Donovan Clingan is a Defensive Anchor Worthy of a Top-Five Pick | POP Scouting Report
The Detroit Pistons lack a defensive identity. Donovan Clingan would help to change that.
Could the Detroit Pistons draft Jalen Duren’s replacement with the 5th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft?
Donovan Clingan, a two-time national champion with the UConn Huskies presents as a very intriguing prospect that has launched himself into consideration of being a top-five pick. He is largely considered the second-best center in the draft class, behind Alexandre Sarr, who is expected to go number one overall to the Atlanta Hawks.
Clingan’s Bio
Age: 20
Position: C
Height: 7’2”
Weight: 280 pounds
School: UConn
Clingan’s Strengths
There is no greater strength to Clingan’s game than his interior presence on the defensive side of the floor. He is a high-effort, high-intensity rim protector that can serve as a team’s defensive anchor.
He averaged the 8th most blocks in the NCAA, 2.5 per game. Opponents shot just 43.2% at the rim when Clingan was the primary defender.
Clingan uses his size to easily deter shots at the rim and gobble up rebounds in the paint.
His Elite 8 performance against Illinois was a testament to how impactful of a defender he was, even in the biggest games of the season.
Offensively, he primarily plays around the rim. He averaged 13 points per game in his sophomore season with the Huskies, shooting 63.9% from the field. He can score off of post-ups, finishing in the pick-and-roll, and second-chance opportunities.
Clingan’s Weaknesses
Clingan is an old-school model. He doesn’t initiate the offense and cascades around the perimeter with the ball in his hands.
He isn’t a floor spacing center that can launch from deep consistently — yet. He may get there one day, and the film that circulated across social media of him knocking down a handful of 3-pointers in one of his workouts is mesmerizing, but it certainly won’t happen overnight, if ever.
Is he mobile enough to survive getting dragged out of the paint defending pick-and-rolls? Will he be able to defend in space at the next level against the fastest, strongest, and most athletic players in the world?
That is how teams will try to pick on him. They will want to take him out from under the rim the same way teams do with centers like Rudy Gobert.
Clingan’s Fit
The Pistons have a young center that they drafted just two years ago in Jalen Duren, who is just a handful of months older than Clingan with two years of NBA experience under his belt.
But after a disappointing second season and a limited cupboard of assets to trade away, the Pistons may have to consider Clingan to replace Duren. The fact of the matter is that Duren has better value than the fifth pick in this year’s draft, hence the potential need to trade him.
Clingan would give Detroit a center to shape their defense around. The Pistons have lacked an identity under general manager Troy Weaver, yet they have talked profusely about wanting to be a team that plays physical, hard-nosed defense with high intensity nightly.
Adding Clingan to a roster with last year’s fifth-pick, Ausar Thompson, and Isaiah Stewart would help lay the groundwork of that ideology.
Duren could remain with the Pistons, even if they selected Clingan, but they may also decide to move on from him in this case. He will be extension eligible next summer, meaning Detroit will have to decide sooner rather than later if he is worth committing significant money to long-term.
In theory, the Pistons could trade Duren and acquire a player that fits a need on the roster while resetting the clock on committing big money to the center position.
Outside of already having a prospect at the center spot, Clingan’s fit is ideal with the Pistons. They do not have a defensive-bruising center like Clingan on the roster, nor a player who can serve as the team’s defensive hub like he can.
Although he would not be the sexiest pick on the board — in a class that already lacks sexiness — Donovan Clingan would be a day one game-changer for the Pistons and help move them towards an identity built on physical defense, length, and highly competitive energy each night.