Donovan Clingan Scouting Report

Clingan is, very likely, going to be a top-ten pick this summer. But what will be his role on an NBA team? And what's the long-term trajectory? Find out more below.

While winning back-to-back national championships, Clingan is ready to play a big role in the NBA. In a continuously changing NBA landscape, drop coverage is the most commonly used practice. Clingan’s game has the advantage that he can adjust and offer more ways to defend effectively.

This scouting report focuses on the value his profile holds and what his NBA role will look like.

Physical Profile

At 7’2” Clingan will be the next season's sixth-tallest player in the NBA. His combination of strength and mobility separates him from other big men. At 280 pounds, Clingan shows light feet and fluid hips that help him be a high-end interior defender. His presence alone leads to opponents avoiding the rim when they can.

Clingan’s focus is not blocking shots but altering them away from the rim, which holds more NBA value. His physical tools allow him to be an above-average screener, leading to most of his offensive production. His footwork is another value-riser of his profile which leads to Clingan being able to quickly cover a lot of ground.

Defense

As a pick-and-roll defender, Clingan played mostly in drop coverage schemes which was the vocal point of the Connecticut defense with him on the court. However, he sometimes showed comfort in going over the screen, which is another indicator of his potential success as a pick-and-roll defender at the NBA level.

In the second play below, Clingan steps toward the perimeter with his pivot foot set a tad too far, leading to the blow-by drive from his opponent. His fluid hips allowed him to change sides quickly to meet him at the rim. When evaluating his drop coverage, Clingan trusts his long wingspans and decent pop in contesting against shooters, with the third and fourth play below being two examples.

Against pick-and-roll sets with drive and kick-outs or pick-and-pop sequences, Clingan focuses on drop coverage more often than not. For the NBA, that’s a good sign as Clingan shows a rare trait in him not being as rim-oriented in his interior defense compared to most of center prospects.

Clingan has a good feel for the game when it comes to detecting when possible kick-out passes occur. Especially when the opposing ball handler drives by his teammate, Clingan’s awareness comes into play, with the first play below being a good example. In the second play, Clingan is a tad too late, leading to the open three, which his team was willing to give up. In the last play below, Clingan showed more respect to the shooter by closing out harder on the pick-and-pop sequence.

For the NBA, Clingan’s awareness of when to stay around the mid-post or free-throw line area is a crucial element to a team’s defense when deciding against teams to which they are willing to give up more threes.

In a switch-heavy NBA game, teams will likely try to target Clingan to force him out of the paint and mitigate the effects of his dominance near the rim. Another area where his defense stands out is when closing out to the perimeter. While his first step is too slow to keep most ball handlers in front of him, Clingan does well in accelerating with this second and third step to make up for lost ground.

He also slides his feet very well, showing his fluid hips in the first play below, after he got beat due to his pivot foot being too far out. A minor detail Clingan should work on is to try and force ball handlers to the strong side. In the second play below, he closes out by positioning himself to the strong side, leaving a driving lane on the weakside open. On a larger NBA floor, that’s an opportunity the average guard and wing will gladly take.

Another value-riser of Clingan’s defensive profile is his awareness against cutters. He’s going to be an impactful defender right out of the gate next season and his ability to rotate quickly is something he’ll hang his hat on.

In the third play below, Clingan is already dropping after the ball handler takes a tad too much time for the entry pass, leading to Clingan gaining an advantage over his assignment. In the second and last play below, the value of Clingan as a help-side defender is noticeable. An NBA franchise will have very little to worry about when it comes to executing defensive reads or making timely rotations.

Offense

When it comes to Clingan’s production, he’ll primarily serve as a play-finisher in the first few years of his career. With the lack of a jumper, it would be likely that he’ll hurt an NBA team’s offensive rating. However, the contrary is true in his case, as his screening and presence down low create enough gravity to make sure he keeps two defenders busy, opening up space for teammates to take advantage of. The first and last plays below are examples of the above-mentioned.

At 70.1% finishing at the rim, that’s a good number for Clingan, especially considering this doesn’t include dunks, of which he averages almost one per game. He shows a decent touch from the midrange as well with his floater on which he finishes at a 45.8% rate, with the second play below being an example.

At 1.5 assists per game, the production doesn’t stand out. But Clingan’s passing is another area that’ll serve him well in terms of his offensive value for a team. The gravity of his interior presence will get help defenses on alert mode more often than not. Clingan shows that he’s an excellent connective passer, with flashes of short-roll playmaking in his arsenal.

In the second and fourth play below, we see Clingan with touch passes on quick two-man actions that end in lay-ups at the rim. The reason why Connecticut was such an effective team down low was mostly due to their ability to keep the ball moving. In an NBA game that focuses more on ball movement, that’ll be an advantage for Clingan.

In the first and third play below, we see Clingan showing his ability to execute basic reads out of post-ups. Despite a drop in post-up-plays in recent years, Clingan will likely get the post-up opportunities due to his gravity in forcing defenses to commit with help. This almost guarantees another teammate being wide open, and more importantly, Clingan being able to execute his reads quickly and find open guys.

As mentioned earlier, Clingan’s screening action will lead to most of his field goal attempts. Whether it’s as an off-ball screener (first play below), via hand-offs (second play below), or as the pick-and-roll roll man (last play below), Clingan will find high-quality looks at the rim.

The million-dollar question Clingan has to answer in the early stages of his career is if his free-throw shooting at 58.3% on 4.0 attempts per game will hurt him. Teams will likely foul Clingan down low to prevent an automatic two points and likely one point from the free-throw line. This blocks the possibility for Clingan to play heavy fourth-quarter minutes, which does lower the value of his profile.

However, when considering his overall gravity near the rim, it’s a risk the average NBA decision-maker should be willing to take.

In the next few years, Clingan will likely test to expand his range on his jumpers. Adding a three-point shot to his arsenal would make things easier on Clingan in terms of getting his production on par and contributing to improving a team’s offensive rating.

At 2 made threes on 8 attempts this season, Clingan shows a consistent shooting release on all attempts. It all had a low release point on which Clingan should work on getting a higher arcing release on his shots. He won’t be a plus-shooter in his first season, but further down the line, Clingan will likely improve as a shooter based on the consistency of his jumper. However, with 8 attempts, the sample size is limited, which is something Clingan will likely have to show in workouts he’ll have with teams.

NBA Draft Projection

Clingan is the second overall pick on my board. He’s a high-end center prospect with the combination of his strength and mobility. An NBA team will get an instant improvement to their defensive rating with his presence.

For Clingan to succeed, he must go to a team that already has their usage reserved for one or two high-end scoring guards and wings. Clingan will serve as a complementary piece with the long-term promise of him banking on his gravity as an interior presence.

The biggest area of development for Clingan is to improve his free-throw percentage (.583). For him to meet the price for NBA teams in drafting him, he’ll have to be able to play long minutes and be the center for a team in crunch time. With very few concerns in his profile, this one stands out the most.