yukon kingan who’s 20 years old averaged 9.8 points on 65% shooting 6.4 rebounds 2.1 blocks and 1.0 assists in 17.6 minutes per game as I mentioned he won back-to-back Championship with the Huskies in 2024 and 2023 he was a 2024 NCAA East region most outstanding player in addition to being the 2024 NCA final four all tournament team selection thank you to our t PR staff the Bristol Connecticut native ranked eighth in the country in blocks per game at 2.46 and field goal percentage at 63.9% as a sophomore as a freshman he recorded yukon’s third highest field goal percentage for a single season at 65.5 and received Big East all freshman team honors I remember I watched Donan kinging for just a few minutes it was March blazes were playing I was at my desk in the Moto Center I kind of looked up to the TV and saw whatever Yukon game was going on Donovan kingan was running the floor and I remember thinking to myself legitimately I was like is he coming out this year because that guy looks like he could probably play a little bit uh a year later he ends up coming out and the trbl just do end up drafting him didn’t say I pegged that one necessarily but I would say that in March when they were going through the tournament I was noting like hey why isn’t Donovan kingan kind of getting mentioned as a top pick because it seems to me at least in this draft class he probably deserves to be there and quite a few people be like oh there’s no way and gry didn’t go top pick I think he was probably in the mix for a top pick but the fact that he did go seven after really not having a whole lot of Buzz coming out of high school I think just goes to show that in this draft if you came out and did something at it Elite level Donovan Clingan defends the rim rebounds and at least in terms of drop steps scores at an elite level that’s something you take in this draft and I feel like the Blazers very happy with getting Donovan kingan in fact I know they are they’re stoked to end up with Donovan kingan I think they had other options as well I think their first option was probably try to trade up to get Donovan kingan and they probably had a few other players that were interested in at that seventh pick but I think they were more excited than anything to get Donovan cling and they had him ranked higher than seventh so anytime you get a player that you feel like is going to be better than some of the guys that got picked before him you usually feel good about that pick as well but in this draft especially it was really more about again and I mentioned this time and time and time again in the runup to the draft it’s really more about what each individual team values what each individual team feels like they need on their team the kind of the skills some of the traits that they need going forward and then Don MC have a a very young player 20 years old can grow with Portland’s roster he provides Rim protection Portland’s defense as anyone watching this podcast well knows is something they’ve had to address for some time have not made a whole lot of progress in terms of becoming a better defensive team I think the expectation is that with Donovan kingan you at least know that Elite ring protection and the ability to defend the paint is something you’re going to be able to do at some point in time granted he’s 20 years old first season probably going to be some fits and starts here and there but eventually once he gets up to speed I imagine that Donovan kingan is going to be an elite NBA rim protector rebounding another area the troublers have had issues with over the last couple Seasons Donovan kingan obviously someone with the size and the length and the athleticism to be an elite rebounder in the NBA and I think just the competitive nature that he brings to your team is something that you want as well again a guy who’s only had success at the college level and I think there’s probably some carry over there once he makes it to the NBA now once the Blazers did make that pick there was obviously a lot of talk particularly outside of Portland of well what does that mean for DeAndre a what does that mean for Robert Williams I third what does that mean for dape I don’t think anyone probably mentioned dap but me but what does it mean for d breath and you know the notion being that well if you’re bringing in a center then what’s it mean for the other centers and again this was something that I mentioned over and over and over again and something you’re going to hear Joe Cronin talk about here in a second is that the Blazers are not at the point in their rebuild where they can really have those discussions or they can really bother themselves to think about well what are the positions we already have squared away nothing is squared away on this team right now they need talent they need the best players available and if they feel like Donovan kingan was the best player available to them and they do then you take take that player and you figure out how it’s going to work from a positional perspective at a later date the Blazers are in Talent acquisition mode they’re not going to be out to win a ton of games next year they’re not going to be a playoff team probably the next year so really they’re looking more about three years down the road what is this team going to look like how are we going to build this team out what are some of the skills the traits the players that we feel like are going to be successful on this team once we’re really ready to compete at a higher level than we are right now and when you’re making those kind of decisions when that’s the metric that you’re operating under you don’t have the luxury of saying well we already have a center on the roster we already have DeAndre aen we love DeAndre aen and the team loves DeAndre aen he’s a great player they really like what they have DeAndre Aon but they’re not at the point where they can say well we got DeAndre so let’s HCK a player that maybe we don’t think is as good as another Center as Donovan kingan but it’s at a position we could use more even in this draft