Trail Blazers Training Camp, Day 1: Donovan Clingan's First Day of School

📍 TUALATIN, Ore. — The Trail Blazers kicked off training camp on Tuesday with what everyone called a “first day of school” feel, and not a lot of action.

This year, Chauncey Billups is trying a new approach to the typical two-a-day practices teams do at the beginning of camp. The morning session was mostly non-contact walkthrough work. Tonight, things will get serious.

“I’m trying to simplify it and have it be kind of short early, so we can go longer in the evening,” Billups said. “That way, we can actually play and get after each other a lot more.”

Needless to say, No. 7 overall pick Donovan Clingan’s first day of NBA training camp under Billups is a little bit of a change of pace from practices under Dan Hurley at UConn.

“I’m pretty sure this is probably easy lifting for him,” Billups joked. “But obviously college and pro are very different as far as how long you can go, the things you can do as coach. It’ll be an easy adjustment for that.”

Clingan is enjoying the change.

“Coach Hurley is intense,” he said. “Chauncey’s great. I feel like it’s two different styles. Practices were definitely harder at UConn, for sure. Chauncey’s more laid-back. Danny’s intense. It’s two and a half hours of getting yelled at. I love both coaching styles. I haven’t been here too long, I’m still adapting to what they need me to do. But I love it here.”

In a crowded frontcourt with Deandre Ayton, Robert Williams III and Duop Reath, Clingan may not play much right away. But he’ll have every opportunity in training camp and during preseason. Since he got to Portland three years ago, Billups has taken an eat-what-you-kill approach to deciding minutes and rotations.

“We’ve got a lot of good guys that deserve to be out there,” Billups said. “But at the end of the day, I’m not going to be the one making the decision. It’s the players making the decision. How well you play, that’s probably how much you’re going to play, or if you’re in the rotation, or you’re starting. I’m just the messenger on that. Players decide that.”

Whether Clingan plays a lot early or not, he’ll have plenty of help adapting to the NBA.

“I think it’s going to be awesome for him,” Billups said. “He’s still so young. He’s a kid. To be able to learn from D.A. and sit back and listen to Rob, there’s so many guys. This is going to be an incredible experience for him, to learn not only from playing but be able to sit around listening.”