No this is a GREAT pick. What do you mean it doesn't save you much money? That 1.5-2 million may be the difference between Carmelo or Lebron coming here. They are already taking a paycut, so you want to leave as much room as possible.
True, Clint is like a top 10 white guy name. Up there with Tyler, Chase, Hunter, Spencer, and Dustin.
The salary for this pick would be under one million. The cap hold is about 500k regardless. You save very little with a stash.
Nurkic was the other guy I wanted and I think the guy allot of the posters wanted. Nurkic went #16 to the Nuggets. I though he might fall to 25. It was a long shot for him to fall that far. Here is a video of Capela playing against Nuric. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/CrE1Y9RrBLE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I'm guessing that whatever Capela's intentions are, the Rockets were well aware of them when they made the pick, so I doubt it'll be an issue. If it is true that he'd prefer to come over already, I'd look at it as a positive. You still might be able to talk him into staying in Europe for a year or two and you're unlikely to be in another Llull-situation going forward.
He's a tall, long, hyper athletic, extremely raw "intriguing asset" that might tempt other general managers, and he can be stashed overseas. Considering that the pick was at the bottom of the draft, I think it was an educated gamble.
500K is nearly the equivalent of keeping Canaan and Daniels in terms of capspace value(700K total between the two). Perhaps even Covington if the Rockets like him. Also, it's not like the Rockets reached for him. Draftexpress has him at #11. Pelton machine ranking thinks he's one of the best players in the draft. Yahoo has him at #22. Combine the flexibility of him being a Euro AND his overall value, and it's a no-brainer.
I don't think the Rockets drafted him strictly because he was a talented Euro guy they could stash. Capela has real talent, and has the potential to be a solid player when he comes over. The Rockets get the benefit of being able to draft a really atheistic player that would have gone much higher if he was not in Europe. He gets to develop while he is in Europe and they can bring him over in a couple of years when he is ready. Plus they get the added benefit of not having his cap hit. Think about it the way, was there a guy that the Rockets could have drafted they they could have put into the line-up ahead of Terrence Jones or Donatas Motiejūnas. Even if Capela could come over this season, the Rockets would have sent him to the RGV to give him some training and work on shooting as well as strength training.
Lol: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Clint Capela appealed to Rockets because he can say "Somebody guard Lillard" in four languages.</p>— Mark Whicker (@MWhicker03) <a href="https://twitter.com/MWhicker03/statuses/482346683255099392">June 27, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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