particularly when you’re talking about the seventh pick that is not the way to go about doing business when you’re trying to rebuild a team so the Blazers didn’t go that direction they took player at a position where they already have some very talented players at that position because that is where they feel like they can best maximize the value of that pick and to be frank it’s not like Donovan kingan’s going to come in next year and necessarily start he’s a 20-year-old centers typically take more time in the NBA to get up to speed and particularly in today’s NBA that is quite a bit different than the NCAA you know you’re going to have to learn how to play a little bit differently so the idea that you selected Donovan kingan so therefore you don’t need DeAndre Aton or Robert Williams I third or duop wath doesn’t make any sense that’s the kind of thing you say when you’re a national pundit and you’re on a Draft broadcast and you got to have something to talk about when you actually understand how teams are put together and the way that a team has to go step by step in order to get to where they want to go things like oh we already have a center don’t make any difference to the team whatsoever which is why they selected Donovan kingan and I think that decision is going to end up paying benefits for the team going forward now as far as the 14th pick goes again not a ton I can say about that since Adam Silver did mention it I can say the Blazers traded Bud Carrington who was selected with the 14th pick to the Washington Wizards but that’s about all I think I’m allowed to get into at least from a detail perspective obviously things have already been reported if you’re listening to this podcast if you’re watching this podcast you’re someone who already very much pays attention to the port Trailblazers so you already know what I’m talking about the only thing I’ll say is I think that’s an incredibly smart move I think the bers had a very good first round I think that they were able to add talent and also address some issues some of the things I was just talking about in terms of well what are the positions we might need to take care of I feel like they were able to do that with the 14th pick not necessarily with the players selected with the 14th pick but just the overall idea of what happened with the Trailblazers and the 14th pick that’s something we’ll be able to talk about a bit more once we get after the first week of July granted there’s others podcasts there’s other stories that are already going be able to tell you these things and I do not F you at all for going to those places to find those answers but you don’t ever want to be the reason why something falls apart even though it’s incredibly unlikely that that would ever happen because of people talking why open the door to it so Blazers ended up using the 14th pick on bud Carrington that got sent to the Washington Wizards I think you can probably take it from there well before we talk about the second round which happened on Thursday afternoon let’s go ahead and hear from Joe Cronin discussing the Trailblazers performance in the first round on Wednesday night at The Practice Facility Joe Corin talks about selecting Donovan Kling in some of the issues that came into play talks a little bit about their draft night and kind of how it played out doesn’t get into a whole lot of specifics as you would assume he was not going to but some interesting discussion about how the Knight played out for the Trailblazers a lot of thoughts about Donovan kingan again about how he can play alongside DeAndre Aton Robert Williams II dap Ree and just the notion as Joe talks about here that the Blazers are still very much a rebuilding team that is in Talent acquisition mode not necessarily making changes along the margins to get team ready to go to compete at another level that they’re not at just yet so let’s go ahead and hear what tra bers general manager Joe Cronin had to say about the Portland Trailblazers first round pick Donovan kingan and the way the first round played out for the team Wednesday night in Toton round one of the 2024 draft is over um I don’t believe I’m talking tomorrow so I always like to thank all the hardworking people in our organization that put in all these hours over the course of the year to to evaluate these drafts and you know do such an incredible job figuring out the next players for us to add um it’s a long list of people but they’re worthy of being called out Andre Patterson Sergi Oliva Mike Schmitz Asia Jones Shere Sam BJ Domingo Tina Thompson swanga lamani Nico Matthew Danny Connor Jake Fox Sean Kylie Zach Williams so many people contribute to this draft process you know it’s a it’s a lot of work the Ops people Nick West Monae Jones that bring all these players in you know this year we brought in north of 50 and it’s just a lot of work that um compiles into tonight one person um Donovan kingan who a player we’re really really high on a player we had ranked very highly a player that um we think is going to be a great addition to this franchise because of many reasons you know who he is as a person the type of player he is the defensive prowess that he brings the winning mentality um a lot of good um features and Donovan has an extremely bright future we have a a a trade that’s been reported I can’t get into that tonight in this press conference probably Circle back on things in a couple weeks on that one so let’s open it up how soon did you zero in on Donovan being soone you coveted and how confident were you that maybe he could be there at s and did you consider moving out this is where like I just give so much credit to our Scouts like they were all over him a year ago they loved him last year as a freshman and then you know we just studied him closely closely or closer and closer as you know these last two seasons went on um and you know when the lottery played out the way it did um we thought there might be a chance it’s just hard you just don’t know how it’s going to play out especially over the course of 6 