I think if he manages to up his output to 17 pts and 11 boards and 2 blocks that could be borderline allstar stats
Anyone mentioning dekker is way ahead of himself. I know great white hope followers gona boost him but sthu and lets give him a year first like anyone else. 4-5 games of solid role player contribution does not make someone a star. Comprehend that children?
Don't think Capela is capable of being the defender that Jordan is, nor the athlete, but offensively, the production should be comparable.
Dekker is definitely not a star by any means. But at the same time, his level of play up to this point has been one of the surprising bright spots of the season so far. The season is still young. It can be easy to overexaggerate how good or important a player is and will be, but let's also not undersell how surprisingly good a player was either. Especially one that is a rookie and most people were already writing off as a bust.
Can we slow down on the Sam Dekker hype? Let him have a 20 point game first before he's the 2nd coming of Larry Bird.
He's hardly a star at the moment but has great potentials judging by what we've seen so far. Like others have said, he's become a great "system player" where he's getting the lob and PnR passes. MDA's system makes him look good and will pad his stats. If he can do this in the playoffs when defensive adjusts to the system, then he'll really be the star we're looking for.
I agree that he is not the athlete Jordan is, and his defensive strengths are different. I don't think he will be Jordan's equal as a rim protector, but he might be more effective as a big that can switch along the perimeter. On offense, Capela already has a more diverse game than Jordan. Jordan is averaging .58 assist per 36 this year. Capela is averaging about two and a half times that. He also seems to have a little more skill around the basket, in contrast to Jordan's raw power.
Capela isn't a star and I would be quite surprised if he is ever a star. Really the Rockets don't have any young players that will be stars. I think that Dekker has a slight chance of becoming a 17/5/5 type of player that can prove to be very valuable. With Capela, he deserves credit for working hard and improving. However, we are seeing what a 5 can do when he is in this system and with James Harden. This also shows what the Rockets were hoping for with Howard, had he willingly rolled to the basket and ran the floor, he would have been devastating. Howard's reluctance to do so really hurt the Rockets.... and it also explains the reasoning behind Cyberex's post 18 months ago about Morey being frustrating and preferring Jordan to Howard.... because at least Jordan would gladly roll to the basket. A prime Tyson Chandler or DeAndre Jordan would put up enormous numbers next to Harden in this offense.
There's give and take to that though. Strong players will have a difficult time keeping up with Capela when we are on offense.
Part of why I think Capela is so interesting is that he doesn't seem to suffer from the belief that he is a star. He seems to completely understand what his job is on this team. I haven't seen him try to do things he's not capable of, unlike Dwight, and at times DeAndre, Drummond, and other similar types, where they will sometimes call for the ball in the post, try to dribble-drive, or take jumpers. I liked the earlier Asik comparison--he does seem kind of like Asik, except a better floor-runner, catcher, and finisher, and probably a worse overall team defender at this stage. None of that is to say he can't be (or isn't) a star. It's just something I like about him, and why despite probably being an inferior athlete to Dwight, he may fit our needs much better.
I agree, and it is reflected in Capela's numbers. I don't hate Clint, I was in favor of the draft pick and believe that he has already proven it was a very good pick. However, the Rockets still need at a minimum, someone to complement Clint at the 5 spot. There are real limitations to Clint's game.
Nobody is making that claim and people are just wishful thinking. To put it in perspective, 18th pick rookies don't usually get a lot of burn on a playoff quality team and that is where the excitement is coming from. He is still learning the NBA game and speed and the idea of what he can become 2 years from now is worth talking about.
Harden will make Capella a rich man. one if the main reasons that Harden is able to do more with capella is bc CAPELLA DOES NOT HAVE BUTTER FINGERS LIKE DWIGHT! The man catches everything thrown his way, and is willing to listen. I think Capella can average a Double double this season.
Capela's had a really good stretch of games against top tier competition. He's outplayed Gobert, Drummond, and Adams who are all seen as the top young centers in the league. His rim protection is much improved from the beginning of the season. His offense is starting to develop beyond alley oops. He's confident and comes off as a hard worker in his interviews. Only 22 years old, I think we have a keeper. Or do we? He's our best trade chip, IMO.
I am more surprised how Dekker is improving each game. Capella, on the other hand I was expecting this from him and more. Now, if we can have both continue this trend, we might have something here guys
We have a very nice group of players that can support Harden and Gordon. If you look at the other similar teams, their rosters are not as consistent like ours. We can pretty much play the same way throughout the whole game. We don't have a third star per se, but on any given night any one of Anderson, Ariza, Clint, Nene can give us a nice lift.
