The Portland Trail Blazers were blown out by the Denver Nuggets, losing 146-117. The one silver lining was Donovan Clingan, who finished with 21 points, seven rebounds, and one block in 21 minutes of play. It's almost like he should've been in this role where he gets 20-plus minutes all along?
Portland invested a top-ten pick in Clingan, who Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report suspects was the Blazers' top-ranked prospect entering the draft. So far, the Blazers were right to value him as one of the top prospects, as Clingan has been incredibly effective in his limited stretches. His per 36 minutes of 12.0 points, 14.5 rebounds, and 3.4 blocks are elite, ranking third in rebounds and second in blocks.
Similarly to Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe, Clingan is a player who has shown flashes of being a top-five player in their respective draft classes yet isn't firmly in that range yet. One reason why is that Portland is mishandling their development as a team that is trying to make a push for the play-in game for some mind-boggling reason.
Clingan still needs to improve his conditioning to handle 30-plus minutes a game, but Portland must find a middle ground. Chauncey Billups can't keep limiting the team's most impactful big man as much as he is now.
The extent of the calf injury Ayton suffered in their loss in Denver remains to be seen. But when both big men are healthy, Billups needs to better distribute minutes between Ayton and Clingan going forward.
However, Portland's organizational issue goes higher up than Billups; it also falls on Cronin's inability to fix their center logjam by the deadline.
Joe Cronin blew Blazers' golden opportunity to clear their center logjam at the deadline
It was clear that Ayton couldn't be traded as no team wanted to take on his massive contract, which wasn't worth it relative to his impact on winning. Although that's not ideal for Portland, it's understandable. Trading for Ayton also allowed the Blazers to get off of Jusuf Nurkic and land their long-term 3-and-D wing Toumani Camara in the process.
But why are Robert Williams III and Duop Reath still on the team?
Entering the season, the Blazers set out to increase Williams' trade value by getting him back on the court and proving to teams that he was healthy. They achieved that mission. Williams had value around the league as one of the most coveted centers on the market, but then Cronin fell for his own trick.
In typical Blazers fashion, Portland held on to yet another player for too long because they were overvaluing him. They did that with Jerami Grant, didn't learn their lesson, and now are doing the same thing with Williams.
If they knew they couldn't move Ayton and Clingan is their long-term starting center, Williams should've been the odd man out by process of elimination. But just as confusing is the fact that Reath wasn't moved.
Reath was a productive stretch five during the 2023-24 season, but Billups has since relegated him to the end of the bench, limiting him to just 5.3 minutes per game this season. He was another player who seemed to have a market around the league due to his floor spacing and the fact that he was on a minimum contract, which is increasingly more valuable under the new CBA due to teams' financial limitations.
There's a disconnect between Cronin and Billups that is hindering the Blazers' rebuild. They both want to make a push for the play-in tournament that won't happen. But Cronin is overvaluing players to make that push that Billups doesn't even play.