Clint Capela: Building block or trade asset?

If Adams can get $100mm and Kanter can get $80mm, Im afraid of what the market will be for Clint if he continues to improve or if CP3 makes him look even better. It really just depends on what happens this year and who the player that would be coming back would be. I'm not a fan of maxing out guys that aren't superstars (Ryan Anderson / Almost Bazemore). These guys are replaceable through the draft, you want to find the Chandler Parsons, not be the team that pays them.

 

I never understood why you're so down on Cap. He fits this team perfectly, great in the PnR, good hands, good finisher, exactly what we need for Harden. In fact, what Capela is doing for us is what we needed more of from Dwight when he was here.

Is Capela a future HOF? No, probably not but we don't need him to be.

 

I'm not down on Cap. It's about the team and winning a championship. You only mentioned his limited offensive skills as a perfect fit. I could somewhat agree he's the perfect fit ic we just played offense and we could keep his salary at 2.4 million.

But neither of those things is true. He's going to get paid next year and the real perfect fit at the 5 is the guy that locks down the interior of the defense and controls the defensive glass. You can get any athletic 7 footer to run pnr and catch lobs.

We need that defensive force on the interior that makes opponents pull up from midrange or alter their shots around the rim enough that their efficiency goes down substantially.

Basically what you and others want is to give CC another year to experiment and see if he can become that guy and then we have to let him walk or overpay him to keep him. I just don't feel that's good business or even decent odds. I don't care that he's 23 and will "continue developing". The odds are he'll still be developing next summer too. The odds are stacked up overwhelmingly against him becoming the defensive stopper on the interior that we need right now to win a championship.

Rim protection and controlling the defensive glass are a more extreme priority for us than practically every other team in the Association. Because we specifically strategize around both the offensive and defensive three-point line. So we're always going to ask our perimeter guys to defend tight outside and as a result they're going to get beat more frequently on the blow by than probably every other team. Ideally we want to force the opponent to take the shots we abhor taking ourselves.....the 16-20 footers. You can't make that happen unless the opponent realizes you have a nasty interior that they don't want to deal with.

Dude....Rim protection and controlling the defensive glass is a necessity for us to win a championship. We were basically the worst in the league at both of those things last season. Yeah I know we've added some stud defenders on the perimeter. And I love it. We've gotten nastier out there. Gonna be fun to watch no doubt. Looking forward to it. But if you think that's gonna get it done against the Warriors and Cavs......you are mistaken. Gotta have that last defensive nail in the paint. And up until this point Capela has not shown he has that capacity. Capela has only shown that he can contribute defensively when he was playing alongside a true defensive anchor big. When he's in there by himself it's an open assault on our defensive paint and glass.

For the life of me I don't understand how you can watch 82 games plus the playoffs and not see it. Not to mention go to the numbers and verify what I'm seeing. I want to beat the Warriors, not just come close. And a shut down anchor that controls the defensive glass is really the last missing piece we need to create defensive havoc and run the whole Association into the ground trying to keep up with us.

 

I agree that we do need those tools out of our center but you gotta be realistic.

Who can we pick up that's going to give us all that? Assuming we get melo we're pretty much locked in.

The only option is to extend Capela to the best lowest salary possible and use him and build up his value and then flip him for a more defensive oriented center.

If we just let him walk of trade him at his low salary, were going to be downgrading at the center spot. There is nobody that impacts rebounding and rim protection making 2.3 mil and if there is one we arnt going to be able to trade Capela for him.

Try and extend him after getting melo for 15m a year and go from there in sure Morey at that point can add a pick with Capela to get that type of center you described.

 

Good articulation of the tradeoff. There are going to be teams out there willing to bet on Capela, which will put us in a tough spot.

Who are the defensive anchors that you see out there? Noel is interesting, but he's looking to get paid now. Boogie isn't really that guy.

The challenge I see is the way the game has gone, there's fewer true defensive anchors around, because teams are now pulling big men further from the paint. There's only 4 guys in the league who average 2+ blocks per game - that's not the only metric, but it's indicative of how rare rim protectors are these days.

 

yup and there's only one draymond green in this league that plays center and be able to do much of what your average center is in today's league since it's very much perimeter orientated based.

 

2017 NBA Playoffs:

Blocks = Number 1 overall.
Block percentage = Number 2 overall. (Behind Roberson)
Blocks per game = Number 2 overall. (Behind Roberson)
Defensive Rating = Number 4 overall. (Behind Greek Freak, Draymond & Dwight)
Defensive Box Plus/Minus = Number 2 overall. (Behind Roberson)

22 years old.

 

@basketballholic

Clint is a good defensive rebounder, why are insinuating that he isn't? He's also a plus defender, not elite(currently), but plus.

I agree, I'd rather have an elite defensive player, and elite defensive rebounder. But a good defensive rebounder, and a plus defender will do us fine, even around 15 mill per.

 

All true except he turned 23 a couple of months ago.

 

22 when the playoffs were on. Post edited.

 

really not so much concerned with actual blocks. that's not really a huge priority imo. it's actually being able to play defense and challenge shots without fouling while staying on the floor. that's what makes DG so valuable at the C position on top of his versatility. He doesn't rack up blocks game after game. he plays defense at a very high level and is able to defend shots despite being 6'7-6'8. he defends any type of matchup

 

Blocks are a valuable component to playing defense and challenging shots, especially at the C position. A Houston Rocket fan should know that.

This, coming from the guy that watched every single game of Chuck Hayes's career. Multiple ways to skin a cat, but Clint will never be Draymond, and Draymond will never be Clint.

I see you ignored the rest of the post concerning defense. Kudos.

 

it's valuable but actual blocks in today's pace and space league is not as important as just being able to play defense at a high level bc their isn't anyone stopping the best teams in the league from scoring. You can play defense at a high level and still be able to challenge shots without actual blocks. blocks are just an added plus to me.

I'll take someone who can stay on the floor more often with consistent defense over a guy who gets a block or two but can't stay on the floor over the course of a full game

 

I'll take Hakeem on defense over Draymond, how about that?

 

probably as close as a comparison to DG playing defense at the C position

 

Yikes.

 

So you're saying that Draymond = Dream34 defensively?

 

did I? i said that's as close to a comparison you have at the C position defensively. there isn't another C in the league that is as versatile as him and still be a rim protector at the 5. every single aspect from top to bottom

 

That is more of an indictment of the current active Centers than a compliment to Draymond. Draymond is just mentally tougher than these guys at 6'7.

 

don't see how that really matters. it was a simple comparison. regardless I'll compliment DG for his defense bc he's a huge reason why GS can play the way they do and still be a lockdown team.

the difference bw current active centers and DG is not just being mentally tougher. far from it