Portland Trail Blazers rookie Donovan Clingan has been improving steadily as the young NBA season has progressed. The 20-year-old is averaging 5.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, and an amazing 2.1 blocks in just 15.8 minutes per game for Portland this season.
Though those numbers rate out to 12.5 rebounds and 4.7 blocks per 36 minutes, the low aggregate totals have kept Clingan below the radar of many NBA pundits in rookie comparison ratings.
That’s changing this week, as Sam Vecenie, writing for the New York Times [subscription required] places Clingan tenth among all first-year players.