CP3 is/was way more than just a backup pg that runs the show when Harden is out. He was/is an elite starting pg despite his age and playing less than 100% of the season before the hamstring. He was our true leader in terms of being a floor general and more importantly he was our best closer and his ball security was crucial to our success. I think the biggest confirmation for me this year was my belief that Harden wasn’t/isn’t a PG. Sure he has many skills of a PG but he should absolutely limit his ball handling duties and having someone else run the point on a regular basis is vital to our overall success. I didn’t like how much he had to handle the ball in previous years. The dude set the all time record for turnovers last year. A record that may never be broken. I too love Harden’s ISO’s when we need buckets and his lobs to Capela were money but his assist to TO ratio were a killer. There’s no debating that. Just like Westbrook... his assists are there but it does no good when you’re also #1 or 2 in leading turnovers. It was evident again in our final 2 games when Harden was primary ballhandler/PG duties.
I mean, every center in the NBA plays bad against the Warriors outside of like Marc Gasol. He dominated every other big in the playoffs and had a near all-star season statwise and is 23. He's going to get a huge contract. Whether he's worth it is up to him. Potential is what contracts are made of for 23 year old players. The idea is that while he may not dominate consistently, the potential is that he could. It shouldn't be a surprise that he had a bad series to a 2x champion center, DPOY. He doesn't have the experience yet to win that matchup.
Is it possible that Capela gets a +-20M offer and comes back to us at a little discount? I know he's young and he really needs the money, but maybe Morey can talk him into giving us maybe a 4M discount for a way higher championship chance (if we ever manage to dump Anderson's contract).
Yep, that sounds about right. He screwed himself, but seems to have righted his ship. He finished the year in Dallas pretty strong for the minutes he got. Very much like Capella, at a lot lower price tag. Maybe even more athletic. But also likely more of a head case.
he must be very smart if he do that because Harden and Paul will make him shine again and that will help him next contract
Unless the plan is to not match him and move under the cap, I can’t see us signing any replacement for him. We’d only have the MLE or Tax MLE to offer and unless we got LBJ to get DJ type to come here on a $5m-ish contract, I don’t see why letting him walk would be a good option. At the very least if you’re going to let him walk and it looks like he’s getting a contract you don’t want to match then trade him for some assets.
I don't know much about the cap, but if we somehow manage to realocate these 4-5M into acquiring a new player, then maybe there's a chance..
Yup, definitely more of a headcase not denying that at all. With that said, Morey is the type of guy to take calculated risks/gambles on upside and is always on the hunt for potential gems/value. I mean he brought in Super cool Beasley from literally out of nowhere China (Shandong Golden Stars who?) and got him to not only produce for us but he was probably our second best scorer in 2016. Hopefully a different (winning) culture and the potential to play for an bigger/long term contract is enough to get Nerlens to act right. Like I said if the guy gets a consistent 25-28 mpg I am confident he can average a double double or close to it for us. 11pts/10 boards/1.5 bpg should be easily attainable for a guy that’s as active, mobile and possesses the athletic finishing ability he has. Basically what it’s gonna boil down to is pay Capela around $20 million per year and be a slave to the cap and roll out a similar core next year or let Capela walk and pay Noel around $4 Million per year and have that cap flexibility for bigger/better/more pieces. Also, Noel basically just turned 24 like Capela. I know 1 thing for a fact. Assuming we don’t move Anderson’s Albatross of a $20M contract and we have $30 Million committed to Harden and commit another $20M to Capela that puts us basically right at the cap limit with the other guys we already have signed and that’s NOT even calculating CP3 or Ariza. No way we go anywhere with $70M tied up between those 3 guys. For any potential FA’s that will sign it’s gonna gonna be way more tempting to join Harden/CP3 as opposed to Harden/Capela. The more I think about it ... he gone for real.
locked in the back as our secret weapon. but it's so secret that he forgot the password and couldn't bring it out.
Capela is great but there's levels to this. Our best lineup against GSW was with Capela on the bench and PJ at the center. Everytime we were in the bonus with clock low they went to hack-a-Capela. You can't gut team for Capela it's something Phoenix would do. It's important for us to sustain him but if dealing Capela + EG means LeBron or Kawhi then I wouldnt even blink while doing it.
Seeing CC walk is really not easy, we watched this guy grow infront of our eyes, but yes most likely some a team is going to throw **** load of money at him and he deserves it, would love DJ as a replacement assuming CC walks
I agree. He actually did a better job defending the GSW guards than JH. I'm not hating on Harden, just accepting the fact that he's the best offensive player in the league. The fact is when you are not good defensively, other teams target you. I can't think of a better center (Draymond is a PF) who can compensate for Harden on the perimeter on defense.
Losing Capela would definitely hurt But IF it cost us CP3 and or LeBron I dunno if that would hurt any less Rocket River
Yes. Noel was averaging close to a double double at end of last season, in limited minutes. and agree with your analysis. It's easy to pick players you like, much harder to deal with actually paying them. Capella is likely going to get grossly overpaid, and its better to let such players go, and pick up someone near his stats, and plug other holes elsewhere.
Capela is a cherry on top of getting Lebron. If you can lock in Capela using RFA after Lebron is here then you do it. If we don’t get Lebron you have to consider letting Capela go if he gets a max offer.
