The only thing I can tell from his "highlight" videos is like you have said, he's got a very high motor (you can't teach that) and he's very long and athletic. He looks like a 5 to me for whatever that's worth and haven't seen enough of his jumper to make an solid assessment. Have never seen the kid play, hopefully he's one of these late first round gems that Morey picked up. I kind of got the vibe early on that the rockets wanted him to stay overseas for some reason, young big's take much longer to develop and he's got to get much much stronger with his slim built to be able to bang in the NBA. But he's apparently played pro ball in Europe and their plenty big and strong over there.
Yeah, he looks like a skinny 5. Gonna have to beef up to play the pivot in the NBA and then what does that do to his quicks? I dunno. I really don't like trying to pile weight on the frame of a kid like this. He's got those small ankles and calves. I'd rather help him develop a jump shot and let him use his athleticism at the 4 spot if possible. But this is what you get with kids...projects. Even future superstars are projects at age 18-20. With all that said......in regards to this team's play at the 4-spot last year with T_ones getting the bulk of the minutes there....I don't think it will take Capela more than a couple months to bypass what _ones did last year. He's longer and more athletic. He's a better finisher and rebounder. And his D can't be any worse than _ones' D. So I think he makes _ones even more of a trade chip than he was before and he was already one before.
No true. We've all see your posts before to know what you are contriving. You are calling people out for "not doing their homework" when nobody was arguing with you in the first place. You can say there is evidence if you want(even though its arguable since the 2 years in France shows very little sample size when he really didn't shoot the ball at all other than free throws), but regardless there is still not enough evidence either way to say what he's going to be as a shooter in 5 years.... which was the whole point of even mentioning his trajectory IN THE FUTURE. However nobody is saying that he's this secretly great shooter now, and nobody that I've seen is making statements without "doing their homework". So stop trying to call people out, and show me & others up to make it seem like you know something we all don't know.
I don't see him remotely passing Jones this coming season (don't know why Jones is in this conversation), in fact I see him on the Vipers for quite some time. Just read where most of his points came from back cuts and put backs and he took very few jump shots (believe 0.3 jump shots a game and hit 21% of them). At best he's #3 behind Dorsey and Howard at the 5 spot, I hope I'm wrong.
If there is anything that can get a rookie on the floor much quicker than normal would be defense. He's got the physical tools to expedite his time on the floor, but its doubtful he's going to pick it up between the ears that quick. I think its expected he spends alot of time in the D-league but we really just don't know. I think training camp will be pretty interesting. Who will separate themselves in these groups - PG rotation- -Bev/Canaan/Johnson/Smith Backup 3- -Gee/Hopson (underrated acquisition)/ and Covington Starting & backup PF- -Jones/D-Mo/Capella/Adrien Back C- Dorsey/D-Mo/Adrien There is going to be some interesting battles for PT.
Right now, Jones and DMo is most interesting. I expect another 3 will be added to roster, but right now expect Harden to be backup there. Johnson may for PT. If the Rockets have someone develop into or acquire a defensive 4, I'd expect more three guard lineups.
If he can get the finger-wag down, I see him as a Dikembe Mutombo-type in the playoffs for us. Just like Troy last year, give him PT with the Vipers and then bring him up towards the end of the regular season.
I dunno why this is getting 5 stars, personally I think this is the worst scenario for Capela and the Rox. When the offseason started, there were two choices: 1. Sign Capela 2. Let Capela remain overseas Rockets and any objective analyst out there would say option 2 is the best course for Capela, he is way too young and underdeveloped at this point and he would be better of fighting against the best Europe has to offer and learning fundamental big men skills. For whatever reason Capela wanted option 1. If the Rox were gonna cave anyway, they should've brought him in from the start (or after LBJ/Bosh signed whatever) and had him play in SL. Instead they're bringing him over now, weeks too late and he missed the only benefit to signing here a year early. There's no point in him signing now, in fact DMo already left to go train with his national team because the action's already done. I know Bballholic's optimistic about him passing over Tjones and DMo, but IMHO he will spend the year in the DLeague and maybe move in the roster once midseason comes and somebody gets traded. Nothing against the Dleague but if he was gonna spend 1 season with the vipers he should've stayed in his club in Europe instead. We also missed out on a potential showing, maybe he was so excited to be in the SL he would've played out of his mind and we could've been able to capitalize like what we did with Green.
I seriously hope les and morey have a 3-5 year plan to get to WC finals and beyond consistently, I cannot forgive this CIRCUS easily.
I'm not optimistic about Capella passing _ones this season. If they're both here I can't see McHale allowing that to happen. (But he should.) However its probably a moot point. At least one and maybe both players will end up getting traded this year I do believe.
Russia lost to Switzerland (77-79) in the Pre-Eurobasket 2015, huge upset. Good game by Capela against Mozgov: 11 Pts, 7 Reb, 5 Stl, 1 Blk in 33 minutes.
All of us have just kind of written him off as a nothing pick, myself included LOL. Who knows, maybe the kid does develop into a Serge Ibaka type, but he is highly unlikely to help us this year.