Donovan clingan version of young nikola jokic?

[temery]

He wasn't bad at assists. He averaged 4.4 ast per 40 compared to Clingan's 1.4 per 40. At the same age as Clingan, Jokic had 4.0 ast per 40 in the Adriatic League.

Not sure the assist numbers really matter, but get back to me when Clingan is a starter playing more than a couple minutes at a time totaling something like 13 minutes per game.

I don't expect Clingan's assist numbers to improve much - he's a center. The fact Jokic's assist stats are high is just out of place for a center.

My only interest in this thread is in defending the idea Clingan has the potential to be dominant in the NBA at his position. At this point in Jokic's career nobody of consequence believed he'd be the player he has become. Clearly nobody here.

 

[Samoo]

Wait, is this a real person? Lol





I think Kessler and Williams are really good comps (Williams is especially sneaky good) for what DC is right now as a floor. My thing is, if he does get better based on the tools he has, who is the next best comp projection wise?

A center who averages a double double with a fair amount of assists, probably not the best passing center of the modern age who averaged a triple double last season. And how come no one is mentioning a young Arvydas Sabonis dominating the Admiral?

 

[auror]

Not sure the assist numbers really matter, but get back to me when Clingan is a starter playing more than a couple minutes at a time totaling something like 13 minutes per game.

I don't expect Clingan's assist numbers to improve much - he's a center. The fact Jokic's assist stats are high is just out of place for a center.

My only interest in this thread is in defending the idea Clingan has the potential to be dominant in the NBA at his position. At this point in Jokic's career nobody of consequence believed he'd be the player he has become. Clearly nobody here.

That's the whole point of what a lot of us are saying. We're not saying Clingan can't be great in the NBA. We're saying he doesn't play like Jokic. Because he's not nearly the passer, which is Jokic's greatest strength.

 

[navery12]

I don't expect Clingan's assist numbers to improve much - he's a center. The fact Jokic's assist stats are high is just out of place for a center.

That's the point. Jokic's passing is insane and very unique, which is why he's an awful comp for Clingan

 

[superjohn]

So, you're saying he was just bad at assists his first couple of years, but he tried real hard.

That's not at all what I'm saying...

You clearly didn't watch him back then, the vision, passing, and playmaking was always there but he had just come to America and was adjusting to his new country, the new league, and his new body. He was out of shape, lost a lot of weight quickly and was coming off the bench, they hadn't designed their entire offense around him yet.

If Wembanyama struggles scoring this season which he certainly will at times are you going to pretend he doesn't have a ton of scoring talent/ability?

 

[superjohn]

How can it be a terrible comparison every year since when Clingan has only played one season?

I'm saying it's a terrible comparison because they play nothing alike. Jokic when he was in Serbia and a rookie played nothing like Clingan did his freshman season at UConn. They are totally different players in style, build, athleticism etc. It's an awful comparison.

 

[temery]

You clearly didn't watch him back then, the vision, passing, and playmaking was always there but he had just come to America and was adjusting to his new country, the new league, and his new body.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. You weren't saying any of this back then. I don't think anybody was.

 

[auror]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. You weren't saying any of this back then. I don't think anybody was.

Draft people were saying it at the time:

 

[temery]

Yet he was drafted late.

Draft people were saying it at the time:

 

[superjohn]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. You weren't saying any of this back then. I don't think anybody was.

You have no idea what you're talking about. I was absolutely blown away by Jokic's vision/passing/playmaking when he came into the league. I didn't see him play in Serbia back then but I've seen plenty of tape since then and he played the same way, he was just young and out of shape.

 

[Samoo]

Yet he was drafted late.

Conditioning and athleticism. What no one figured out before he was drafted was his basketball intelligence and level of selflessness.

