The NBA season is less than a month old. Jumping at trends is a fool’s errand at this point in the year. Nonetheless, there’s no doubt that Portland Trail Blazers center Donovan Clingan has had a monster start to the year. Cling Kong is averaging 12 points per game on 57% shooting from the field, 47% from the three-point arc, with 10.4 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 24.6 minutes per game. If you’ve watched the Blazers at all, it’s not hard to see that he’s a huge key to their paint defense and one of
the major reasons they’re the best rebounding team in the league right now.
Even at this early part of the year, Clingan’s contributions have generated a little bit of buzz for Most Improved Player status. Let’s throw open that question today. Do you think there’s any chance he’d win that award?
On the plus side, there are all the things we just mentioned. Plus the Blazers are winning. Contributing to a successful team always helps.
On the negative side:
- Although his per-minute stats are higher, Clingan’s aggregate statistics aren’t up from last season (12.1 points, 11.6 rebounds) and this is traditionally a stat-based award.
- He plays for the Trail Blazers.
- He plays center.
- His main contributions come on defense.
What do you think? Would you consider Clingan a serious candidate? Who will he have to compete with? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
