Blazers HC Chauncey Billups Offers Harsh Critique of Donovan Clingan After Latest Start

The fourth-year Portland coach had some measured criticism for the club's prized rookie.

Feb 20, 2025; Portland, Oregon, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Rui Hachimura (28) scores a basket during the first half against Portland Trail Blazers center Donovan Clingan (23) at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images | Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images

Fourth-year Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups recently offered up some measured criticism for the club's prized rookie center Donovan Clingan.

The 7-foot-2 behemoth was selected with the No. 7 after two pick consecutive NCAA title seasons with the University of Connecticut Huskies.

With starting Portland center Deandre Ayton sidelined for at least the next several weeks due to a left calf strain (he's been out since February 10), Clingan has been installed as Billups' fill-in starting five.

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It's been a mixed bag so far.

Across Clingan's two games sans Ayton, the 20-year-old big man is averaging 11.5 points on 62.5 percent shooting from the field and 60 percent shooting from the foul line, 13.0 rebounds, 3.0 blocks, 1.0 assists and 0.5 steals a night. But really, that impressive tally mostly stems from his performance in the Trail Blazers' 132-121 loss to the Denver Nuggets on February 12, when Clingan notched 17 points and 20 rebounds.

While playing just 17 minutes in a 110-102 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers (Billups opted to play veteran Robert Williams III 25 minutes off the bench, while occasionally opting to use power forward Toumani Camara as a small-ball center), Clingan scored six points on 3-of-4 shooting from the floor and pulled down six rebounds.

Donovan Clingan is a one-man defensepic.twitter.com/wqpH31sa81

— Hot Hand Theory (@HotHandTheory) February 21, 2025

Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian writes that Clingan turned the ball over three times, notched a pair of personal fouls, and struggled to enact a lot of Billups' game plans.

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“I thought he was okay,” Billups commented postgame. “I thought he had some good moments in the game. Again, I thought he lost his focus on some of the things that we wanted to do defensively. He was one or two steps slow, which is why I decided to just kind of go small and just change it up.”

Deni Avdija with the dish to Donovan Clingan!
This is Deni's 3rd assist of the night pic.twitter.com/A06X5MR7T5

— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) February 21, 2025

As Fentress observes, the slow-footed Clingan has issues with faster, more athletic centers. For L.A., that was Jaxson Hayes and two-way center Trey Jemison III. Williams, a one-time All-Defensive Teamer while with the Boston Celtics, may not be as good a rebounder or as effective a post finisher as Clingan — but he's a more mobile defender.

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