Well the ideal, to maximize our winning potential, would be to have more guys who can act as a pivot point in the offense. Marion Amare and Nash could all run the offense; do you remember Marion at the elbow, or Amare with his back door passes? They murdered us. Right now the Rockets are James Harden and a bunch of play-finishers. Anderson and Gordon are good, near great, at what they do, but with both of them there is virtually no potential of the play continuing beyond a shot or a turnover. Good teams will collapse on those players the second they make their move to the basket, knowing they can rotate off the weakside with impunity. To a lesser extent, Beverly has been nice in that he can actually orchestrate some semblance of the offense when Harden sits, but even still, the Rockets would be so much more dangerous with another pivot man, someone who would be a triple threat with the ball in his hands.
I like the optimism, but a "star" can do things on both ends of the court at a high level. At this point in his career, Clint is very one-dimensional. I cannot count the times I've seen him airball a 3 footer or miss a rebound that Nate Robinson would have grabbed. Simply, he needs a great deal of work before he's considered a "star," much less an impact player. Consider this: Do you trust Clint to guard the starting vets of the league when games start becoming more meaningful for playoff seeding? Do you trust Clint to take a final shot if James/EG/Trev/Ry are double teamed in the final seconds? Personally, I think he is years away from being a game changer. As toxic as Dwight became, if he were still here in a defined role, we wouldn't have guards and forwards out-rebounding our bigs. NeNe can't be the guy at his age, with his years in the league and with some of the personal stuff he's dealing with. The Rockets need, and are looking for, a big who can score beyond 2 feet and go muscle to muscle with the legitimate bigs of the league. I respect Clint as a person, and he says and does what is asked of him, but he is still a big project. So are the other bigs in red...Montrezl needs lots of help. Our big surprise, although out of position is Sam. He's going to make an impact sooner than our bigs, obviously, because he can spread the floor and his anticipation for rebounding is lightyears ahead of some guys. DMo could be helpful, but again, is he a difference maker? Not yet. He's still a project, holding out for money.That 8 Million figure I posted long ago is right there, but the hold up is becoming more personal. Every guy wants to be a "Brand." The truth is, unless you are a game changer and lead your team to wins, your brand is a whimper. Like him or not, James is proving himself this year, without enough support once again. If you put James with Blake Grifffin (not happening), your team becomes a huge threat in the backcourt and frontcourt. Right now, teams only fear us from outside the paint or if James has the ball. If you throw the ball into Clint, there's no need to expend energy until he's within reach of dunking the ball. Unless he is traded*, FlyRy is going to make a hell of a difference when he gets his groove going. Random Rant: MDA/Jeff...what happened to defense? Despite his atrocious offense, Brewer is defending, and of course, my guy Trev play his heart out on that end. But, outside of Ne, Clint (once a week),our defense is too inconsistent for teams to even worry about us. Night ya'll.
Capela is not a 2nd star, and doesn't need to be one. He's good role player who is GOOD but NOT GREAT at rebounding like Drummond or Dwight, not elite in shot blocking like Anthony Davis, not great in offense like, okay no center is great in offense now. He's great at finishing plays, but its not consistent production because he can't command the ball to generate his own shot. You get the picture. He plays the system and executes his job to good results, but he doesn't yet make that IMPACT forcefully in a game like TRUE stars do. Like Andrew Bynum as maligned as he was, he was a STAR when he was on. Capela doesn't have that yet. Capela has to keep this 5 game production going for an entire year before even getting a "star" label. The good thing is its an UPWARD trajectory at age 22. Besides improving his unacceptable free throws, its all you can ask for
What it means to be a star is that you have the ability to put your team on your back and carry it. Not every game, but in a lot of the games each season. Look at Harden, where would we be without him? Do any of you guys really believe Clint has that ability, or will have that ability? Because I don't. He's an athlete around the rim and he's not entirely without skill, but this isn't a guy who demands double teams, and he's certainly not a guy who totally shuts down the other team around the rim when he's playing defense or rebounding. Maybe if he keeps getting better he could be the third best player on a championship team. He would have to play up to the level that Chris Bosh played down to with the Heat in their championship years. That's possible. He's not there yet though. But second star? No.
Because this is the best stretch of basketball that we've ever seen him play, amd he's getting a lot more minutes than he's typically gotten. I'm not saying those numbers are completely out of the question, but right now they're the exception for the kid, not the norm. I love his potential though in this offense and agree he's capable of those numbers in a full season if he stays healthy and keeps getting this many minutes.
I agree with a lot of what is said. Capela isn't currently a "star" but he is a promising role player who excels in certain areas. He's 22. The kid can barely drink. That's promising in it's own right. He seems to want to improve, which is a breath of fresh air to me after Dwight. It makes me want to watch him play basketball. Right now he's doing good on PnR, and he is starting to develop a hook shot that looks nice. He needs to start developing his mental game. He needs to see who he is. It's like the time Yao dunked on someone and yelled you can't f'n stop me. That is what Capela is. He just doesn't know it yet. Once he starts gathering himself and going up hard, he's gonna be pretty f'n hard to stop. That, coupled with his agility and the fact that he is top 5 in nba in blocks when he still isn't strong enough yet... Dude's got the potential to start dominating soon. Also, Re: chandler/dekker comparison -- Remember Chandler's second year was when he started handling the ball more. His rookie year he made the team with intense defense, crashing the offensive boards for "chandler bangs" (or was it chandler smash i cant remember that was back when he was a likable person), and hitting a few flat line 3 point shots. He significantly overhauled his role in the 2nd season. I was really unsure about him starting to drive and dish. For the first few games of that season, he had a lot of really ugly turnovers. Passes to the other team when they would jump his kickout ala josh smith with the ball. He got his chances though. He developed -- it worked out for us. We may be seeing something a little bit similar with Dekker. Basically, I think the young guys need more burn. Prefer less brewer and Nene. More Capela, Dekker and KJ. I'm enjoying the rockets this year though, because it feels like the players all care.
