Poll: Do you like the Clint Capela-Robert Covington trade?

Pistons only got a second round pick for Andre Drummond. He’s a two time all star, averaging 18 ppg, 16 rpg. Teams just don’t value centers anymore.

 

253 people too proud to change their vote.

 

False. Please refer to that massive post you cherry-picked from and half-ass commented on as proof otherwise. I love Covington, and I think the guy is a much better fit on this team, but you're crazy if you think Covington is necessarily a vastly superior player. More flexible and a better fit in today's NBA, maybe. But more talented or productive? No. And there's pretty much zero evidence to suggest otherwise. At best, they're on similar levels talent-wise, albeit playing very different positions and very different roles.

 

Covington is easily the better talent. Capela is nothing more than a solid role player that played his role well next to some of the top guards in the league. He's always been a limited pnr center. that's it. He's 1 dimensional

RoCo is an elite defender and versatile wing. Everyone is witnessing the difference bw that and whatever you want to call all the cheap/corner cutting replacements since guys like ariza/lmm left

 

LOL

How blind are you people?

I'm just happy that the majority finally realize how good Covington really is now and how amazing he fits on this team.

I felt like me and a choice few diehards were the only ones fighting the good fight for so many seasons.

Validation is a drug, but winning is the far greater ecstasy.

 

The amount of skills that Covington has compared to Capela is 10 to 1.

One can dribble and one can shoot, and one can defend 5 positions at a truly elite level. Let's start there.

 

One can play and start for a Western Conference contender, one can be sidelined for "weeks" while his heel heals. Now, the Hawks are tanking, and Capela could probably go if they needed him, but Weeks. Weeks unable to play. Wow.

Instead, they're seriously contending for the 2 seed.

 

I think you guys are missing my original point entirely, which is that Rockets fans seemed to completely forget Clint's game overnight in favor of a player who'd never played a single minute in a Rockets' uniform, which Clutchfans loves to do.

Also, I'll defer to literally all the evidence I posted in that previous post that Covington is not necessarily a superior player to Capela. Don't get me wrong, I love Covington. I was supportive of the trade because I thought it made the team better, even if I didn't think the Rockets should have thrown in a 1st rounder in the process.

Bottom line, though, even in a sport where we love to compare stats, comparing players requires a lot of subjectivity. It's very easy to swap out one player for another, watch the new guy thrive and go "clearly this new player is superior!" But what if Westbrook had never come here and the Rockets were still running the pick and roll on every other play? What if D'Antoni leaves tomorrow and the Rockets get a new coach who wants to completely change up the offensive and defensive strategies so that the Rockets' offense utilizes the pick and roll way more and defensively is based around a traditional defensive anchor at center? Then we'd be wishing we had Clint instead of Covington.

That, plus all of the stats and numbers and prior successes are why I'm not going to sit here and definitely say "Covington is head and shoulders a better NBA player than Clint." I think that's fair, but if you want to live in a black and white world where one player has to necessarily be better than another and there's no gray area, then that's your prerogative.

 

Some of us were of the mind that Covington was a superior player on both ends, before the trade. I'm not sure how you can conduct an eye-test now and see otherwise, and you won't find a bigger Clint supporter over the years than I.

Lord Covington is on another level of impact on both ends. His career +- demonstrates this fact. Even If we traded Clint for nothing, and just played Jeff Green, we simply don't miss what he brings as much as you want to believe. When Clint was young he showed flashes of being an insanely gifted on-ball defender of guards. For whatever reason (weight gain?), he is now a turnstile defender on the perimeter, and gets consistently abused on switches. Getting a player like Robert Covington for a guy that will undoubtedly be on the bench during winning time is a massive score for Daryl Morey, imo.

 

This trade ranks up there with the Lowry for Alston trade for me. I know it's two very different situations (positions, starter for starter vs starter for bench player, etc). But, this trade goes way beyond a player for player swap. It essentially opened the door wide open on the calculated risk that once the paint is open it will optimize our best players' performance + our playing style.

Covington is just about as good of a fit that you could find with our team.

As annoying as it is, it's hard not to bring money in the equation too. Once we traded for Westbrook we extended our window, but also delayed the 3 out of 4 years of being in the lux tax goal. It's pretty clear Tillman has instructed Morey to stay under the lux tax. But, now that we are entering the last three years of Westbrook/Harden the talent criteria of whether or not we would go into the lux tax has to be lower. Make no mistake about it, the time is now and I'm not holding my breath on it.

But overall, this team really has a different feel now and in the near future.

 

That's I use more than the eye test. Also, if you're comparing Covington in Houston versus Clint's play this season, obviously you'd think Covington was better because the Rockets aren't running the pick and roll anymore. So much of success and production is basketball is the system you play in and how you're being utilized. If you compared peak Clint from the Chris Paul years, you might think differently.

That's one stat. Clint has the superior career PER, WS, WS/48, BPM and ORtg.

What? Are you even reading what I'm writing? I never said the Rockets are missing Clint—far from it. I have said from the beginning that I supported the trade and I don't think the Rockets need a traditional center. But just because your team doesn't personally need a specific player or that player no longer fits a specific system doesn't make that player suddenly useless or inferior.

I don't disagree with this any of this. Especially in the Rockets switch-happy system on defense, Covington is a better fit. Just to reiterate for the dozenth time, though, fit does not equate to value or talent. The Rockets value versatile, switchable 3 and D forwards more than any other team in the NBA. Just because the Rockets value Covington in their system more than Capela does not make Capela an inferior player.

Forget that we're talking about Capela for a second and insert another good player who would be a bad fit with this current Rockets team: Ben Simmons. Simmons is an excellent NBA player. An All-Star. And if the Rockets traded Covington for him tomorrow and tried to start him next to Harden and Westbrook, the team would almost undoubtedly be worse. Does that make Covington a better player than Simmons? No. Same logic here.

 

I like the Covington-Capela trade.

I do not like the 1st round pick for Luxury Tax Saving trade.

 

Robert Covington is clearly a better all-around basketball player than Clint Capela. This was fairly obvious before, and even more obvious now.

They simply aren’t in the same class of player. Proves how little people watched Covington before the trade, and now they get to eat their words. Spectacular.

 

Cool. Glad to see you thoroughly read my post and provided a thoughtful response back based on the things I took the time to write and didn't just reiterate the same oversimplified, narrow-minded opinion from the first time around. I'll make a mental note not to respond to things you write moving forward. It's clearly a waste of both of our times.

 

Seeing Capeala go does not necessarily cause a large outcry since Dwight Howard, Ariza, and Carmelo were let go in favor of "small ball".

The defensive plays had been a breathe of fresh air for covington, although Covington made alot of defensive plays as a help defender which is bad habit which will eventually get exposed in a seven game series against elite, experienced teams.

Covington blocked kemba walker twice in the celtics win. I give covington credit. Covington block ja morant tonight after morant went behind the back on a drive against James Harden tonight. I give covington credit.

There are advantages to having Capeala mainly the decisive rebounding advantage. Capeala provided consistent rebounding which was the hallmark of Capeala's predecessor, Dwight 'dirty drawls' Howard. Dwight Howard is not super man instead Howard is 'dirty drawls' man!

 

Trade does not happen without the first

Andre Drummond had better numbers and all Detroit received was a 2nd.

Do not miss the low FRP compared to what we received in RoCo.

Would do that trade again, no hesitation

 

ok, tilman.