Evaluating Donovan Clingan’s fit with the Atlanta Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks found themselves in a unique situation, but not completely unprecedented. Despite holding the top pick in the draft, they have been “unable to bring Alex Sarr in for a workout thus far,” according to Jonathan Givony.

It’s unclear whether this is due to scheduling conflicts or Sarr’s desire not to go to Atlanta, and Givony even noted that the door for a workout “remains open.” But still, not being able to draft one of the draft’s top prospects for a workout while holding the No. 1 overall pick with less than a week until draft night is pretty strange.

However, this is a situation that has already happened, and only two years ago. During the 2022 draft cycle, Paolo Banchero never came to practice with the Orlando Magic and Jabari Smith was circled as their guy at No. 1 before draft night. But on draft night, Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news of Orlando’s serious interest in picking Banchero first overall, and that’s what ended up happening.

Ultimately, if Sarr is the guy in Atlanta and he’s the guy they want, no one is stopping them from taking him there. But all signs point to it currently being a two-man race between Donovan Clingan and Zaccharie Risacher. And of those two players, Clingan is the far superior pick for the Hawks.

Clingan provides two main pressure points that Atlanta lacked last season: finishing and rim protection. They finished 26th in rim field goal percentage and 28th in defensive rim field goal percentage. Essentially, they ranked bottom five in converting and defending the most efficient shot in basketball: a rim attempt.

The 7-foot-2 big, who boasts a 7-foot-7 wingspan, converted 70.1 percent of his 224 rim attempts, including 48 of his 52 dunk attempts according to Bart Torvik. He also achieved a ridiculous 11.4 blocking percentage.

The only first- and second-year rookies to match similar rim volume and efficiency (70%+, 150+ attempts) and shot blocking (10% blocking)? Anthony Davis, Daniel Gafford, Walker Kessler, Mark Williams, Christian Koloklo, Robert Williams and Neemias Queta.

Clingan was also incredibly productive in his second year at UConn, posting a box plus-minus of 14.1. The only players on this list who also come close to Clingan’s productivity (8+ boxes plus-minus) are Anthony Davis, Walker Kessler, Mark Williams and Christian Koloklo.

Ultimately, if the Hawks don’t rebuild but instead retool to build a contender around Trae Young, Clingan should be the easy choice. It provides the best attributes to their worst skills within a team. His attributes are also the best bet for instant impact in this class. For these reasons alone, he is the best option for Atlanta.

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