This is what has impressed me the most. Dude played unreal defense on smaller perimeter guys mind=blown this guy can be special
He showed that ability back in the regular season in a game at the Lakers. I'm trying to remember the last time I saw a center who could stay in front of a guard like that on the perimeter.
What impresses me the most is how his game has grown just from the Dallas series. He had some impressive lobs but he seemed a little lost on defense. Now, he's hounding perimeter players and faking the lob then hitting another cutter with an extra pass? That's huge.
I'm sure this has been posted here a thousand times, but might be a good place to repost Kevin Pelton's insider article on Capela being the steal of the draft BEFORE the Rockets picked him. tldr: Capela 2nd best prospect in draft by advanced metrics. Spoiler Clint Capela isn't your average sleeper. Capela stands 6-foot-11 with a 7-4 1/2 wingspan and a leaping ability that makes him a regular presence around the rim at both ends of the floor. He seems engineered to be a scout's fancy, and yet, folks around the league are generally cool to the Swiss big man's game. Still, while Capela is expected to be picked somewhere in the second half of the first round of tonight's NBA draft -- long after many fans will have turned off their TV sets -- his stellar production in France, playing for Elan Chalon at just 19 years old, is impossible to ignore. My WARP projections have Capela as the No. 2 prospect in this year's field. Could he end up being the steal of the draft? I think so. Here's why you should be happy if your favorite team ends up with Capela. Three elite skills Three things stand out from looking at Capela's translated statistics, which are based on his performance in the French Pro A League and the EuroCup international competition and adjusted to its NBA equivalents: • 2-point percentage: Capela shot 63.8 percent against French competition, third best among players with at least 100 shot attempts. He was even better, at 71.8 percent, in 10 EuroCup games. • Rebound percentage: Capela pulled down better than one in four available defensive rebounds in Pro A competition (26.4 percent). When factoring in the difficulty of rebounding on the offensive end, Capela was even better on the other side of the floor, securing 14.6 percent of teammates' misses. His combined rebound rate ranked fourth in the league. • Block percentage: Capela rejected 7.5 percent of French opponents' 2-point attempts. His pace-adjusted rate of 2.6 blocks per 40 minutes was best among Pro A players. Level of competition Based on how players from French teams have performed in the EuroCup and Euroleague continental competitions, and the established conversion rates between EuroCup/Euroleague and NBA performance, the typical player performs about 30 percent worse on average in the NBA. Other players who have gone back and forth from the NBA to the French Pro A League offer some context for Capela's stats. Alexis Ajinca played in both leagues last season, starting the year with Strasbourg in France before signing with the New Orleans Pelicans in December. The 7-2 center put up similar block and rebound numbers, but he did not shoot as high a percentage from the field as Capela. He averaged 17 minutes per game in the NBA, starting 30 games for the Pelicans, and posted a 14.6 PER. Last season, the Utah Jazz acquired Rudy Gobert on draft night as the 27th pick. Gobert, who is 7-1 with a 7-8 1/2 wingspan (the longest ever measured at the NBA draft combine), blocked shots at a nearly identical rate to Capela. He was less effective on the glass, but shot 73.6 percent from the field in more limited attempts. Overall, Capela rated as the more effective player on a per-minute basis, and he's a year younger than Gobert was when he entered the draft. Considered a project, Gobert played 434 minutes as a rookie with reasonable effectiveness (his PER was 12.9). Capela has also teamed with two NBA veterans. Last season, when Capela played only briefly for Elan Chalon, former No. 5 overall pick Shelden Williams started at center. Williams, a year removed from starting 35 games for the New Jersey Nets, was less effective across the board than Capela was this season. With Williams moving on, Elan Chaon paired Capela with Jon Brockman, a rebounding specialist who played three years in the NBA as a second-round pick. Brockman was Capela's superior on the glass, leading the Pro A in rebound percentage, but he averaged just 11.9 points per 36 minutes as compared to Capela's 15.4. Serious potential OK, so we've established Capela has been better in France than some NBA journeymen and first-round picks. If that sounds unimpressive, consider his youth. Few big men are capable of playing regularly in the NBA at age 20, and fewer still excel in the categories that Capela's translated statistics indicate will be strengths. After conversion, Capela's translated 2013-14 performance features 54.0 percent 2-point shooting, a 16.1 percent rebound rate and a 3.7 percent block rate. Check out the NBA big men who have cleared similar bars (52 percent shooting, 15 percent rebound rate and 3 percent block rate) before age 21: Comparisons for Clint Capela This list doesn't indicate that Capela will be a star like Dwight Howard or Anthony Davis. The best of the players ranked above were either more skilled or stronger than Capela, who has a tendency to get pushed around in the post and needs to fill out his frame. A poor outside shooter, Capela is also unlikely to develop into a perimeter threat like Ibaka. However, every single player on this list ultimately developed into a quality starter. Amir Johnson is now a linchpin for the Toronto Raptors, and while it's easy to forget, Andris Biedrins was once one of the league's most promising young big men. Capela's core skills should make him a quality contributor -- and perhaps something more, as he improves his body and his understanding of the game. Usually, getting a prospect such as Capela requires a lottery pick. Of the 11 players in the group listed, eight went in the top 15 picks. But because Capela struggled in front of NBA scouts at the Nike Hoop Summit in April, and has performed poorly in workouts, his stock -- once lottery-worthy -- has slipped down the first round. Chad Ford dropped Capela to 27th on his final big board, noting that Capela is unlikely to go before pick 20 (Ford also has Capela 27th in his final mock). As the first round proceeds into the 20s, keep an eye on when Capela's name is called. The team that selects him might just be getting a top-10 talent at a discount.
Dude is legit. Didn't think he could move laterally like that. Sure surprised me as well as the golden state guards. This guy will be the X factor in this series. He the athleticism to get boards over bogut, the ability to keep up with the guards in the small ball lineup, a very good ability to finish around the basket, and knows how to pick and roll to the basket.
He's probably not the shot blocker that Ibaka is, but I think he can be a more effective pick and roll player.
Some people had a sense Clint would be a steal, here's a insider article from around the time of last year's draft. Clint Capela isn't your average sleeper. Capela stands 6-foot-11 with a 7-4 1/2 wingspan and a leaping ability that makes him a regular presence around the rim at both ends of the floor. He seems engineered to be a scout's fancy, and yet, folks around the league are generally cool to the Swiss big man's game. Still, while Capela is expected to be picked somewhere in the second half of the first round of tonight's NBA draft -- long after many fans will have turned off their TV sets -- his stellar production in France, playing for Elan Chalon at just 19 years old, is impossible to ignore. My WARP projections have Capela as the No. 2 prospect in this year's field. Could he end up being the steal of the draft? I think so. Here's why you should be happy if your favorite team ends up with Capela. Three elite skills Three things stand out from looking at Capela's translated statistics, which are based on his performance in the French Pro A League and the EuroCup international competition and adjusted to its NBA equivalents: • 2-point percentage: Capela shot 63.8 percent against French competition, third best among players with at least 100 shot attempts. He was even better, at 71.8 percent, in 10 EuroCup games. • Rebound percentage: Capela pulled down better than one in four available defensive rebounds in Pro A competition (26.4 percent). When factoring in the difficulty of rebounding on the offensive end, Capela was even better on the other side of the floor, securing 14.6 percent of teammates' misses. His combined rebound rate ranked fourth in the league. • Block percentage: Capela rejected 7.5 percent of French opponents' 2-point attempts. His pace-adjusted rate of 2.6 blocks per 40 minutes was best among Pro A players. Level of competition Based on how players from French teams have performed in the EuroCup and Euroleague continental competitions, and the established conversion rates between EuroCup/Euroleague and NBA performance, the typical player performs about 30 percent worse on average in the NBA. Other players who have gone back and forth from the NBA to the French Pro A League offer some context for Capela's stats. Alexis Ajinca played in both leagues last season, starting the year with Strasbourg in France before signing with the New Orleans Pelicans in December. The 7-2 center put up similar block and rebound numbers, but he did not shoot as high a percentage from the field as Capela. He averaged 17 minutes per game in the NBA, starting 30 games for the Pelicans, and posted a 14.6 PER. Last season, the Utah Jazz acquired Rudy Gobert on draft night as the 27th pick. Gobert, who is 7-1 with a 7-8 1/2 wingspan (the longest ever measured at the NBA draft combine), blocked shots at a nearly identical rate to Capela. He was less effective on the glass, but shot 73.6 percent from the field in more limited attempts. Overall, Capela rated as the more effective player on a per-minute basis, and he's a year younger than Gobert was when he entered the draft. Considered a project, Gobert played 434 minutes as a rookie with reasonable effectiveness (his PER was 12.9). Capela has also teamed with two NBA veterans. Last season, when Capela played only briefly for Elan Chalon, former No. 5 overall pick Shelden Williams started at center. Williams, a year removed from starting 35 games for the New Jersey Nets, was less effective across the board than Capela was this season. With Williams moving on, Elan Chaon paired Capela with Jon Brockman, a rebounding specialist who played three years in the NBA as a second-round pick. Brockman was Capela's superior on the glass, leading the Pro A in rebound percentage, but he averaged just 11.9 points per 36 minutes as compared to Capela's 15.4. Serious potential OK, so we've established Capela has been better in France than some NBA journeymen and first-round picks. If that sounds unimpressive, consider his youth. Few big men are capable of playing regularly in the NBA at age 20, and fewer still excel in the categories that Capela's translated statistics indicate will be strengths. After conversion, Capela's translated 2013-14 performance features 54.0 percent 2-point shooting, a 16.1 percent rebound rate and a 3.7 percent block rate. Check out the NBA big men who have cleared similar bars (52 percent shooting, 15 percent rebound rate and 3 percent block rate) before age 21: Comparisons for Clint Capela This list doesn't indicate that Capela will be a star like Dwight Howard or Anthony Davis. The best of the players ranked above were either more skilled or stronger than Capela, who has a tendency to get pushed around in the post and needs to fill out his frame. A poor outside shooter, Capela is also unlikely to develop into a perimeter threat like Ibaka. However, every single player on this list ultimately developed into a quality starter. Amir Johnson is now a linchpin for the Toronto Raptors, and while it's easy to forget, Andris Biedrins was once one of the league's most promising young big men. Capela's core skills should make him a quality contributor -- and perhaps something more, as he improves his body and his understanding of the game. Usually, getting a prospect such as Capela requires a lottery pick. Of the 11 players in the group listed, eight went in the top 15 picks. But because Capela struggled in front of NBA scouts at the Nike Hoop Summit in April, and has performed poorly in workouts, his stock -- once lottery-worthy -- has slipped down the first round. Chad Ford dropped Capela to 27th on his final big board, noting that Capela is unlikely to go before pick 20 (Ford also has Capela 27th in his final mock). As the first round proceeds into the 20s, keep an eye on when Capela's name is called. The team that selects him might just be getting a top-10 talent at a discount.
Mark Jackson with the call of the pick and roll lob from Harden to Capela 'Makes me want to sing ahhhh-Capela' Good ****.
He seems to have really good instincts in terms of where to move on the court at the right time, despite really having virtually no experience. Also his perimeter defense is confounding and surprising to opposing players, arguably even better than his post defense since he cna get backed in pretty easily. He'd be very useful to put on Kevin Durant for a few possessions just to confuse him.
Agreed. I was pleasantly surprised with how well he moves his feet for a young big man. There were multiple occasions in last night's game that he got stuck guarding CP3 or another guard and he did a decent job!
In his Red Nation Roundtable interview he said his first sport was soccer! *cough* shades of Dream *cough*
he's good for some quotables. i don't like the mama there goes that man foolishness, but things like that sing ahhhhcapela and stop on a dime and leave you with 9 cents change. perfect. i even like hand down man down because it's the truth. oh and JVG loves him because any coach that likes defense would feel like a kid in a candy store with him. you very rarely see defensive smarts and feel in a big so young.
Recent article on how we developed him in the D-League. Article makes it appear that we didn't want to stash him overseas. https://upsidemotor.com/2015/05/15/...on-rockets-d-league-rio-grande-valley-vipers/
The only center in recent memory that I can think of that was able to go out and guard on the perimeter like that is Noah back when he was healthy.
It's both exciting and depressing that he already has more BBIQ than Dwight has. Dude knows what he's good at and sticks to it. Instant production.
Best part about Capela is he looks to *****ing jam every time he gets the ball around the rim. Non of that weak **** Jones tries constantly. He plays as if hes as big as dwight and you can't teach that mentality. He's going to be really special in the future.
Dmo is all coaches-type players, but I get what you're saying. He will be on the level of Gasol by next year. I don't see anyone with his skill set. He easily has the best post MOVES of any power forward... including blake Griffin. Dmo's game is built to last a long time. His 3 point shooting is only gonna get better too.
