How will Zhou Qi be viewed by the end of the season?

If you had stopped here, I would have hit like, but you let your dislike of Capela color the rest of your post. I'm as intrigued with Qi as anyone but it's still too early to make any solid prognosis on his immediate impact.

 

It's not about packing on more raw weight, toning up to add more muscle in order to push and pull in the paint. Think KG and KD. They came in all skin and bones and then take a look at them again a few years later. You can see how clear cut the muscle definition is on their arms and legs and no, that's just not part of growing up as it was foolishly said. It's about putting in strength to be able to stand your ground in the paint on a daily basis.

 

Funny. I don't dislike Capela. I simply believe Capela needs to be traded because he's not elite and we shouldn't pay him millions to do a job that we can pay another player a fraction of and get the same results. He's simply not a difference maker once his salary balloons.

 

I actually like Capela, like him more before he gained the weight. But he's not a max player and he's an average rim protector. He needs to be elite in at least offense or defense to justify a max contract for a center.

 

He can go so many different ways with his trajectory, lots of unknowns. I still peg him more as Andrei Kirilenko-type of player if he can get it together between the ears defensively than a floor stretching 5. I think he has an interesting offensive game but I don't think he'll be strong enough to play the "5", even with the way the NBA is moving. That length and lateral quickness is enticing for the switching defensive principles.

Look forward to watching him progress (hopefully) in the G League.

 

He will be the first Asian in the Valley.

He will have a kid by a big Booty latina from Mcallen.

Harden will take notice and take him to strip clubs.

 

It's on us. We train the guy. We motivate him. If he's not an all star the staff didn't deliver on their part of the deal. That's how I've always looked at it.

 

Agree with all this. Like him as a person. But you have to separate that from the player to a degree. And yes, adding weight.......big mistake. It's the wrong approach. All that time should have been spent teaching him how to shoot the three and helping him run faster longer. Not turning him into a tractor.

 

If Harrell was 2 inches taller he'd be starting over Capela on this Rockets team. Capela rebounds better and sturdier in post D, Harrell is better offensive player. Capela could have been elite perimeter defender for 5 spot but his increased weight ruined all that.

 

No he wouldn't. If he was 2 inches taller, he wouldn't have been on the draft board when we picked. He wouldn't have slipped past the Warriors.

We'd probably have Willy Hernangomez

 

The strippers would look at him and see through his thin body.

 

I like the old Capela more. He was able to use his quickness and leaping ability to get both long and short rebounds. Not to mention his atheletisism to catch those lobs by Harden. Now we have another excellent lob passer in CP3 but too bad Clint cant catch those lobs anymore with his thicc boby.

There is aloo a good chance that he will become an injury prone after gaining those weight. I hope I am wrong tho.

 

A little bit overboard here. He can still catch and throw down. But it's just not as quick and pretty and he's probably lost a couple inches of vertical with that added mass that limits his range somewhat on the lobs.

The worst things added weight are his stamina and his defensive quickness.

I think if we're realistic we have to acknowledge that any competent PnR center, including Nene and Black can put up 16/9 if given the minutes in our system. The pump has been on with Capela for a long time. I mean, after all, some of us are celebrating when he hits both free throws and reading potential into that. So there's a lot of hyped hope surrounding Capela. But the bottom line is unless he has a significant breakout this year......in his fourth season...... which rarely happens.......then Capela is nothing more than another run-of-the-mill big man in today's game.

And the bottom line for our team is we need that guy at the 5 that can bomb the 3-ball out of the pick-and-pop while simultaneously locking down the defensive paint. That's why I'm going to keep watching Zhou. You can clearly see the defensive potential already and it's beyond obvious that everybody in the organization from management (giving him 4-year deal) to the coaching staff (shoot the 3) down to the players (Paul/Harden) want him to shoot the 3 with confidence. They are trying to accelerate his development.

He's going to get plenty of opportunity to light it up at RGV. And if he can pull the trigger in volume at a decent percentage there I expect him to matriculate into our rotation post trade deadline. That is if he doesn't get there earlier.

And I expect we'll make a huge push for Cousins at the deadline if the Pels are struggling. If Zhou develops like I think he will....a Cousins/Qi combo at the 4/5 with Qi getting minutes at the 5 will be very difficult for teams to match up with. Dubs run Green/Durant at the power spots.....we counter with Cousins/Qi. I'm getting ahead of myself here. But Qi has the length and quicks to make life difficult for Durant defensively. And Cousins is the perfect foil for Draymond.

Matching up defensively and being able to play 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out 5 out

is what will win us a championship and keep us championship contenders. CC can't do that.

 

Dear Lord.

The guy with the lane agility of Kyle Wiltjer, has the quickness to make life itself difficult for Kevin Durant.

 

Look man, I'm not a hater. But this guy is a scrub and the only reason ya'll about him is because he's a 7ft asian. There are probably guys in the d-league with twice the talent, but they'll never get half the attention from this board. Maybe Morey's doing a favor for Yao and letting this guy get some burn. But he does not need to be on this roster when the season starts

 

I agree. Heck Yi Jianlian still has way more potential to help the Rockets than this dude even at his advanced age.

 

Agreed! If he's not elite you can't pay him $20M+, however If we can get him around $12M - $15M it'll be worth it. I think the Rockets need another star at the 3 or 4 to be a Championship caliber team and maybe Zhou Qi can give us that either late this yr or next.

I love what he brings; length, rebounding, scoring and blocks. I think him coupled with Capela will take the Rockets to the next level. If he can learn to play without getting into foul trouble, it will allow him to effectively stay on the court.

 

A frontline of Capela and Qi would give the Rockets an imposing front court. Similar to what we had with Ralph and Hakeem. He's just going to need to gain experience, so I love the fact that he is going to stay with the Rockets this yr and not be sent down to the Vipers, per reports.

At 7'2 with extreme length and mobility, Zhou Qi poses a problem for Draymond Green. Draymond is tough but length gives him problems. We have to find ways to cause mismatches against the Warriors and Anderson at the 4, is not it!

I know it's against MDA's philosophy but I think the Rockets would benefit in the playoffs, if they could find away to give him between 5 to 10 minutes a game against weaker teams (DALLAS, SAC, N.O, etc.).

 

So you actually believe that everybody here talking favorably about Zhou is pumping him because we love tall Asians??!!?!?!?!

I can't believe you'd post such crap here. What would you think if I told you the only reason you like Hakeem is because he's a 7-foot black dude?

#juststop

I'm fed up with double standards and people like you constantly injecting race into our conversations. That's as bad as the punks talking about everybody's dicks in here all the time. This is the garm. Talk Rockets basketball and leave your crap race opinion out.

Please. Just. Stop.

 

I like what you're saying but reports have him staying with the Rockets this yr. I think Cousins would be a good get, if Capela wants too much but if Capela settles between $12M-$15M, we should keep him.

I think Cousins puts us in the Championship this yr. But a frontline of Capela and Anthony Davis would be fierce for yrs to come.