Is Clint Capela really the answer at the C position?

Yeah that is insane. All the others above Capela are getting more minutes, at least 32 except for Embiid at 30 and Dwight at 29 MPG.

 

Capela my fela made Boogie obsolete last night

DBO(Degree of boogie obsoleteness) has reached a new historical high

 

Is boogie as bad as he looks on defense?

 

PENster my friend. Big guys like Boogie, Dwight Howard, Whiteside tend not to like defending on the
deep perimeter. They feel uncomfortable, knowing most smaller guys can get past them, so they usually
back pedal to challenge a shot closer to the rim.

I would like to see Cousins numbers vs Warriors. I’m sure they like shooting over Boogie. Get him on an island
vs a smaller quicker player. Shaq said last night that he would earn $300 million over 3 yrs if he played today.
Teams would run his fat butt out of the gym. Get him out on the perimeter defensively. Teams would front him,
with a 6’8” guy rotating from the weak side tapping away the lob over the defender fronting. Basically a zone.

Shaq might fight for 28 points, but will give up about 45 points to the opposition in the form of the opposing
Center getting up and down the court (leaving Shaq in their dust) forcing a mismatch with a smaller guy
near the rim. By Shaq not contesting players on the perimeter challenging 3-point attempts well enough.
Shaq was never very good at PnR defense because he often laid back near the rim. In today’s NBA
you have to hedge that edge as a Center in PnR defense........shooters are too accurate and have too
quick a release to be lagging in.

 

That's not really the question lately I don't think.

I think the question is would you take Cousins over LeBron?

I believe we are players in the LeBron sweepstakes, like many GM's apparently believe as evidenced by that recent USA Today article (IIRC) followed by every sports media outlet reporting on that story and weighing in to say it makes a lot of sense.

If we're real players to sign LeBron (and we obviously want to bring back Chris Paul), that's three max contracts unless Paul or LeBron agrees to play for less in order to make it possible for the Rockets to have all three and decent role players too.

I fear we'll lose Capela if we do sign LeBron because he needs to get paid this summer (CC I mean) and I just hope Morey's math magic and Bird rights will be enough for us to be able to bring him back even with those three future Hall-of-Famers and to bring back as many of our supporting cast as we have now as possible.

I'm not going shopping for Boogie's max contract when we can have LeBron James and Chris Paul instead.

Also, Capela did more than hold his own last night. He embarrassed Cousins with those blocks. You can't get blocked that many times by a player that's supposed to be lesser than you and not get embarrassed. And Cousins was flummoxed all night as to how to defend the repeated alley oops and other plays that led to Clint scoring 28 on him.

And I will remind anyone that's still reading that he is in his FOURTH year and has consistently and rapidly improved since we got him. He's a baby in NBA years. Cousins is what Cousins is going to be. He's not going to get a lot better being this far along in his career. But Capela absolutely will get better. And because they played each other about even last night (Cousins' rebounds maybe balancing for Clint's blocked shots, though blocks are so much more personal) and because Capela WILL get better and Cousins probably won't, and because Cousins gets a max contract now and Capela doesn't at a time we apparently have a shot at LeBron... I have to ask you again, would you really rather have Cousins than Capela next year? In two years? In three?

I'd rather have Capela straight up, even without the important extenuating circumstances of the LeBron sweepstakes. If I had the opportunity to swap Capela for Cousins, even for equal salaries, I'd rather have Clint. For all the reasons above. It's said you can't teach height but you also can't teach work ethic. One has it or they don't. Nobody has a better work ethic than Capela since maybe Yao. He is obsessed with improving his game and so we're seeing him improve his game. He's growing up in front of our eyes. He could be our answer at the 5 for the entirety of what should be a long career in the NBA.

For Cousins? He's great, but nah. Not even close for me.

 

CLINT IS WOKE Y'ALL.

I don't know if you guys have noticed that Clint has started passing the ball. Sometimes he'll get the ball in the paint, but then he'll pass the ball back out to the perimeter. He's seeing the entire floor. It's happening people. It's really happening.

 

Dunno if it has been posted but . . .
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/21338891/why-center-clint-capela-houston-rockets-x-factor-season

QUOTE
Capela soon received an invitation to the training academy of the premier French club Elan Chalon, following in the footsteps of Thabo Sefolosha, the first Swiss NBA player, by moving two and a half hours from home at age 15. At 20, after graduating from the academy to play for Chalon in the French Pro A league, Capela was drafted 25th overall by the Rockets.

After spending most of his rookie season in the D-League, Capela established himself as a solid role player with the Rockets behind All-Star center Dwight Howard, the same dominant big man who once wore No. 12 for the Magic and had captivated him in those highlight clips.

Howard's relationship with the Rockets, and James Harden in particular, was rocky by the time Capela arrived in Houston. Howard's reluctance to accept his role and desire for post touches disrupted the flow of the offense and ultimately led to a divorce after three years.

Capela is sort of the anti-Dwight. He has no problem with an offensive role that consists primarily of running the floor, setting screens, rolling hard to the rim and rebounding. He understands the value of the vertical spacing he provides.

And you'll certainly never hear Capela complain about a lack of post touches.

"Nah, that's not his personality," says Rockets assistant coach Roy Rogers, who works with Houston's big men. "Clint's a team-first guy. He understands his role on the team, and he accepts his role. He's excited about his role."

