Donovan Clingan Dominates the Utah Jazz + What We Learned from Portland Trail Blazers Preseason

8 comments

1. I’m still pissed you have to pay to watch blazers games 😢😆😆

2. I like Coach Billups' nickname for Donovan:
   ◇ "Big D." It fits his name and his game — DEFENSE — perfectly!

3. lets gooo blazers!🎉

4. We should rotate starts for DC & Ayton based on matchups.

5. Was so cool hearing you get a shout out from the commentators!!

6. Scoot was more consistent than expected this preseason, and when he was on, he was good to fantastic offensively, and he looks notably improved defensively. Donovan looked really rough on BOTH ENDS to me each of the games until this last one versus Utah. He absolutely killed in that game, and was a almost sadistic manage. He played with violence, and I love it. Toumani looks better too, more confident for sure offensively, and he's actually getting his number called and trusted offensively unlike last season where no matter if he hit 4 straight shots, they'd suddenly pretend he didn't exist at all. Great to see! Bari's limited play showed me he looks the same as before, with likely little to no improvement in his play. Rayan looks far more confident as well, which you love to see. Doesn't matter if he misses a lot of his shots, he's not letting it get to his head. Kris actually looked more confident and somewhat improved as well, as much as I hate admitting it haha. Duop looked… rough. Like he took a noticeable step back. Hope that's just rust. And DA has looked fantastic overall. Just fantastic. You LOVE to see it! Both ends, in fact he's looked improved and more confident. Nice to see.

   All that noted, in our last game, the broken broadcast made for as usual, a fun, more entertaining, and unique broadcast and experience watching, which was fantastic. When they shouted you out, I was somewhat surprised, but it was cool to hear.

   That said, I've had a thought and idea when it comes to Donovan Clingan and his development on this roster since halfway through preseason – The Blazers should seek to hire either Joel Pryzbilla or RoLo to mentor, teach and train with him. Joel was the first guy to come to mind, given his build, body type, size and abilities/skillset is identical to Donovan's. Joel is 7'1, Donovan 7'2". Both were/are slow, somewhat immobile centers that are truly old school in the nature that they're true rebounders and rim protectors. Joel managed to carve out a valuable career as a solid roleplayer for a good amount of time that was reliable in what he did and could do for your team. I think that makes him perfect for Donovan, especially early on, to build his current skills and confidence on both ends, as a means to help him build himself a solid foundation to grow from.
   Then, you could bring in RoLo to continue to mentor and teach him. RoLo developed his solid baby hook late in his career, and has only just retired really, so I bet it's very likely he could teach Donovan that hook shot. RoLo also is very similar overall in build, skill set, and how he moves and plays, just with a little more offensive ability from the latter half of his career, thus being able to lend some more skills to Don over time.
   Of course, one could also opt to simply hire RoLo instead of The Great White Gorilla in the first place. But either way, I really believe this would be a intelligent, great opportunity to do so.
   Giving Donovan extra dedicated training and mentorship from guys like those two early on I think is too smart of a concept to pass up. Double down on your investment, you know?

7. This is the first time I felt good about how the Blazers played and how they moved the ball since the 4-game winning streak when Ant became ‘the guy’ in the 4th qtr.

8. Deni changed this team.
   3-0 in Portland