The Portland Trail Blazers have revealed a behind-the-scenes look at the 2024 NBA Draft process that led to the franchise selecting Donovan Clingan with the No. 7 overall pick this June.

In a 10-minute video posted on YouTube, the Blazers show footage and soundbites from Clingan’s predraft workout in Portland; commentary about Clingan’s game from Blazers Assistant General Manager Mike Schmitz; and a brief look inside Portland’s draft room when it locked in on the 20-year-old, 7-foot-2 center out of UCONN.

Outside of Clingan, the star of the short video is Schmitz, who joined the organization as an assistant GM in 2022. Schmitz’s voice starts the video, as he leads a meeting with staffers to prepare for Clingan’s workout. Then an interview with Schmitz is interlaced throughout the workout footage. He discusses how Clingan first made a noticeable impression on the organization’s scouting radar during his freshman season when UCONN won the Phil Knight Invitational at the Moda Center in 2022.

Just watching him erase shot after shot, watching him impact the game at such a high level defensively, we were all like ‘woah.’ His feel for the game defensively, his toughness, his length, and the fact that every time he stepped on the floor, even playing behind one of the best players in the conference, he was so impactful. I think he won MVP as a backup center, a true freshman [Editorial Note: He did].

So we thought at that time, and a lot of our scouts, that he could be really a one-and-done.

Schmitz then explains at length why the Blazers value Clingan so much as a prospect, citing qualities like his competitive edge, basketball IQ and even his shooting.

He’s so winning-focused and at UCONN that was his role, right? To be a rim protector, be a hub who can move the ball side to side, and and be a finisher, and not really look to to step out and shoot the 3. Dating back to that workout and his body of work, I think he shot 37, 38% from 3 in high school, and so we were able to see, okay, he has a different element to his game than just the role he played at UCONN, and so he was champing at the bit to compete, and that’s something that really stood out to us. That combined with the shooting and the body of work — seemed like a no-brainer for us.

Just his basketball IQ, just seeing how much time he’s invested in studying the game. You don’t normally see that from a 20-year-old, 7’2”, 7’3’’ guy, so you could see that he really eats, sleeps and breathes basketball.

Schmitz was mic’d up during Clingan’s workout, so viewers can hear some of his live analysis as he watches Clingan practice. That mic’d-up portion also includes some of Clingan’s post-workout conversation with Schmitz and Blazers General Manager Joe Cronin.

As mentioned above, the video culminates with a brief look at the Blazers staff and Clingan on Draft Night.