Donovan Clingan has become the player that fans and the Trail Blazers front office prayed he would be. In his second year, Cling Kong is a double-double machine, a high-level rim protector, the best offensive rebounder in basketball, and a burgeoning 3-point shooter, to boot. He's the center of the present and the future in PDX, and looks like a clear home run draft pick from the front office.
Where does that leave Yang Hansen, the team's most recent first-round pick?
I've been preaching patience with Hansen all season long. No, he's not a bust because he's spent most of his rookie season with the Rip City Remix, and I don't think there's any reason to panic about his development.
This is an odd situation, though. Usually, I am very pro-drafting multiple players at the same position. If there's a player in the draft that a front office is high on, I think it's smart team management to draft that player and figure out fit later.
Blazers might be trying to develop two centers at once
I suppose that is what the Blazers did when they drafted Hansen in the first round last year. But, well, "later" has come, and now it looks like there's a young player logjam in Portland's frontcourt.
That's because center different than the other four positions. Playing two centers at once is tough to navigate, especially if both centers are below-the-rim centers like Hansen and Clingan are.
Plus, Hansen has a long way to go before he's a viable defender in the NBA, and if he remains a negative on that side, it doesn't make much sense to play both he and Clingan if both of them have hard times defending out to the perimeter. Other teams would play a small-ball lineup and hunt one of the Blazers' centers outside of the paint.
If the plan all along was to use Hansen and Clingan's backup, then I question why he was the No. 16 pick in the draft. I trust Joe Cronin and Mike Schmitz — they've been way more good than bad as the Blazers' decision-makers.
Maybe I'm overthinking here. Donovan Clingan is having a breakout and Yang Hansen's development will take multiple years before he can be an every night rotation player for the Blazers. This is, overall, a good thing. If Donovan Clingan becomes a perennial DPOY candidate and Yang Hansen is a fine backup center, that's a big front office win. It's just somewhat strange to watch it develop.
In the meantime, we should probably just enjoy the Clingan show every night.