weeks but even going into tonight into the draft I thought this was one of the drafts where it was really difficult to predict what was going to happen between picks three and six and I think that played out to where General consensus or a lot of the mock drafts um probably saw a surprise at least one surprise maybe two and it worked out to where Donovan got to us so one of the easier selections we’re going to we’re going to ever make did you try to get up to three we talked um I think it’s something we do well is we’re really diligent and we really work the phones you know we were looking at move up move back move in move out scenarios had dozens and dozens of them and you know you just try to plant as many seeds as possible and keep all your options open because literally as as the draft plays out you know your whole perspective can change given what happens at three or 4 and you know eventually you say okay we’re home or we’re not you know you got to figure out like what’s your threshold and just working through all these these scenarios okay if this happens what’s our pivot you know if this breaks wrong for us what do we have lined up to do there so we were looking at carry at everything Joe was he number three on your board um he was I don’t like to give the number just because I don’t want to put any added pressure on him but we had him we had him higher than we took him Joe um on the broadcast and I guess online there was a lot of there there were reports that Memphis was trying to get up to six to get to get Donovan that you guys were potentially trying to word that off with a move of your own it seemed like the high drama point of the first round at least what was that like for you guys in the room and how how tense were those moments for you guys it’s my favorite part of the job the draft day in general but specifically those moments when you have some control you’re able to maneuver a little bit yet there’s a lot of it that’s not up to you and you just kind of have to wait it out and ride that wave and this one ended up being like that where you have all these contingencies and once certain things happen and we knew we were L going to be fine at 700 or getting what we hoped at 7 it was good but those moments right before that those are as tense as they come for us in this profession Joe for the last couple years you’ve talked about wanting to get bigger Longer stronger more athletic you made Moves last year where you got probably two of the more higher and athletic bigs Donovan kind of goes back to a more traditional model how does he kind of fit into what you guys are doing purely based on talent and even if he goes away from kind of the archetype you guys have talked about preferring and then how does he fit with scoot going forward yeah definitely becoming more physical more athletic bigger like you said it’s been a continued priority of ours and I think we did that today and a lot of the things we were talking about defensively Donovan to me is an interesting defender of course he’s he’s more of a drop pig that’s best around the rim I mean it’s what he does best is protect the rim his IQ and his feel and his ability to navigate and react and you know play the right angles or you know adjust his depth depending on you know who you’re playing against and what you’re trying to take away I think Donovan’s going to be a nice versatile Defender that you know in general is just going to up our defense something that we’ve continually tried to do and we’re starting to get better at but we still have a long ways to go there you know I think Rim protection has been a big hole of ours and um Donovan helped solve that problem as for Donovan and Scoot I think um anytime you get a defensive anchor that can play behind you know your talented guards I think that’s a huge part of this but also you know someone that can play you know do a good job on the other side of the ball he’s a great screen Setter he’s going to be a good roll guy he’s got great hands he’s got a good feel he can pass he can play off the move a little bit he’s got some some work to do like a lot of young big men but um we like where he’s headed skill-wise Joe rotation wise you know you still have da here and Rob if he’s if he’s healthy theoretically still here like do you see Donovan playing you know alongside either one of them or starting over either like how like how do you see all that kind of playing out yeah I think you know as we approach this we’re still in such a talent acquisition mode that we’re not super concerned about who’s playing ahead of who or who’s playing next to who um it was more for Donovan it’s it was obviously get a really talented guy who addresses some huge needs for us specifically you know like we said the rim protection the defense the rebounding the offense of rebounding you know part of this is we want we’re building a competitive culture we want these guys to come in and compete and you know earn whatever minutes and roles they get and when you’re a rebuilding team like we are and you’re trying to take that next step you know we need guys that are capable of coming in and winning jobs that’s what we’re looking forward to is just being more competitive Joe um I’ve read some people believe that Donovan will be able to extend his shooting range a little bit I I was curious about your offensive expectations for him y Donovan you know he he came here and worked out for us and it was good to be up close with him and watch him shoot a lot of perimeter shots and I do think it’s something that he’s going to be able to do someday he’s pretty comfortable and he’s got a good touch shooting in the NBA is complicated and difficult even for a lot of guards coming in like he’s got a lot of work to do but I do like his his feel and his hands and his accuracy and just his overall skill set you know my favorite thing about him offensively I just think he’s an underrated passer I really like some of the plays he made for Yukon who ran a really intricate offense with a lot of cuts and a lot of high IQ players