Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin entered the first round of the NBA draft Wednesday night with one name swirling around in his head.

Donovan Clingan.

The 7-foot-2 Connecticut center caught the attention of his scouts last season as a freshman. After the staff worked extensively evaluating Clingan during his sophomore season, the franchise was convinced he could be a draft target. That feeling remained even after the team brought in about 50 players for workouts.

But come Wednesday, it was touch and go as to whether Clingan would be available for the Blazers at No. 7. Cronin considered trading up. But that turned out not to be necessary.

As if it had been fate, Clingan slipped past other teams that could have used a young shot-blocking center. And by the time the Blazers were on the clock, selecting Clingan was just a mere formality.

“Donovan Clingan, who is a player we’re really, really high on, a player we had ranked very highly, a player that we think is going to be a great addition to this franchise, because of many reasons,” Cronin said at the team’s practice facility in Tualatin following the first round. “Who he is as a person. The type of player he is. The defensive prowess that he brings. The winning mentality. A lot of good features. And Donovan has an extremely bright future.”

The draft’s second round starts at 1 p.m. Thursday. The Blazers have picks No. 34 and 40.

Before the first round began, news broke that the Blazers had sent guard Malcolm Brogdon, the No. 14 pick in this year’s draft, the second most favorable of Portland’s three first-round picks in 2029, and two future second-round picks to the Wizards for 6-9 forward Deni Avdija, 23.

Cronin said he could not speak about the deal on Wednesday because it had not officially been finalized.

“We have a trade that’s been reported,” he said. “I can’t get into that tonight in this press conference. Probably circle back on things in a couple of weeks on that one.”

Adding Avdija and Clingan, in conjunction with trading the 6-3 Brogdon, dramatically improves the team’s overall size.

“Definitely becoming more physical, more athletic and bigger, has been a continued priority of ours, and I think we did that today,” Cronin said.

The draft lottery in May didn’t go the way the Blazers had hoped. They entered the process with the fourth-best odds at landing the No. 1 pick and dropped to No. 7. But Cronin felt they would still be in play for someone like Clingan.

“When the lottery played out the way it did, we thought there might be a chance,” Cronin said. “It’s just hard. You just don’t know how it’s going to play out, especially over the course of six weeks.”

Some mock drafts predicted that Clingan would go off the board in the top five. But there were many later in the process that had Clingan falling to No. 7.

“Even going into tonight, into the draft, I thought this was one of the drafts where it was really difficult to predict what was going to happen between picks three and six,” Cronin said.

As it turned out, everything fell the Blazers’ way.

“For us, that was one of the easier selections we’re going to ever make,” Cronin said.

Where did the Blazers have Clingan on their draft board? Cronin wouldn’t say.

“I don’t like to give the number just because I don’t want to put any added pressure on him, but we had him higher than we took him,” Cronin said.

Clingan averaged 13.0 points and 7.4 rebounds in 22.5 minutes per game last season. He shot 63.9% from the field while finishing well around the rim. But he did not excel as a mid-range or three-point shooter (2 of 9, career). He also shot just 58.2% from the free-throw line, which was up from 51.7% as a freshman.

His obvious strength is as an interior defender. Last season, he averaged 2.5 blocked shots per game. Cronin praised his defensive IQ while operating as a drop big who protects the rim.

“I think Donovan’s going to be a nice, versatile defender who in general, is just going to up our defense,” Cronin said.

Offensively, Cronin said he believes Clingan has the ability to develop as a shooter.

“He’s pretty comfortable, and he’s got a good touch,” Cronin said. “Shooting in the NBA is complicated and difficult, even for a lot of the guards coming in. He’s got a lot of work to do. But I do like his feel, his hands, and his accuracy, and just his overall skillset.”

Cronin also expects Clingan to excel within the offense as a distributor from the post position.

“My favorite thing about him offensively; I just think he’s an underrated passer,” Cronin said.

Maybe the most important assessment is how well Clingan will fit with point guard Scoot Henderson, the team’s selection at No. 3 in last year’s draft.

“I think anytime you get a defensive anchor that could play behind your talented guards, I think that’s a huge part of this,” Cronin said. “But also, someone that can do a good job on the other side of the ball. He’s a great screen setter. He’s gonna be a good roll guy. He’s got great hands. He’s got a good feel. He can pass. He’s got some work to do like a lot of young big men, but we like where he’s headed, skill-wise.”

One aspect of Clingan’s selection that cannot be ignored is that the Blazers already have a starting center. They traded for Deandre Ayton last summer to develop the former No. 1-overall pick (2018) into a star after five solid but underachieving seasons with the Phoenix Suns.

Ayton, 25, began last season slowly but played well over the final two months, drawing praise from both Cronin and coach Chauncey Billups.

The addition of Clingan calls into question Ayton’s future with the Blazers. But Cronin essentially said that it’s too early to go there.

“We’re really excited about Deandre,” Cronin said. “I mean, obviously, we sought him out last summer, and I thought we saw some really good things from him as the season went on. I mean, DeAndre is incredibly talented and a really good player in this league.”

And now he has some competition.

-- Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook)