Capela doesn't know who to play basketball yet. He's a year away from being a year away. A project but more than likely a replacement for Jones when he gets traded in 2016.
I don't think he ultimately makes it on this team, but I'm down for a tipjar bet. I believe capela will be an nba player (rotation player) by mid-season next year, if not earlier. yes, bigs take a long time to develop, but his base skill set should get him on the floor quickly while the rest of his game develops. Hell, he's not even fully healthy yet.
The only team I think he becomes a rotation player on (by mid-season) is a rebuilding bad team. Like Philadelphia bad. He's way too young and hurt our chances at keeping him here long term by refusing to stay in Europe a year. Look at Dmo. He stayed a year in Europe and just now has turned the corner. If Dmo did what Capela did Dmo would be a free agent this summer. I honestly thing Capela gets traded by this summer. He doesn't help this team win a Championship before 2017 and that's this team's window.
completely agree on the trade. disagree on the comparison to DMo. DMo is an offensive finesse player so his struggle was first in handling the defensive side and then letting the offense come to him. Capella is a natural defensive player which should escalate his rise to the nba. There are plenty of examples of rim protectors with no offensive game. I just don't think it takes over a season of banging to get capella ready to play minutes at the nba level. I do agree that he forced our hand and it hurts us. Would have preferred he stayed over, but I've been pleasantly surprised by the impact he's already making in the NBDL.
Exactly, let him shake his nerves and I imagine results will be a lot different getting set up by someone like Harden rather than being given the ball 10 feet away from the basket. If he's ever going to be a good player there's no reason why it won't happen significantly sooner than being projected in this thread.
i could see capela becoming an effective rim protector for us, but he's so raw i'm not sure we could put him on the floor in the playoffs…not for a couple seasons at least. so maybe it's best we let him build up his value and either before the deadline or next summer, trade him for a player more useful to a contending team
The problem with trading Capella is Dwight can opt out after next season, so you want to keep other potential bigs around just in case. DD
Final kicker of the Fegan/Dwight/Morey shakedown. You know damn well that the final part of that agreement is Fegan getting Morey to agree to give Dwight a FULL max contract offer after 3 years when he opts out. No way in hell the Rockets get a discount on Dwight (even though he's probably not going to be worth a max deal in two years), and the Rockets will probably only be bidding with themselves to make good on their promises. I love Dwight on this team, and I still support the decision to sign him, but the ripple affects of dealing with Dan Fegan makes me ill. Let's just hope he's still worth a max deal after next year.
I think Cap can get instant playing time being Cody Zellar's backup in Charlotte, because Biyimbo is hot garbage.
while I agree with the general context of your post and dealing with the devil - it kinda reminds me of the stern vetoed trade. it pissed me off but we won in the long run. so far, the penance we've paid I can deal with. quite easily. see, I'm waving by to parson's now. Sorry, that finger just gets stuck in that position.
Geez people! You haven't watched this guy play in D-league. He is 19 years old, just coming off an injury. There is a reason (besides trade bait) that Morey wanted this guy. He is going to pan out. Do you see how fast he jumps off the floor with his 7-5 wing span? He is a natural defensive jaugernaut rim protector and rebounder. He will be a great off the bench when he gets comfortable.
Hmmmm, maybe this is why Morey is letting Dwight sit out - so he can develop DMO into a bonified center. Hell, we are winning without him.
So far, yes, as I mentioned it was worth it to get Dwight. However I just get a knot in my stomach thinking about dealing with the Devil and the residual effects the Rockets could see down the road if the Rockets are forced to still be paying Dwight nearly 30 million in 2019 when Dwight has been done for years. At that point, Harden & some others will still be in their prime and having Dwight not take a pay cut in a couple years could really hurt their chances of putting another stud around Harden throughout his prime. Could be another reason why Morey has been so insistent on the effort to get a 3rd star player. Probably best not to worry about it, and just enjoy the next two years of Dwight in his prime I know.
Why does everyone insist on Dwight only having 2 years left in his prime??? Does someone have a prime calculator???
personally, I don't. But I also don't think he's got 5 years on top of this current contract at max level. That's just based off age and decline in athleticism.
Well.... its just the nature of analyzing minutes played, age, and the history of dominant bigs in the NBA. Bill Simmons famously wrote the Dwight Howard is declining article a few years ago when he was with LA that got alot of heat at the time from Lakers supporters, but although it was highly pessemistic (typical Bill), there was some validity to this section that bears revisiting- Again, this is from 2013 before signing with the Rockets- Spoiler http://grantland.com/features/searching-dwight-howard/ Reality No. 5: The odds are extremely favorable that Dwight will keep declining In just two seasons, Dwight’s per-game averages dropped from 22.9 points and 14.1 rebounds (2011) to 17.1 and 12.4 (2013), and his PER free-fell from 26.1 (2011) to 19.2 (2013). I looked up the year-by-year PER of every memorable “big” from Kareem on to see if any of them suffered a 25 percent PER drop-off within a two-year span during the first 12 years of their career. Our results: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (not even close), Shaquille O’Neal (no), David Robinson (yes), Hakeem Olajuwon (no), Tim Duncan (no), Moses Malone (close in Year 10, but no), Kevin Garnett (no), Yao Ming (no), Artis Gilmore (no), Patrick Ewing (no), Bob Lanier (no), Kevin McHale (no), Alonzo Mourning (yes), Chris Webber (yes), Jermaine O’Neal (yes), Charles Barkley (no) and Karl Malone (no). So only four of those 18 guys suffered a comparable drop-off, all because of injuries: Robinson (back), Webber (knee), Mourning (kidney) and Jermaine O’Neal (everything).7 None of them ever regained their kick-ass form — Robinson came the closest, making two more All-Star teams before his body finally broke down (although his days as a 26-12 guy were long gone). Are you willing to wager $118 million that Dwight Howard will become the first marquee big guy in four-plus decades to buck that 25 Percent Drop-off trend? History says Old Dwight is never coming back. Now keep in mind that Dwight's Per game numbers did come back up slightly from where they were in 2012/13 (his worst year in his prime coming back from injury), but its not even close to where it was before 2012. Dwight Howard is still a great player, and probably still a top 3 center, and arguably the best. However, its crazy to say that he hasn't already shown signs of decline, and odds are his days of dominance are probably limited. That being said, I'm totally confident the guy takes good enough care of himself, and the Rockets are careful enough with him to all him to adjust to a post prime type of career ala Tim Duncan/KG. However, that's the whole point. Post prime KG and TD were not ever making above 25 mil per season and even more when the salary cap increases. Had TD not taken a significant pay cut, would the Spurs have been able to still put and keep talent around that team to win another title last year? Maybe, maybe not, but it would have been significantly more difficult to say the least.
i like how DD turned this capela thread into a dwight thread. i agree with him though, jones-dmo-capela could very well be our rotation of bigs in the future.
