The Portland Trail Blazers have continued to trudge through a difficult stretch in their schedule to start the season. They went 2-5 over the last two weeks, beating the Golden State Warriors and Milwuakee Bucks and falling to the Phoenix Suns, Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs and two losses to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Despite these recent losses, the Blazers have been playing some excellent basketball recently, leading to some close losses to really good teams. With that being said, this week’s Blazer of the Week is Donovan Clingan.
Note: Due to travel over Thanksgiving, I missed last week’s Blazer of the Week. This award is to cover the last two weeks of Portland’s games.
Clingan missed the final game of the stretch with an illness, but averaged 13.2 points, 12.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game over the first six games. That included a career-high 21 rebound performance against the Bulls and a career-high 22 points in the win over the Warriors. His play as an interior scoring threat, rebounder and rim protector has allowed him to carve out a major role in Portland’s gameplan so far this season, and he was able to showcase his importance over these last few games.
Clingan has added more to his offensive repertoire over his career, and it has allowed him to round into a solid scoring option for the Blazers on the inside. He is an obvious threat in the dunker spot, but he has improved his footwork and touch around the rim to increase his ability to get his own shot off. He also provides second chance opportunities at a great rate and has led Portland to be one of the best teams on the offensive glass so far this season.
All of that is impressive in its own right, but where Clingan shines the brightest is on the defensive end. In addition to blocking shots, Clingan has become an expert at affecting an opponents shot around the rim. His ability to force misses and get in position for easy rebounds is a major part of the Blazers’s defensive gameplan. This also allows for Clingan to get a fastbreak started off of a miss and quick rebound. His five block performance against the Suns marked a season-high for the big man.
This week’s honorable mention is Caleb Love.
With an extremely injured Portland backcourt, Love has been forced into a more prominent role than was expected this early in his career. He has responded with some gaudy scoring numbers throughout this stretch. He averaged 11.7 points over the 7 games this week, including a career-high 26-point performance against Golden State. However, his playstyle involves putting up plenty of shots to get to those numbers. Despite the high scoring, Love shot just 33.0% from the field and 27.2% from deep. The high volume, low efficiency archetype is not generally a sought-after player in the NBA, but they are fun to watch when they are on. That includes that 26-point outburst where Love helped lift the Blazers to the win over the Warriors.
Which Blazer impressed you the most this week? Let us know in the comments.
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