Part of the behind-the-scenes drama that season was the front office pushing then-interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff -- Kevin McHale was fired 11 games into a disastrous 2015-16 season -- to give Capela, then a raw 21-year-old, more minutes at the expense of Howard, an eight-time All-Star on a maximum deal.

The data backed up the move: The Rockets had a net rating of plus-3.1 points per 100 possessions when Capela played, compared to plus-0.2 with Howard.

"The reality was we were beating teams much easier when Clint was out there," Rockets GM Daryl Morey said. "We were really, really good when Clint was playing."
END QUOTE


QUOTE
IF THE ROCKETS plan to keep Capela -- he's expected to get a massive raise from the $2.3 million he's making this season when he hits restricted free agency this summer -- it would push the Rockets into the luxury tax, which new owner Tilman Fertitta is on record as willing to pay for a title contender. Without hesitation, Morey said he considers re-signing Capela worth the cost.

"We'll have him here as long as he'll have us," Morey said. "He couldn't price himself out."
END QUOTE

QUOTE
But Lucas, who helped guide a young DeAndre Jordan through a similar evolution, is pushing Capela to develop an edge and a nasty streak, the next step in the building of the big man's confidence.

"I don't know any superstars that aren't kind of a jerk," Lucas said. "He is a poodle becoming a pit bull right in front of your eyes."
END QUOTE

Rocket River

 

I am.

 

Great points. I know we've all thought about it from time to time. Mine is just a tiny voice in my head asking is he really that good or I'm being a homer like all the previous rockets players. SF3, cat, AB.

I think Yahoo did a follow up article to the USA today detailing the difficulty of making it happen capwise. Wasn't very assuring.
https://sports.yahoo.com/exactly-houston-rockets-add-lebron-james-2018-184916896.html

I'f I'm not mistaken, DMC is in his last year of contact, so despite his larger salary this year, they both shouldn't have any implications to LeBron signing here outright for lower than his expected salary? I really don't know cap implications but from what I gather from the article we would lose Clint one way or the other if LeBron wants to come here, either we release him or trade him to the Cavs like how we got Paul from the clippers. DMC would be the same way but his trade value has got to be higher than Clint's.

I like Clint, because he's homegrown, he's international, awesome middle name, great attitude, but outside of his free throws which was poor last year to now levelling to average, I think his improvements are due to the exceptional point guard play. I don't see him improving to develop a jumpshot, post moves, 3 point shooting. His will be less mistakes, better defense to go along with his maxed out alley oops. I hope if we do nothing by trade deadline and he's with the team, hopefully it'll be enough, but I'd send him and Ryan for a legit big who can shoot all the way to the 3s for this year. Just like how I see Rasheed Wallace coming to the Pistons, I kind of see Clint as another Chandler Parsons.

And honestly I wasn't a big fan of DMC, he's always hated Harden and Houston teams, he hates Chris Paul (which I did too). But he's a legit max player type right now this year. He is a legit 20+ and 10 with 3s, assists and turnovers and techs.

 

I dunno man. Capela is 23 years old is #7 in the MVP tracker this year, #6 if you don't count his teammate (Harden)

He is #28 ALL TIME right now in with his win shares/48 minutes. Which is ridiculous. No matter how much this is due to synergy with the system or helped by Harden/Paul's play. Harden and Paul have a current win shares/48 higher than that if you can have 3 of those seasons in the 30 all time on the same team I say don't mess with it haha.

If somehow you can get a team for 2 years of Lebron/Paul/Harden/Capela you HAVE to do it.

 

Typical media antics. They throw Capela into the MVP race in hopes of Capela/Harden splitting votes.

Freaking media conspiracy man!!

As much as I put Capela high up there for the Rockets.....he should not be considered for the MVP race.

 

No he should not. That ranking though is based only on statistical metrics (of passed winners I believe) regardless it’s a good freaking sign that he is doing that at 23. Him and Harden really do need to stay together for the next 3/4 years.

 

Something funny I did not mention earlier is that Lebron and Capela are both exactly at .278 WS/48.

 

"I don't know any superstars that aren't kind of a jerk,"

great quote! superstar, indeed!

 

but he loves our unis though

 

Insane seems a little dramatic

 

I don't think you can discount Capela's chemistry with Harden .... His willingness to set those picks that make the offense work , run the court and play defense. I just cant see Cousins doing those little things ... He'd be much like Dwert in that aspect , wanting his touches.

Honestly there aren't 2-3 bigs in the league that are as good at executing that pick and roll as Capela .... Its a staple of the offense and a key component in making everything else work. If you are to lose Capela , you have to replace him with a very similar player.

 

Yes, but the pecking order for matter of importance for the Rockets is:
Harden
CP3
Then everyone else.

Capela is a product of the system. Harden and CP3 are debatably better in the system.....but great without it.

 

I'm only worried about Aldridge, he's playing like prime Portland right now which is something to be worried about. That being said, that's not going to be all Capela's burden, Moute/Tucker should be able to help with him.

 

Wont debate that as its pretty much fact .... But those other guys around Harden & CP3 can either be part of the solution , like Capela .... or not like Dwert was. Dwert is easily the superior talent .... Capela the much better fit.

This offense would look dramatically different with any "star" big in place of Capela .... His role is a key component in making this offense so hard to defend. He does his job better than just about everyone.

Name 3 guys who do what he does as good or better.