What Is Donovan Clingan’s Draft Stock After UConn’s Title Win? | The Mismatch | Ringer NBA

[@UnbeatableJacob]

Pistons need a center? Jalen Duren is the same age as him. If Duren was in college right now his production would be insane.

[@mcgb7490]

Clingan actually plays defense

[@michaelahurt]

@@mcgb7490 The Duren defensive stuff is wildly overblown. Obviously he's not Joel Embiid or Wemby where he can single handedly elevate a bottom 10 defense to top 10 but we saw Rudy's Jazz teams get absolutely *cooked* in the playoffs when he had bad perimeter defenders. A 130 offensive rating for the Clippers? Dallas was 116 the next year with Luka missing three games. Well Detroit's perimeter defense has been *AWFUL* so why do people expect a 20 year Jalen Duren to be better than Gobert was? Phoenix had a top 3 defense with DeAndre Ayton. Duren can absolutely do what Ayton did. He can absolutely do what Bitadze and Mo Wagner and Carter Jr did in Orlando. He is far from the biggest problem with Detroit's defense. He has good hips to mirror in drop, moves his feet well, isn't too jumpy, and has good awareness. He can't quite guard in space but few can. The biggest thing is he shouldn't be in a deep drop -- he has a big wingspan which is useful in help but not a massive standing reach. He should be up to the level where he can use his athleticism. Detroit needs a veteran *backup* center, preferably Hartenstein. You don't take backups -- i.e. Klingan -- in the top 5.

[@SpencerOnYT]

@@michaelahurtGood points, but the argument breaks down when you compare Duren and the Pistons to the 2021 Suns with Ayton. I’m not sure that Duren can do what Ayton did when you look at how solid that Suns team was around Deandre. don’t foresee the Pistons having a 6x Steal Champ 9x All defensive point guard surrounded by some of the best wing defenders in the league with a serviceable rim defending backup center. Clingan can soon be a top 10 level defense on his own. Duren doesn’t appear to be close to that level of productivity.

[@michaelahurt]

@@SpencerOnYT Clingan can possibly do that in the regular season. Playoffs are what matters. I'm not sure how much I trust him in space long term. Rudy has issues. Lopez plays a little less. Even Embiid struggles at times in the playoffs. You basically have to either switch, trap, hedge or play to the level in the playoffs because the guards are too good, so more times than not I'd rather have the better athlete. It's physics. The bigger you are the longer it takes for you to react. That's why Wemby is going to break basketball because he moves like a 6'9" guy at 7'4" Detroit's perimeter defense is closer to good than it seems though. If you remove just the Bogdanovic minutes the team had a 115 def rating with Duren which is league average. And it was legitimately good when they ran functional lineups; headlined by Cade, Ivey, Ausar, Fontecchio, Duren which had a 110 defensive rating. (And it wasn't just shooting luck.) If they add 2-3 competent veterans like Houston -- or like Phoenix did -- did they could pretty easily get to 35-40 wins.

[@slamdunk2270]

Clingan is going to be another Kessler, maybe a little bit more mobile and good passer, but not gonna change a whole defense like a Gobert.. stop it. Risacher is a taller Batum at (very) best, Sheppard I'm afraid of the underwhelming physics (he looks like a kid in college, what is he gonna look like in the freaking NBA?!), Knecht is already older than a fifth of the league (or so), Edey is a crowd pleasure for garbage time (in the most realistic scenario), etc. I think you really have to look at Sarr like the prize money in this Draft... Of course, you never know and a gem might be hiding within the class but there are no sure formulas out there that could help you figure it out before everyone else. McCain shooting ability is definitely a dark horse I see. I'd be feeling good as a GM if I can pick him outside of the lottery... Watch out for Tyler Smith also, underrated though he played against pros, same thing goes for Holland and Buzelis. They're got overshadowed by the NCAA prospects during March Madness but they'll soon prove to be worth top 5-10 during workouts.

[@IW4523]

I'm not saying either of these guys will be elite in the NBA but everyone having Clingan projected top 5 and Edey at like 25th is wild to me

[@zalemdreams]

Finally changed the music and adopted Ryen's. I like it.

