Dom Amore: With NBA Draft red carpet rolled up, hard tasks await UConn’s Stephon Castle, Donovan Clingan

The pageantry makes the NBA Draft like a wedding day. In stunning custom threads, Stephon Castle in a glittery dark suit and Donovan Clingan in his tux with the reversible jacket commemorating his family and the national champs, walked down the aisle in Brooklyn to say “I do” to the Spurs and Trail Blazers, respectively.

“Today’s like a dream come true for all of us,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said, positioned at a table like the father of the grooms.

For better or worse, for richer or … well, much richer, UConn sent two of the stars of its 2024 national championship team to the NBA as top 10 draft picks, the first time that’s happened since 2004, when Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon went second and third. Both went on to have solid NBA careers, but for them, as with all the other Huskies who have been lottery picks, there were good times and bad, not necessarily in that order.

Former UConn, Bristol Central star Donovan Clingan selected with 7th overall pick by Portland Trail Blazers

The Spurs were picking fourth for a reason, the Blazers had the No.7 pick for the same reason; both organizations have been struggling for years and Castle, with one year of college, and Clingan, with two, glorious as those years were, are not old enough to be considered instant, franchise-changing stars. They will need time, teaching, and stable organizations capable of providing it.

The Spurs saw a lot of Castle as a five-star high school player and had people at UConn to watch multiple practices and games.

“He’d been somebody we knew a lot about, so when the opportunity was there we were excited to draft him,” Spurs GM Brian Wright told reporters in San Antonio. “He’s versatile, he’s tough, he’s smart. Most times, you don’t see highly-rated players go to a school willing to play a role. He played on the ball and off the ball in high school, and he did things he wasn’t able to do at UConn because they were so good, and they were deep, so talented. So that ability to sacrifice for the betterment of the team stood out to us as well. He comes from a program where you know he’s getting coached hard every single day. They work hard, they practice hard, they’re competitive, that meant a lot to us.”

The knock on Castle is his perimeter shooting but, Wright noted, with a team like UConn, “you don’t get to shoot your way out of slumps.”

Wright became the Spurs GM in 2019. Gregg Popovich is the president and head coach, holding the latter role since 1996. He has won five NBA championships in San Antonio and is in the Hall of Fame as a result.

“I’ve stolen (ideas) from Pop for 25 years so it would be nice if he stole one thing from me,” Hurley said.

UConn’s Stephon Castle chosen with No. 4 overall pick by San Antonio Spurs in NBA Draft

From his workouts in San Antonio, Castle believes it won’t be a big change in culture from Hurley’s Huskies to the Spurs.

That may be true, but not as true as it would have been a few years ago when Popovich’s dynasty was at the height of its power, as UConn’s is now. The winningest coach in NBA history, Popovich hasn’t had a winning season in five years, his teams 103 games under .500 during that span, 22-60 the last two seasons, and fundamentally-sound basketball for which Popovich’s teams were known has not been visible.

The Spurs drafted 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyana last year, and he may soon be the best player in the league. Castle, who wants to play more point guard than he did at UConn, is thought to be a perfect complement for him. That’s a twosome that could form the core of a successful team, but the Spurs, who traded the No. 8 pick for future picks, are playing the long game with a coach who will turn 76 next season. A lot will be happening before a Wembanyana-Castle led team is ready to contend.

The Blazers were one of the worst rim-protecting teams in the league last year, allowing opponents a high shooting percentage inside the arc. That’s a situation Clingan, at 7-2, can certainly improve right away, but he will need time to improve his offensive abilities and strong-side to weak-side range on defense.

“A center that is an athlete like Donovan is at 7-2,” Hurley said, “he was an anchor behind one of the best offenses in the country and he was the anchor of the best defensive team in the country. If you don’t know how to use that, there’s something wrong with the NBA.”

Chauncey Billups is 81-165 in three seasons as Portland’s head coach, including 21-61 last season, so he may be running out of time to turn things around there. Clingan first broke onto the national scene as a freshman at the Phil Knight event in Portland early in his freshman season.

“(Our scouts) were all over him a year ago,” Blazers GM Joe Cronin told reporters in Portland. “They loved him last year as a freshman and we studied him closer and closer. It worked out to where Donovan got to us, and for us that was one of the easiest selections we’re going to ever make. … We had him higher than we took him.”

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There was talk of Portland trading up to assure itself of getting Clingan, or of Memphis trading up to steal him. The Blazers’ young guard, Scoot Henderson, will be the complement to Clingan next year, and the Blazers have other big men (including former No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton), but they obviously valued, rather than settled for UConn’s center.

“Rim protection has been a big hole of ours and Donovan helps solve that problem,” Cronin said. “He’s got some work to do like a lot of young big men but we like where he is headed skill wise. When you’re rebuilding like we are and looking to take that next step, you’re looking for guys who can come in and compete for jobs.”

So Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle, as well prepared as possible, go from college basketball’s paradise to teams currently on the wrong end of the standings in the NBA, which is how the system is set up to work. First bliss, then reality. There will be tough times, turmoil ahead; careers, and the player-franchise marriages within them take work and patience. For now, both can sleep off their Draft night and enjoy their honeymoons.

Dom Amore: Donovan Clingan ready to leave CT, tackle the world of pro basketball