I honestly think they got paid & lost their edge. Usually when your getting blown out multiple games in a row, you play with a sense of urgency. But both look disinterested in competing
Capela played well and hustled hard during the minutes I watched tonight. I did not watch the entire game though.
Warriors players just willingly take paycuts to win. For CP3 he basically could not do so as he leads the players association...and Clint is a young player looking for his first big payday... It just sucks that they are not playing up to their contracts :/
We overpaid for Capela??? Look at the salaries of big men in the NBA and get back to us on that. You had to pay Chris Paul. After last year, how close we came to a championship you had to get him back. Maybe it will not turn out the way we want to (still to early to tell). But you give him that contract every time.
Ruined? They made their bed once traded for him. CP3 is great but also an aging player that is not a scorer of the past no more. Hard truth. He can still score in some important games but not 90 games a season plus postseason. You just have to find other scorers.
Chris Paul will be fine. He had an easy 28 points vs the Lakers before the fight. I think CP is still reeling from being spit on then punched in the face. I think it messed him up a bit. Then to have his name dragged through mud by some former teammates as well as Rondo have taken a psychological toll. I trust that CP will be ok. His feelings are just hurt right now. I believe CP is the least of our problems moving forward.
This definitely played a factor. Just one question, was any other team going to offer Chris Paul that same contract? Who else was willing and able to make Chris Paul the second highest paid player in the NBA? It just does not strike me as market value. With Capela, the Rockets surveyed the landscape and basically called his bluff that there was no other team who could pay him more, and ended up getting a good deal. It's unclear to me if the same thought process was applied to Paul.
I think it's the length of the contract that will kill us. I have no qualms with offering him 80 mil over two years.
Several issues contributed to the 1-5 start: 1. Our defense is atrocious, but how? First and foremost, we don't have a legit backup center and our bench can't grab rebounds - Last season, Nene and Black are quietly reliable centers on the defensive ends - they both have quite positive DBPM numbers. What about this season? Hartenstein? Melo as center? If you check out bench stats, we are easily the worst (30th) in total rebounds. With Capela on the court (starter), we are #12 in total rebounds. Also, we thought we are missing elements Ariza and Mbah a Moute could bring, they forced steals, on average they stole the ball for 3 times per game and yet only commit 2 turnovers combined (combined playing time about 60 minutes per game). Their subsitutes, Ennis and MCW, are not scrub defensive players, currently combined a steal for 2 times and commit 2 turnovers combined (total playing time less than 40 minutes..). But MCW is much more turnover-prone, he commits 1.3 turnovers in 15 minutes... His offensive deficiency also limits his minutes big time. Ennis, on the other hand, is more foul-prone, commits 4 fouls in the three games he participated. Another issue with Ennis is that he has a much larger role to play this year, as his best career year only averages 23 minutes per game, yet Ariza played more than 33 minutes. He has a huge gap to fulfil and so far, also due to his injury, we are basically losing Ariza without anyone to backup. 2. Shooter - Ryan Anderson was a respectable 37% 3-point shooter in the first 6 games last season, averaging nearly 8 attempts; his supposed substitute Melo attempted two less three pointers per game, with shooting percentage 3 percentage points lower. If we take out Melo's great game with Clippers, his 3-point pct failed to a miserable 24% overall. Interestingly, Gordon is never a high percentage three point shooter to start the season anyway - he is shooting 27% in the first 6 games last year, this year obviously more atrocious at 23%, but it doesn't make a lot of difference to be honest. Melo's consistent low 3-point shooting percentage could be an issue for the Rockets, but if he can maintain his historical mean of 35%, that will be acceptable to most fans. 3. We have a much tougher match up compared to last year: our first six opponents last year were: GSW (super team - 4 pts) SAC (lottery - 1pt) DAL (lottery - 1pt) Memphis (lottery - 1pt) Phil (ok elite - 2pts) Charlotte (lottery - 1pt), combining a 10 points here. This year were NOL (competitive elite - 3 pts) LAL (ok elite - 2pts) LAC*2 (ok elite- 2pts) Portland (competitive-elite - 3pts) Utah (competitive elites 3-pts), combining a 15 points here. It's a very subjective 4-point classification, but it's a known fact that our first 6-game schedule is very tough. In fact, we never fared well with LAC last year, we lost out 31st and 42th game against the Clippers ( we won the latter two), letting them score 128 and 113 points. One of the game is actually one of the five-game losing streak last year. 4. Harden is more important than Paul - why did we lose miserably in the last two games? You can point fingers to a lot of people, but the absence of Harden is critical. Remember last year, Paul missed 14 games after the opener with Warriors, yet Rockets were able to achieve a 11-4 record without the major contribution of Paul. Obviously, we want both to be healthy, but without Harden, our road to success is considerably tougher. Fixing James and Ennis' injury, play Qi and Chriss as back-up centers are the only immediate fixes that are achievable short-term, just my two cents.
Capela has his momments, but at times looks as if he isn't trying hard. No extra effort. That little drop off makes a world of difference
wow you are thinking 4 years in advance.. i bet you any money morey can trade cp3 whenever he wants and get nice picks and young players for him
