UConn in the NBA Jan 2026 | Page 4 | The Boneyard

UConn in the NBA Jan 2026

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RuffRuff said:
You seem to think anything/everything is teachable. If it was that easy, everyone would be an all pro.
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Not everyone has the right teaching, work ethic, and advisors.

I’d go more in depth but it’d be largely pointless.
 
HW611 said:
All in all. This board is getting very excited about DC having a hot streak of 3 point shooting that has led to one 24 point game and a few 18 point outings at best.

That is not a sign of a tremendous scoring breakthrough and doesn’t take away from the fact he should be prioritizing developing his game at the rim more.

Specifically in his last five games he’s had:

12
24
11
6
18

I’m not sure what scoring breakthrough we’re celebrating here. It doesn’t change the fact that if he wants to be an actual and consistent scoring threat, the best way to do so would be to prioritize becoming a paint threat over 3 point threat.

Him having a few great games where he’s scoring the players spoken on before averages does not change that fact.
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I think we generally agree on where Clingan should get his shots but the back to back 18s and the 24 are really big deal. 24 is his career high, the 18s are up there. I think being able to having those scoring games is huge for a 2nd year guy whose draft profile was “DPOY level rim protector with a very raw offense”

Some days he’ll go 3-5 from three, some days he’ll go 0-3 but will go 7-7 on twos. I don’t think he’ll ever be a major post up threat because of how his body is, but I think he will long term be the most effective if 70-80% of his shots are close and 20-30 are from three

Roll man/lob threat that will occasionally step out and drain a three is a great profile and with enough volume could end up being around 15-18 PPG in a few years
 
superjohn said:
Your first paragraph makes no sense. Actually the entire post makes no sense.

You clearly don't watch his games. I sincerely hope you can undertand statistics and sample size but who knows...

Over Clingan's first 19 games of the season he shot 49% on two pointers and 25% on three pointers. His last 14 games he shot 68% on two pointers and 49% on three pointers.

His entire offensive game is improving as is his rebounding.
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He’s expanding his scoring repertoire but it doesn’t actually amount to more consistent scoring.

Guys that don’t have that expanded repertoire are scoring better than him. So what does it matter?

Proceeds to show percentages and not actual scoring output.
 
HW611 said:
Not everyone has the right teaching, work ethic, and advisors.

I’d go more in depth but it’d be largely pointless.
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If you don't an NBA franchise who has millions invested in a player doesn't have the right resources, then I don't know who would. You use this application against too many scenarios, as if anyone had the right teacher, they could become something they very well may not be able to become.
 
HW611 said:
I’ve been saying the Jokic thing since he was here. But some people on this board don’t believe someone can improve anything besides 3 point shooting.
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Part of the excitement is coming from the fact that his post footwork is better every game. People that watch the game can see it. They can also see that he's not one of Portland scoring threats yet but his facilitation is very mature for a player of his age. So harping on totals while he's still growing his game is what I call "you missed a spot over there" analysis. But again, if some people can't see it in the numbers, then it didn't happen.
 
REB1094 said:
I think we generally agree on where Clingan should get his shots but the back to back 18s and the 24 are really big deal. 24 is his career high, the 18s are up there. I think being able to having those scoring games is huge for a 2nd year guy whose draft profile was “DPOY level rim protector with a very raw offense”

Some days he’ll go 3-5 from three, some days he’ll go 0-3 but will go 7-7 on twos. I don’t think he’ll ever be a major post up threat because of how his body is, but I think he will long term be the most effective if 70-80% of his shots are close and 20-30 are from three

Roll man/lob threat that will occasionally step out and drain a three is a great profile and with enough volume could end up being around 15-18 PPG in a few years
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I’m happy for those outings. My overall point is that they aren’t a sign that him focusing on 3s is a good thing, which we agree on. The 18 point outings involved him making 1 and 2 threes. 3s weren’t a big part of those scoring nights to have a “keep shooting big fella” celebration party.

As I pointed out with Duren and Zubac, he doesn’t have to be a back to the basket guy to average 15-18PPG like they do. Especially as one of the best offensive rebounders in the league.
 
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RuffRuff said:
If you don't an NBA franchise who has millions invested in a player doesn't have the right resources, then I don't know who would. You use this application against too many scenarios, as if anyone had the right teacher, they could become something they very well may not be able to become.
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I mean, Jokic is kind of the prime example of this.
 
HW611 said:
He’s expanding his scoring repertoire but it doesn’t actually amount to more consistent scoring.

Guys that don’t have that expanded repertoire are scoring better than him. So what does it matter?

Proceeds to show percentages and not actual scoring output.
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He averaged 12.6 ppg over his last 14 games shooting 68% on two pointers and 49% on three pointers.

He averaged 10.2 ppg over his first 19 games on 49% on two pointers and 25% on three pointers.
 
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HW611 said:
He’s expanding his scoring repertoire but it doesn’t actually amount to more consistent scoring.

Guys that don’t have that expanded repertoire are scoring better than him. So what does it matter?

Proceeds to show percentages and not actual scoring output.
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He’s a second year player. Also Duren has more of a scoring bag, he faces up and drives well now because he is quick and strong as hell. He just doesn’t have the outside shot yet, which he definitely will develop.
 
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CardiacAndre7 said:
He’s a second year player. Also Duren has more of a scoring bag, he faces up and drives well now because he is quick and strong as hell. He just doesn’t have the outside shot yet, which he definitely will develop.
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After a slow start, he's now shooting 34.4% from 3. Since December began, he's made 17 out of 35 (48.6%). So I'd say he does have the outside shot already. He needs to continue to hit it consistently, but he's really been knocking them down of late.
 
Fun read lol. I’ll add my two cents again: assuming one focus of improvement comes at the expense of the other seems silly to me. His full-time job is getting better at basketball. All aspects of Clingan’s game are undoubtedly already improving and will continue to improve because he’s motivated, hard-working, and being paid many millions to make those strides. There is nothing here to argue about from my perspective.
 
nomar said:
After a slow start, he's now shooting 34.4% from 3. Since December began, he's made 17 out of 35 (48.6%). So I'd say he does have the outside shot already. He needs to continue to hit it consistently, but he's really been knocking them down of late.
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I should’ve been clearer, I was saying that Duren doesn’t have the outside shot.
 
thekollieman said:
Fun read lol. I’ll add my two cents again: assuming one focus of improvement comes at the expense of the other seems silly to me. His full-time job is getting better at basketball. All aspects of Clingan’s game are undoubtedly already improving and will continue to improve because he’s motivated, hard-working, and being paid many millions to make those strides. There is nothing here to argue about from my perspective.
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It's the same kind of "logic" behind some posters observing that Solo Ball went 0-1 from the FT line last game and then remarking:

"Solo Ball needs to spend 2 hours a day shooting FTs!!!"

My brother, I guarantee you that Solo Ball already shoots more FTs in a week than you can comprehend...
 
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Waquoit said:
Part of the excitement is coming from the fact that his post footwork is better every game. People that watch the game can see it. They can also see that he's not one of Portland scoring threats yet but his facilitation is very mature for a player of his age. So harping on totals while he's still growing his game is what I call "you missed a spot over there" analysis. But again, if some people can't see it in the numbers, then it didn't happen.
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This times 1,000. It appears, as superjohn pointed out above, HW doesn't actually watch his games. If he did he would see it for himself, hear the announcers commenting on it, Tiago Splitter noting it in interviews.

​

He has indeed expanded his repertoire, and most importantly his efficiency, upped his scoring average, rebounds and assists as the season has progressed. Still needs to work on the free throws. He is now performing remarkably similar to Duren's second season. HW is like the black night and his stand is pretty indefensible. He willfully ignores the key point that blows his argument out of the water, Portland has no one to feed him in the paint and their offense is not designed as a half-court, pound the ball inside style.
 
thekollieman said:
Fun read lol. I’ll add my two cents again: assuming one focus of improvement comes at the expense of the other seems silly to me. His full-time job is getting better at basketball. All aspects of Clingan’s game are undoubtedly already improving and will continue to improve because he’s motivated, hard-working, and being paid many millions to make those strides. There is nothing here to argue about from my perspective.
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There is not unlimited time in the day to work on all your skills at once. You make choices and have focuses.