This. The white boys tend to get a bit over excited when a fellow Caucasian is playing well. Lets give Dekker time to develop before we reincarnate him as Larry Bird! I had to cut off that TERRIBLE podcast Locked on Rockets earlier today cause they were fellating Dekker so damn much. Its like everyone is clamoring to trade Ariza already because Dekker had a few good games. Everyone pump ya breaks and relax. Ariza is still a FAR better defender than Dekker, and he is essentially the Anchor of our admittedly limited Defense. Without him, we will lose for more than we'll win.
Really? The reason white guys like Dekker is because he's white? We're NBA fans.....I doubt anyone cares about his skin color. Then you trash Locked on Rockets, a great daily podcast with contributions from many quality subscribers on Clutchfans.
Yeah, in the end i agree with Cod, to be a star you have to be able to make things on both ends, and Clint is still very far to be close to this. But at the same time, how many star centers are in this league right now? DeAndre and Drummond are not stars, DJ has great produciton overall just because he basically makes 90% of his baskets free thanks to CP3 (and Blake in some extent), in other 25/26 teams (so take away LBJ, Harden, Warriors and Spurs maybe) he would be a Tyson Chandler tier player, more athletic but not able to score a basket to save his life...Drummond is a beast but way overrated, no iq, non skill or leadership whatsoever...lmao, he just went 6 for 18 from the field, missing 12 shots (from what? 2/4 feet?) against a guy who looks like his son next to him...so, how many stars are out there playing at center? Boogie, Marc Gasol....others? Dwight maybe, but that's it so, since Gasol is starting to get old and had a bad injury, i would only trade Capela for Boogie. In any other case, i gladly take a 22 years old guy with some (if not pretty good) upside left instead of going out there and burn assets to acquire a older player in the same tier and with less/no upside.
How good were Morey's 2014 and 2015 draft picks, that we have people not sure if this thread is about Dekker or Capela! I'll admit I was frustrated with Dekker last year. Mostly because it's frustrating as hell to draft a guy who then immediately needs back surgery, and played like a guy needing back surgery would. Also frustrating when we desperately needed PGs and I was high on Jerian Grant. But I didn't throw in the towel on Dekker. Still though, I'm glad to wrong. Wrong as all hell. Dekker is clearly on another level compared to Grant. If he keeps playing like this, then we absolutely STOLE him in the 2015 draft. He keeps playing like this, then he shouldn't have dropped past 10 much less getting grabbed with the 18th pick. That "coach's son" part of him is really evident now. His basketball IQ is way up there. And Capela! Ohhh Capela Capela. There is where I can toot my own horn. I was so high up on Capela when we got him. I kept harping on is WARP rating, 2nd to Marcus Smart that draft. How good he was completing close to the hoop, his blocking instincts. His ability to jump quickly and also jump quickly on the 2nd jump. And his rebounding. His high efficiency completing near the rim, and his rebounding had me comparing him to Deandre Jordan. There were a lot of guys here doubting him. Calling him too raw. 3 years away from being 3 years away. Mad that he didn't stay put as a Euro stash and sort of forced his way here. I'm glad he forced his way here right away. Now we have him blossoming this year, filling the Dwight Howard void very adequately. Someone recently on the team, I think it was Pat, said he is the hardest worker on the team. Always in the weight room right after the game. And the muscle he has gained each off season? I love this kid. Look at how Capela is holding his own in the last 5 games. Straight up held his own or outplayed some marquee centers in the league. Sixers. Matched against Jahlil Okafor and Joel Embid Embid 13 pts 6-10 shooting, 10 boards, 3 blocks 5 fouls Okafor 4 pts 2-11 shooting, 3 boards, 2 blocks, 1 foul Capela 8 pts 3-7 shooting, 2-3 FT, 14 boards, 5 blocks, 0 fouls OKC. Matched against Steven Adams Adams 6 pts 3-7 shooting, 6 boards, 3 blocks Capela 13 pts 508 shooting, 3-4 FT, 14 boards, 3 blocks Blazers against Plumlee Plumlee 4 pts 2-5 shooting, 8 boards, 7 assists, 1 block Capela 15 pts 7-9 shooting, 7 boards, 2 blocks Jazz against Gobert Gobert 12 pts 5-7 shooting, 14 boards, 4 blocks Capela 20 pts 10-19 shooting, 8 boards, 5 assists, 1 block Pistons against Drummond Drummond 13 pts 6-18 shooting, 16 boards, 4 steals Capela 15pts 7-10 shooting, 12 boards, 2 blocks
Star or No Star...I really don't care how Capela is labeled if he's playing this well which would be a nice surprise. Call him whatever we want... if he's averaging 10-20 points a night -5-10 rebounds a night he doesn't need to be a Star and I'll be good with it
Another solid game. 12 points on 6-7 shooting and 5 blocks. I am concerned that Valanciunus seemed to be able to control the boards. Only 3 defensive rebounds from Clint isn't a good game. The effort was there, just not the strength.
That's because He is playing next to Andedrson. Valanciunus has teammates who can box out and help him go for boards. Capela has to do 2 peoples job by himself.