[@jamesh7469]

Maybe it's a production error lol

[@noahcockroft6859]

Edey + Wemby

[@therockneverstops8261]

Can Zach Edey become a better offensive version of Steven Adams?! That could be great for the Golden State Warriors or even the Los Angeles Lakers. Both teams have enough length and athleticism around him to cover up his lack of foot speed.

[@BassHuey]

Dude dropped 35+ points and Clingan did a good job? If we were playing sandlot who do you think I'm pickin?

[@wayneegli8379]

For real. Edey completely dominated Clingan in points 35 - 7, rebounds, 10 - 5, offensive rebounds, 4 - 1, defensive rebounds, 6 - 4, and blocks, 2 - 1.

[@SomeChink]

good thing NBA basketball isn’t played on sandlots

[@zacho1333]

The gameplay seemed to be put edey on an island and let clingan prove he’s a real deal defender

[@blaxson10]

Edey got a lot of those points in garbage time when the game was a blowout😂😂😂

[@Braktooth]

This. The thing is, Clingan doesn't have elite movement either. Every complaint that people are making about Edey is true for Clingan as well. One of the two of them has elite post scoring. Why is the other guy higher up on the draft boards?

[@artduart1286]

Clingan in Memphis is a great fit. Both sides.

[@edwardd.484]

Pelicans could draft Eady

[@michaelahurt]

People have lost their damns mind with Clingan. You can watch him for 30 seconds and realize he doesn't have the movement skills to defend on the perimeter. It's glaringly obvious. Absolute best case he's Brook Lopez without the post game and Brook -- no offense -- needed Giannis and Jrue/Bledsoe to be an elite defensive player. If you're a big who can only play drop (and can't defend the post) you can't play in the playoffs. KOC literally (correctly) comped him to Hibbert -- a man was *literally* played out of the NBA *7* years ago! I know this draft is so weak but how in the ever living f**k is a ROY HIBBERT clone a top 5 guy you want in 2024?? Clingan can't play in the playoffs!!

[@RyanWood24]

It’s painfully obvious that you’ve never watched UConn play if you’re saying he doesn’t have the movement skills to defend the perimeter

[@michaelahurt]

@@RyanWood24 I've watched. But I know what I'm looking at. There are four bigs in the NBA who can defend the perimeter (Mobley, Bam, Davis, Wemby) and another three who use their length in their drop and have good enough hips to handle shifty ball handlers (Chet, Gobert, Embiid) Anyone who watches KmClingan and sees Evan Mobley level movement skills -- that is beyond delusion. He moves like Zubac. People are trying to talk themselves into something that isn't there. This is like the Scoot Henderson - Ja Morant thing all over again.

[@jusglo8525]

@@michaelahurt only 4 tht can defend the perimeter? delusional. his name is Clingan btw as it shows above. clearly havent been watching very closely.

[@michaelahurt]

@@jusglo8525 Yes. Four. Did you see Tatum cooking Embiid last year? Game 7 was just JT saying "come here, big guy" Why do you think you see teams put two on the ball so much in the playoffs? Teams would rather play out of rotation than let these All-NBA guards attack their bigs one-on-one. Lighter smaller people are more agile than big people. Lighter smaller cars are more agile than big cars. It's physics. That's why guys like Zion, LeBron and Wemby are such anomalies. Clingan has heavy feet. When he plants his feet he is rooted in the ground and can't flip his hips then recover back to the ball. Watch the Alabama game again. All those guards could threaten him downhill and had an uncontested pull-up or floater or step back basically anytime they wanted because his weight is back. And if it's up they can drive past him. Most college guards can't take advantage of that. Most NBA guards will. Clingan is fine as a backup center. He plays angles well and he's a deterrent at the rim. He's like Jakob Poeltl on defense (or Hibbert) and Ivica Zubac on offense. For Memphis he's probably a good pick even that high because they need an innings eater center in the regular season and he's gonna be cheaper than what a similar player would cost in free agency. But generally you don't use top 5 picks on players who need to be taken off the floor in the last 5 minutes of playoff games.

[@ABronyNamedBurnie]

@@michaelahurt Lmao forgetting the reigning DPoY there bud. JJJ can defend the perimeter on any switch.