Adept Blazers viewers have been quick to tell anyone that will listen about the currently unfolding revelatory play of Deni Avdija, quietly rounding into All-Star form before our very eyes. But while Deni has had an extremely visible and media-welcomed breakout campaign, one Blazer has been quietly putting up some impressive numbers himself. And despite drafting yet another player at his position just one year later, Donovan Clingan is doing true yeoman's work for the Blazers in the young season.
Portland drafted their center of the future a year before Yang Hansen
Before we dive into that, some context—Deni Avdija currently leads the entire NBA in drives per game, where he has been recently cultivating free throws at an astronomical rate (free-throw numbers in the last five games). In other words, when Deni decides to drive to the basket, he's getting there. Deni's drive attempts are inexorably tied to the number of possessions the Blazers get, and few offenses are as uniquely equipped to provide those attempts as Portland's.
As of the time of writing, Donovan Clingan is second in the entire NBA in offensive rebound percentage (ORB%) among qualified players at 18.7%, just 0.3% below the leading player
—Moussa Diabate—but two whole percentage points above the third-best—Jalen Duren. For the uninitiated, this means that for every possession the Blazers execute with Clingan on the floor, almost one-fifth of those end with Clingan converting that into an extra possession. When that new possession culminates with Clingan, then screening for a cutting Avdija, this translates into an extremely potent offensive attack of which the Blazers are just scratching the surface.
As you might expect, as Clingan's conditioning improves and minutes trend upward, more and more possessions become this distinct brand of bailout ball, with Avdija making a line-drive to the basket immediately out of an offensive rebound and taking high-percentage looks. Avdija ranks third in the NBA in "and-1" buckets.
Clingan's dominance on the offensive glass is only slightly more polished than his rim protection; Clingan ranks seventh in the NBA in BLK% at 5.1, meaning that he blocks five percent of all opponent shots when he's on the floor. As this often initiates the Blazers' weaponized transition game, Avdija benefits there as well.
By contrast, Yang Hansen hasn't done much in NBA play, though he is putting up some rather excellent numbers in the G-League. As we've come to discover, the level of competition in the NBA is a cut above that of the G-League, though the G-League is itself a cut above anything else out there.
For now, Clingan's job is safe and likely will continue to be. As a reminder, these numbers are the lowest they will ever be at the ripe age of 21.