It’s why players have certain focus areas all the time going into summers.

If you put a heavy emphasis on one thing, like shooting, it’ll naturally take away time investing in other skills.
 
HW611 said:
There is not unlimited time in the day to work on all your skills at once. You make choices and have focuses.

It’s why players have certain focus areas all the time going into summers.

If you put a heavy emphasis on one thing, like shooting, it’ll naturally take away time investing in other skills.
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Every player gets up a ton of shots each day. Good thing for DC because he has improved his 3pt shooting. He has also improved some low post stuff. Both seem to be working, you’re opinion on this isn’t shared by those that do this for a living.
 
HW611 said:
There is not unlimited time in the day to work on all your skills at once. You make choices and have focuses.

It’s why players have certain focus areas all the time going into summers.

If you put a heavy emphasis on one thing, like shooting, it’ll naturally take away time investing in other skills.
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Fundamentally that’s sound logic, but when you put it in context of basketball as a full-time job I think it crumbles. It’s not like a high school coach trying to manage time in a 90 minute to two hour practice window when everyone has school, day job, homework, etc. to take care of. And especially Donovan as a very young man and early in his career doesn’t have (presumably) major head-of-household responsibilities and other business ventures eating into his game improvement time. He could spend two hours a day working on post moves, another two on shooting threes, another two on strength and conditioning, and still have far more fill-in-the-blank time than probably anyone on the boneyard could fathom. Maybe a messy illustration by me cuz no one (other than Cam Spencer perhaps) would do that every day with an NBA game schedule in-season but you must understand my point.
 
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HW611 said:
You’re saying these things that don’t mean anything. He’s expanding his scoring repertoire but it doesn’t actually amount to more consistent scoring.

Guys that don’t have that expanded repertoire are scoring better than him. So what does it matter?

This is the stuff that bums me out. Where this board gets way happier for him to knock down 3s while scoring 12 points instead of highlighting his improved post work (that you doubted) which ace posted about.

Just prioritizing the wrong things.
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I don't spend as much time on these boards as I used to but I feel comfortable saying you're one of the worst posters we've ever had. Really, really impressive.

Anyway, Clingan's offensive rating has climbed from 130 in November to 132 in December to 146 in January.

His PPG has climbed from 10.5 to 11.7 to 15.7.

His TS% has climbed from 57% to 67% to 68%.

Portland average 1.21 points per possession on Clingan spot-ups. The Nuggets average fractionally more than that – 1.28 ppp – on Jokic post-ups. Only one other center (Porzingis) sees his team average better than 1.1 ppp on post-ups, and here's the fun thing: he's always been a high-volume 3-point shooter who only learned how to become an efficient post player later in his career... as he was also shooting a ton of 3s.

I know you'll be impervious to this info and context, but it's useful hard data for the other folks in this thread.
 
HW611 said:
All in all. This board is getting very excited about DC having a hot streak of 3 point shooting that has led to one 24 point game and a few 18 point outings at best.

That is not a sign of a tremendous scoring breakthrough and doesn’t take away from the fact he should be prioritizing developing his game at the rim more.

Specifically in his last five games he’s had:

12
24
11
6
18

I’m not sure what scoring breakthrough we’re celebrating here. It doesn’t change the fact that if he wants to be an actual and consistent scoring threat, the best way to do so would be to prioritize becoming a paint threat over 3 point threat.

Him having a few great games where he’s scoring the players spoken on before averages does not change that fact.
Expand ...

DC will never be a good post scorer. Bad feel/touch and poor balance. Probably bc his ridiculously long legs and high center of gravity. His best bet to be an effective offensive player is as a shooter and rim runner. Glad you’re not his coach .
 
Lafayette said:
Tonight I will watch Castle vs Cam (Spurs vs Memphis) to see 2 UConn greats on one game.
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TBH, I'm not enjoying this as much as I thought I would. It's like watching two of my kids fight.
 
Waquoit said:
TBH, I'm not enjoying this as much as I thought I would. It's like watching two of my kids fight.
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Cam playing really well. Steph has been struggling pretty heavily last 5 or so games. Really shooting poorly, getting his shot blocked a lot and of course, far too many turnovers.
 
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