 

[navery12]

@Matrim55 had the earliest call on Jokic and his passing on the Boneyard I can find. But to keep him humble I'll also post his next Jokic post

On Josh Carlton

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

I would simply like to see how much Clingan can actually pass when we ask him to do more of it in the offense before we completely throw the comp away. I don’t think it’ll be Jokic no look behind the back passes. But I think it will be 90+ percentile kind of passing from a center. And if he does that scouts are going to unreasonably think Jokic like they probably thought Dwight Howard was the next Shaq. Which would be great for Clingan because it could make him a top 5 pick.

Remember this is Clingan’s HS scouting report.


On3
Big. Has long arms and just a hulking frame. Great hands with touch over both shoulders. Can score with back to the basket. Good pace, good patience on the block. A great passer from multiple spots in the half-court can run some actions through him. A good shot blocker with natural timing, both hands. The athleticism and lack of pop are the questions. Can he get caught defensively out on an island? Can pick and pop out to 18-feet. A good rebounder in his area. Productive. Competes.

 

[auror]

Yet he was drafted late.

Yes, that has very little to do with the fact that stylistically people saw that he was a truly excellent passer and the best passing big in his draft as a 19 year old. The comment you replied to was saying that people saw the vision and playmaking as a prospect. They did. They didn't buy other parts of his game, like his athleticism, conditioning, post moves, and shooting, and didn't value passing/playmaking from bigs enough thus drafted 41st.

Right now, those vision and playmaking labels would not be used to describe Clingan. But Clingan will be drafted earlier than 41 in all likelihood, because other facets of his game are more developed than Jokic's were at the time, and he has more size, etc.

Clingan can show even more passing this season. If so, maybe the comparison becomes more apt. I think he's got a strong BBIQ and decent passing ability for his size and position. Just not to the level where it makes sense to compare his game stylistically to Jokic even at the same age. It's not the best fit for a comp currently.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

After seeing him play in high school i began calling him “bad bill walton” because DC was an excellent passer from the post for a 7fter, reminding me of 86 walton. Obviously a poor mans version. Thats before he stepped on floor at gampel.

He can definitely pass, not in the jokic way, but in a high bball iq fundamentally-sound, get ball to open man way-ala walton. Just wait & see, he is a different type of offensive player than he got to show last year

Jokic passing is admittedly next level. Bird-like

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Wilt led the league in assists one year (and was the only non-guard to win until LeBron a few years back, who was a forward in name only that season).

Bill Walton was an incredible passer, as were Bill Russell, Willis Reed and Wes Unseld.

Sadly, there will never be a way to compare players from decades ago (in terms of overall skills) to today's players as many (Reed possibly excepted) would have been pulled from the court seconds after attempting a 20+ foot jump shot.

Clingan has a tremendous upside. I am personally looking very forward to watching him grow into his game, at UConn and then in the NBA.

 

[Rocktheworld]

That's not at all what I'm saying...

You clearly didn't watch him back then, the vision, passing, and playmaking was always there but he had just come to America and was adjusting to his new country, the new league, and his new body. He was out of shape, lost a lot of weight quickly and was coming off the bench, they hadn't designed their entire offense around him yet.

If Wembanyama struggles scoring this season which he certainly will at times are you going to pretend he doesn't have a ton of scoring talent/ability?

Clingan can’t do a single thing Jokic did in that video. Granted Clingan is like 4 inches taller, and built differently with his center of gravity way higher, so he can’t be as nimble as Jokic. I think he has longer arms and bigger hands too, so some of the over the back or around the shoulder passes would be way harder. But yeah the sense of space and anticipation Jokic had even as a rookie was special

Good god lol I went to bball reference and had no idea they included nicknames. His included Big Honey and Cookie Monster lmao

 

[nomar]

Are we just comparing him to white guys who play basketball now because he's not anything like Brad Miller or Raef Lafrentz either.

Post in thread 'Basketball cliches you dont like (and other sports too)'
Basketball cliches you dont like (and other sports too)

 

[QDOG5]

whoa!!