capela is rare that he is raw and athletic but still has bball IQ with a willingness and teachability factor. dont trade this guy
Capela has ceiling of DeAndre Jordan with better shooting. He can add weight and work on his FT's and mid-range game. He may be elite defender after all because of his athletism and lenght. I rather pay him 3M$ in 3years and see him fail than trade him for scrubs and watch how he becomes a star in the league.
He is raw - that's not even being argued. However, he's probably in the best place to be developed, and as we all have attested, bigs usually take several years to develop. I think he's a diamond in the rough and has potential to be a more complete player if we (him included) are willing and patient to put in the work necessary.
His trade value is zero because we ain't trading him. He just turned 21 and has loads of potential. Backup center is a critical position for the Rockets given Dwight's injuries this past season, the possibility that he may have to sit out B2Bs next year(and beyond), and the fact that Joey Dorsey is a horrible NBA player. Besides, doesn't everyone wanna see how good this guy could become as he gains more experience and bulks up? Look at what he was able to do after just a handful of minutes on the floor late in the regular season. Imagine what he could accomplish playing an entire season as the backup 5.
Those who favor trading Capela for a draft pick or some past his prime player also would have traded Serge Ibaka after his first year. For heaven's sake, have some patience.
In the words of Jeff Van Gundy - "I understand what you are saying.... But I could not disagree with you any more" I sometimes wonder what games people are watching. At the very least Capela is at least a guy who can give you what a Sam Dalembert would for the past couple years. And he's making a rookie contract for 3 more years. I'm all for going into camp assuming he's not "The Guy" to eventually replace Dwight or whatever, but he's at the very least competent as a rim protector/rebounding 5, and with a little bit of strength training can be one of the best backups in the league as early as next year. You don't really need him to give you much more than he's already giving. He's already an upgrade from Dorsey & Black from earlier in the year. If the Rockets see a true center they want to draft I still think they should do it. If they have an open roster spot, and can snag a veteran with a min signing who can backup Dwight they should do it as well. I'm all for Capela having competition in camp. But openly saying that he's a "pile-o-poo" and TRYING to trade him for whatever is foolish, and not surprising to be coming from the BasketballHollic Citadel of Lunacy.
I think the play of Capela has been one of the bright spots for the team this year, after dealing with Yao and his injuries, then Chuck Hayes and Joey Dorsey backing up Howard/Pissed Asik, having a young kid immediately play some big minutes and crack the rotation is huge for us.
Pleaaaseee. Name these young athletic bigs that are contributing at such a young age at such an inexperienced state, making such little money while not being a bust. Dont trip, I'll wait......
Henry Sims, Ezili, Meyers Leonard, Aaron Gordon to name a few. There is quite a bit more. Of course some of these guys are 25, but also haven't been playing against grown men since they were 16 like Capella.
Guys, You guys are all homers and see everyone on our team as a big trade asset that can snatch us Lowry, Love, Aldridge, Bosh, Dragic, Rondo. Imagine if you posted this "trade" on their forums... they would puke all over it and ban you from their message board. Capella has little to NO trade value. He had more playing time in the playoffs as a hack-a-shaqer than contributing to rebounds/blocks/points. He was in the D-League for a reason. We had to put him in the game due to unforeseen injuries to everyone. Had no one been injured it would've been Capella who? He's too weak to be a back up C and I highly doubt he'll ever be able to have a post up game or shooting of any kind. I bet if Terry got injured and Nick Johnson had all his minutes people here would be saying the same thing. "NO WAY we trade Nick for Lowry he's the up and coming start PG for the Rockets - his defense is legit and better than Beverley". "Let Beverley go to FA we have Nick Johnson". "Nick Johnson is the next Sam Cassell" Ridiculous! Same with Dmo, Jones, and all the other garbage assets (besides Harden, Howard and Ariza) all have flaws in their game one way or the other. The entire league can see this and no one would give us their good assets for these scrubs on their teams. I would take David Lee (who the GSW have as their 12th man) instead of Dmo, Jones, Capella in these playoffs, at least then we knew what we would be getting. Don't get me wrong I hope Dmo, Jones, Capella get better but I highly doubt that'll happen. The greatest asset on the team was this year's draft pick (prior to NO getting the 8th seed) and NYK's 2nd round. We need to use these picks to either move up in the draft to get an upgrade PG/PF or trade them for a veteran PG/PF who will contribute to this team in 2016.
I want him to change his number to #4 so I can start calling him C-4. Every time he dunks, it's an explosion.
Short of a third star via sign and trade (Alridge, Love), Capela isn't going anywhere until we have Dwight locked up beyond his current contract. Good defensive centers are not easy to come by and they aren't going to let go of one easily in the middle of Harden's prime.
Capela being moved or not moved at this point has nothing to do with Dwight. His future here is not linked to Dwight. If he's still here next year and he outperforms then possibly they become linked at that time. But not at present.
Aaron Gordon is a of and injured. Wrong. Meyers Leonard even though I like, isn't athletic or with the potential. Wrong. Ill give you Ezeli only because of this series other wise he has been nothing (same with capela except he did all post season his rookie year instead of third). Sims. No. To your credit you missed gorgiu dieng and Hassan whiteside (even thought he's starting looking for a pay increase). Id say you missed the stieffel tower but he's a starter looking to make max money soon. Similar to deAndre. So honestly. All those guys are solid contributers and we are comparing Capella to them. Yet Capella is younger and cheaper on a favorable contract full of potential. He has a ton of value. More so than some you mentioned. Yet, I agree he isn't worth a top 10 pick because, well, hardly anyone is. Ariza isn't, and he's by far our best non superstar. But his potential and contribution, not to mention being a center, is worth a 10-20 pick easy. But don't trade him, hes worth more than his value because he's worth a top 7 pick but we won't get that
Raw bigs are always interesting. Capela has enormous potential. But I don't know that he'll fully realize it on his rookie contract. Which means someone will have to take a big risk on his 2nd contract to get the chance for him to actually realize it. Will you end up with Zach Randolph/Jermaine O'Neal or Jonathan Bender/Tskitshvili/Darko/Kwame? Are you willing to pay the MLE to find out? To a degree, we're about to go through this with D-Mo. Luckily, he seems to have figured it out slightly early enough to make it less of a risk, but he came in more polished (and older). Hard to look forward and know, but it's hard to imagine Morey paying for that risk if I guess where Capela will be at that stage of development. Knowing that and knowing this team's position (ready to go for it all), I'd lean towards trading him now.
Don't trade this guy for anything but a proven player or a top 15 pick that fills an immediate need. I feel like Clint got a taste of the NBA and will use what he learned to maximize his summer. I will be surprised if he doesn't show up to training camp carrying noticeably more muscle and with a more polished game. He has good footwork and good instincts. It's no accident that he is so often in the right place at the right time to score, rebound and block shots. Sure, in some ways he is raw but in others he seems to have skills that can't be taught.
I'm surprised at the number of people who feel Capela has little value. His length and explosiveness is obvious. But he has a great feel for moving in space, when to hesitate and when to roll. More importantly, he has hands that many bigs (I'm looking at you Dwight) would die for. And his ability to shuffle, slide and defend against multiple moves on the perimeter is very advanced. He really needs to put on some weight and muscle but that can be done. If he were a potential draftee, I just don't see where he would slide to the second half of the draft. And why would you deal him for a non lotto pick when he is exactly the kind of player you're trying to hit on (baskeballholic, I'm looking at you). Maybe folks want players with less fantastic upside but with more clearly definable and refined NBA ready game and body. I don't know. I just see a fairly rare commodity in Capela and think GMs would value him fairly highly.