and Donovan was an addition to that style of play not you know a negative on that end Joe you mentioned that love draft night and you mentioned that Donovan was really high on your board so I was just curious what that moment was like in the room when you see Charlotte pick who they pick and you bet on yourself you don’t try to trade up in this draft try to trade away more assets and you see that that you see that moment pay off and you know you’re going to get your guy so just what was that moment like in the room it’s a cool moment you know there’s there’s all of us who have been working this draft and you know just this roster so so hard over the Year to you know have a moment where you’re hoping something happens and then it actually does and you know everyone’s just happy you know you we all do the the clap that people see on TV but but it’s literal you know just it’s relief it’s Joy it’s optimism it’s excitement so you kind of go through all those arrays of emotions and then you know shortly after it’s okay well what’s next you know you get to enjoy it and then you’re trying to okay what else are we trying to do here I know you talked about Talent acquisition and and guys competing but DeAndre was pretty much probably the most celebrated and hyped asset that you guys got last year in the trades evolving Dame you call them a top five Center 9 months later you’re dra in Center is this a no way an indictment on Aton season or what you believe his future is I mean at some point someone’s got to go right well I don’t know about go I think well first off Donovan you know he’s got rookie year can be can be interesting you know he’s got a lot to learn still the NBA is going to be an adjustment but as far as DeAndre goes I’m really excited about DeAndre I mean obviously we sought him out last summer and I thought we saw some really good things from him as the season went on I mean DeAndre is incredibly talented a really good player in this league so I always go back to this but we’re not good enough to be content at any one position or even just at the starting position like we’ve got to build depth we’ve got to get real players all throughout this roster and that’s my Challenge and that’s what I’m going to continue to do like for me it’s a success if you’re finding other players are going to challenge some of your best players okay we’re doing good because we’re continually building our talent base Joe you said that after that moment of Celebration wears off it turns to what’s next and what else you trying to do here what’s next what else you trying to here what the next couple weeks look like as you move pass the draft M yeah so I mean tomorrow you know go through the second round we have two picks there 34 and 40 which um are pretty good picks so obviously we’ll get that accomplished and figure that portion of you know the next step in the process figured out beyond that get into the offseason and still look for ways to get better we’ve got to continue to build this Talent base and you know we’re committed to scoot and Shaden being a massive part of what we’re doing and how do we find ways is to give them the support they need and make them better and maximize their development so it’s continually seeking players that we can add to this roster that we can grow with and build together with in that you’re committed to this young nucleus is it likely that some of the older guys might get moved I don’t know if I’d say likely I think throughout this whole offseason I’ve been open-minded again with the mindset that we need to get better and I think in some ways we need to get different so I think my goal is to just you know really work the phones and be open-minded and be opportunistic about finding players that can help us in not just the short term but the long term you’ll see that theme with you know some of our additions that we are looking at you know putting a Runway here that where these guys can be really good for uh hopefully a long time and just trying to find guys that fit that mold so there you go triplers general manager Joe croner cing Portland’s first round of the 2024 draft discussing Jonathan kingan some of the things he’s going to do for this team or some of the things that hope is’s able to do for this team the way the draft played out and again I I thought it was really interesting and personally I thought it was quite validating that Joe basically talked a lot about the things that I talked about last week in the runup to the draft which is again that where the Blazers are at right now concerns about positionality not really all that important it’s about bringing in guys they feel like they can play going forward guys who can compete for roster spots going forward guys who can compete for minutes going forward and they feel like they did that by bringing in Donovan kingan and for the record it seems like in this draft too a very well praised draft for the Portland tra Bladers at least in the first round by taking Donovan kingan I kind of feel like everywhere I looked people were pointing to that pick and saying like yeah that’s a good pick for the Trailblazers seems like Portland getting quite a bit of praise for the kingan pick I think a lot of people view Donovan kingan is probably one of the best players to come out of this draft he’s going to take a little bit of time absolutely but I I I think when you look at what he was able to accomplish at Yukon some of the measurables I think you know his workout video I thought was fantastic now granted it’s a workout video you know you never miss a shot in a workout video but he looked a lot more fluid than I think a lot of you’ll probably give him credit for his shot looked a lot better than I even gave him credit for so I’m really curious to see how he’s going to come along with this team going forward and if nothing else makes Summer League a lot more interesting summer league generally not the best place for big men but again there’s going to be a lot of big men at summer league so maybe this is the year of the big men