[Lowe] NBA's most intriguing: The players to watch this season (Capela Mentioned)

Ideally Clint would've been a PF since he doesn't really possess the bulk for C, but thankfully the resurgence of small ball around the league has him a decent center...which is actually amazing given his young age IMHO he's only below guys like KaT and Porzingis in terms of immediate impact in the league for big men. It probably also helps that he has Nene on the team, watching him play should enable Capela to improve his game through osmosis since technically Nene is the type of player Capela should develop into.

I'm more concerned about his stamina and inexperience dealing with bigger guys, judging by the way Porzingis had his way with him teams like the Spurs and Grizz should give him a hard time, IMHO this is where Ryan Anderson and the Harden/Gordon should step up and put the team on their backs because I don't like the chances of Capela stopping Marc Gasol or LMA in the post.

 

Does anyone have data on who are the highest rated PnR bigs? Where does Clint fall?

 

http://stats.nba.com/league/player/...r Season&PerMode=Totals&sort=Percentile&dir=1

84%tile

 

23: Drummond, Adams, Anthony freaking Davis.

Younger than Clint: Jokic, Randle, Myles Turner.

Took all of 3 minutes and ignores 24 y/o's like Gobert/Kanter. Also ignores young bigs who, for me at least, are unqualified trades I would do for Clint w/out hesitation- Embiid, Okafor, etc.

So, unfortunately he's quite a bit further down the pecking order than you might imagine league-wide and even assuming appreciable improvement he would have a hard time cracking the top 10 big men 24 and under.

But, to your credit, you illustrated exactly why so much young, big, talent can be so prevalent league wide. The demands of that position and the nuances of playing it aren't what they once were. You can get a lot more done via team defensive concepts and athleticism on offense than you could before when footwork and back-to-the-basket were hallmarks of how bigmen played.

 

Yeah I didn't want to list every young franchise center out there but I meant below franchise level bigs including Davis, Drummond and I guess Adams since the dude has started beasting.

Embiid to me remains to be see and IMHO I'll still take Capela over Okafor since Okafor can't defend and doesn't seem to be athletic enough to be an elite PNR guy. Regardless I think Capela is in that tier 2 below the franchise guys, I don't knwo if he's gonn abe voted an allstar later on but I do think he has enough talent to be an all star.

 

Using success-rate stats to say which big is best in a two-man game is like using target/completion data to say who is the best wide receiver in the NFL -- A lot depends upon the passer. Or like trying to apply success-rate stats to say who is the best backdoor cutter in the NBA.

When did stats in basketball become the be all and end all. Sigh

 

Moot point on Okafor but objectively I would submit that Okafor has more value than Capela. Littany of reasons but succintly: 2 yrs younger and already a dominant set of tools on one side of the ball + a skillset which will age much better than one largely driven by athleticism as the lone above average component.

The main point is, I didn't really try to "list every young franchise center...", my post literally took 3 minutes, lol. I'm a huge believer in Clint, and I believe he's a great, not good, fit for this specific team led by Harden. That said, unless there are 10 guys in tier 1 and upwards of another 10 in tier 2 - he's not clearly in tier 2 yet.

Tier 2, for me, means he probably starts for 22 to 25 teams in the league. I would submit that number is more like 7 to 10, maxing out in the low teens. Give this specific exercise some thought and if you feel differently than I do, I'd be very curious to hear your feedback. Tier 2 young bigs need to start for way more teams than Clint. Simple.

We're both on the same page vis-a-vis what counts: GO ROX

 

Wonderful growth shown offensively by Clint this year. In particular his low post footwork, soft touch around the basket and offensive repertoire in the post. I also like his more decisive decision making and improving range on defense. And I've included a few old posts below which support that I was early, and often, on the CCAP train. In fact, I was likely far more bullish far earlier than on court performance merited, but his potential for a PnR scheme was oozing off the screen - eye test, check.

Now, I say that to say this: Clint is a great fit for us, but there are easily 10 bigs 25 and under I would trade him for straight up - several are actually younger.

The point isn't to knock Clint, the point is to make sure we aren't sleeping on the revival of big men around the Association. I really think the displacement of the traditional low-post brute skillset with one underpinned by versatility on defense, range-shooting, and court-vision fueled passing is in part behind the revival. Call it an evolution if you prefer. And, like most winds of change, it took the league time to adapt. We basically went a generation of players with Shaq, D12, and their paint-constrained offensive skillsets as the torch bearers for bigs in the league. But that sacrifice was to pave the way for this generation - Nikola Jokic's transcendent game might itself be worth the entire wait.

It's been a guards league for ~20 years, but by 2020 that will find equilibrium if not begin to tilt the scales back in the direction of bigs. It's a generational (WRT NBA players) change taking place before our eyes. Pretty cool to watch.

I'm just looking ahead to the playoffs and the fact that 95% of our offense is outside-in. Some would call that a one trick pony. The pony is best in show mind you but a one trick pony nonetheless. Easier to contain/stop over 7 games than it is for just one game. If we can acquire a playmaking big, and obviously they are an uber rare commoddity still, I now consider that our primary need for the postseason.

CF, who is that guy? Do we even need that guy? Is that guy a troughed-value, disgruntled, Nurkic? Does his FT shooting lack of range outside the paint overwhelm his beastly rebounding and paint presence on defense? I laughed at some of the trade suggestions that NUGGETS fans made for their own guy - an injury and rotation upheaval away from being viewed as their future starter at Center.

http://www.denverstiffs.com/2017/1/...ed-prior-to-the-deadline-denver-nuggets-trade

A writer for a Nugget's fan site places Nurkic's value at a significant premium vs the fans above.

http://nugglove.com/2017/01/01/4-trades-jusuf-nurkic/2/