This is one of those stupid hypotheticals in that there's no way it can possibly happen (since KAT plays for the Wolves), so it ends up being about people ridiculing others on whether you're a true Rockets fan who care about Rockets players or not. Even for a forum that's designed to be time waster, this is a waste of time to seriously think about.
I would say yes. KAT will play next to Taj Gibson, Anthony Tolliver and Gorgui Dieng.....Capela would do what they do. KAT shooting 42% from 3 (reg season) on 285 attempts last season allows spacing for Capela to work down low. If Pau Gasol can play PF then KAT can play PF. Thibs/T-Wolves favor this setup. Rockets ability to keep Tucker is major, as Tucker can play some Center. I believe Hartenstein and Qi can develop quickly if given minutes. What I want from a center in the Rockets system is rim protection, rebounds, pick and roll. Eventually Hartenstein and Qi will checks all of those boxes sooner or later. Capela guarding smaller players on the perimeter is a novelty/luxury for the Rockets that Qi may surprise people by doing much the same due to his long arms and length that allows Qi to alter shots and recover and block shots from behind. Hartenstein is not great on the perimeter but can do better than most big men on the perimeter. This is because Hartenstein moves well.......just off balance at times due to footwork. That can be improved. Both Qi and Hartenstein can catch on to PnR quickly in my opinion as Capela did last year. Helps having Harden and CP3 lobbing passes that melt in their hands. No doubt it would be a risk since Qi and Hartenstein are raw and Nene is a year older.....my guess is that Morey would have a center out there that could be had as a fall back plan available. Butler would set the Rockets positions 1-4. Butler and Melo creating shots for themselves allows CP3/Harden to rest more and decreases the need for additional ball handlers at the PG/SG positions. We now know that Tyler Ulis chose Warriors over Rockets.......like Jameer Nelson few want the role of being reserve PG behind CP3/Harden/Gordon. If Eric Gordon is sent out, GGreen steps up. GG just has to initiate the play.....he will have shooters/shot creators everywhere in the form of CP3/Harden/Butler/Melo.
Can you think of a way to make that work? I played around with the trade machine and this worked: Rockets in: Willie Cauley Stein, Jimmy Butler Minnesota in: Clint Capela, Nene Hilario Sacramento in: Zhou Qi I imagine you'd need some draft picks added to motivate Sac.
Why the F would Sac part with WCS for low picks and Qi? This is a waste of time it ain't gonna happen and even if it did I wouldn't trade CC he is on a relatively cheap deal for what he does. Remember Cleveland paid Tristan Thompson the max for doing half of what CC did last year.
No. Capela isn't even in his prime, and he's displaying an evergrowing dominance in his position. Butler is at a plateau, he'll either get slightly better or start declining at this point of his career.
Obviously this is only dreamcasting because Clint cannot be traded until December and Jimmy will be traded way before then. So just to play along, it would take 4 separate trades. Trade#1 SAC in: Chriss, Rights to Gentile HOU in: WCS Trade#2 SAC in: VE HOU: future 2nd Trade#3 MIN in: EGo, Nene, Gray, 1st, 2nd, rights to Llull HOU in: Jimmy Buckets Trade#4 - December MIL in: Capela (HOU), Jerian Grant (ORL) ORL in: Middleton (MIL), Tucker (HOU) HOU in: AGordon (ORL) Roster: CP3 - Knight - MCW Harden - Green Butler - Ennis - Clark AGordon - Melo - Qi WCS - Bruno - Hartenstein *AGordon upgrades D, starting 4 spot and small ball 5
No. One, I don't think Butler is any better than Capela. Two, we're actually decently deep in the swing positions and we've got no one else to be a starting center.
Butler/Dieng for Gordon/Capela I wouldn’t do this trade but I bet that’s what it would take to beat other teams offers.
I'd do it. JB could be the wing that replaces Melo but we would have to find an undervalued big that can play. I'd try to pick up Kyle O'Quinn, he's on a 1 yr $4.5M deal with the Pacers.
Clint cannot be traded anytime soon. It is impossible for him to be in Jimmy Butler talks. Would you trade Harden and Paul for Curry and Klay? Would you trade Melo for Wade? Forget the hypotheticals
Nah. I like Jimmy, but you need some balance and a high performing center without an ego that stays in his lane helps this team a whole lot more than another guard. If we were replacing Gordon with Jimmy, sure. But we need to have some bigs. You've got to rebound. Speaking of SCREW THE NBA'S NEW OFFENSIVE REBOUND SHOT CLOCK RULE. So pissed at them constantly changing rules to try to affect the outcome of the game (scoring)./rant Keep Capela.