in Las Vegas all right in terms of the second round again we’re going to have to be a little bit of vague about what happened in the second round for the Portland Trail Blazers Blazers started the day with a 34th and 40th pick ended up selecting no players with either one of those picks they did announce one trade however the Blazers acquired a 2027 second round pick a 2029 second round pick and a 2030 second round pick from the New York Knicks in exchange for Tyler kch who Portland selected with the 34th pick the additional picks have been traded I think that’s about all I can say another one of those deals that can’t be finalized until a few days from now when that does get finalized we can give you actual information about what that trade did entail but I think as of right now theed Med takeway should probably be whatever that deal did entail it didn’t result in players coming back to Portland I believe it’s probably going to be a future second round picks maybe some cash considerations I think that that’s been reported already as well so long story short second round they started with two picks flick the 34th pick for three picks in future drafts and maybe they’ve already traded those at the draft I actually again it’s a little hard to keep some of these things in line having it second day on an ESPN broadcast I don’t think necessarily helped anyone understand anything better but it was the first time so I don’t think you hold them too much into account for that but either way Blazers not coming away with any players in the second round future second round picks from New York and when the tra Blazers can finalize a trade that has reportedly happened we’ll get a better sense of what second round picks they might have going forward as of right now I’m not entirely sure but I think it’s also worth pointing out that some of the trades that have happened I’m going to be real General here people were concerned about giving up multiple picks particularly in the second round Blazers were able to easily get back second round picks later on in the draft first rounders more difficult to come by second rounders if you want them you can generally get them so those are one of the things too where if you’re kind of ringing your hands about boy do we really have to give up that many second round picks it’s generally something that you can get addressed in later drafts usually not that big of a deal and with two-way deals now that’s the other thing too about this draft I think there’s a there was a conception that I think a lot of the players taking in the second round would just be clamoring for two-way contracts some of the reporting seems to indicate that these second round guys maybe not so quick to take some of those two-way contracts I think the Assumption among fans and kind of among myself too is that you know if a team takes you in the second round if they’re not going to give you a contract you’re still going to take a two-way contract sounding like that might not necessarily be the case and which makes a little bit of sense too because I also Imagine that you know at this point in time you haven’t had summer league yet so there’s maybe some guys taken in the second round who want to play in Summer League who can maybe play themselves into a contract guy like Jabari Walker was able to do that a few years ago and so I’m wondering if maybe after summer league maybe some of the guys who got drafted second round have not agreed to two-way contracts maybe at that point in time the negotiations change uh because it would seem to me that having a two-way contract would be better than not having a contract at all but what do I know I’m not an agent I’m not a guy who ever got drafted surprisingly enough one of the other things to consider about the second round is the Trailblazers don’t have any roster spots available should they pick up Delano banton’s option and if they decide to pick up Delano Bon’s option which the way he played at the end of last season you would kind of assume that they would but they just don’t have a roster spot open they do have two two-way contracts open but that’s it so even if they did take a player in the second round as of right now they wouldn’t have a spot on the team for that player unless they were willing to take a two-way contract or just go straight to the G league and again that’s something that I think maybe gets addressed later on after summer league but as of right now I’m guessing that there’s quite a few guys that feel like hey maybe I can go to Las Vegas prove myself and then play my way into a contract rather than taking the first deal that’s offered I don’t know if that’s the way that I would necessarily go about doing that but I could see some logic to it and that’s going to do it for this edition of the briefcase thanks FR for joining me as always summer league schedule is going to get announced Friday morning press conference with Donovan kingan will be on Saturday Summer League practice starts up probably a week and then it’s off to Las Vegas for about 10 12 days of games in Sin City chance to check out Donovan kingan live and in person for the first time as a Portland Trailblazer get your tickets at Las Vegas summer league find a weekend head out for a few days it’s always a great time if you end up in Vegas and you see me say hello i’ love to chat but until then we’ll talk to you next week thanks you for joining me as always I am Casey holdall go Blazers

On this edition of The Brief Case, Trail Blazers beat reporter/Insider Casey Holdahl discusses…

• Portland selecting UCONN center Donovan Clingan with the seventh overall pick of the 2024 NBA Draft

• Clingan’s workout with the Trail Blazers in Tualatin

• Talent being more important than position in this stage of Portland’s rebuild

• Trading the 14th, 34th and 40th picks for… something

• A lack of roster spots

• The next few weeks which will include a press conference, summer league training camp and then at least five games in Las Vegas

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