Clint Capela

It took nearly a month of free agency to do it, but the last big free agency name was eventually taken off the board at the end of July. The Houston Rockets finally agreed to re-sign free agent centre Clint Capela to a deal reported to cost them only five years and $90 million, of which only five years and $80 million is guaranteed.

My use of the world "only" there was very deliberate. That is not a lot of money for a player of some calibre, and who is a roughly ideal fit for what the Rockets are doing with their team. It is considerably less than the maximum salary of five years and $147,710,050 (or four years and $109,509,175 with another team) that he could have signed for, and it is a lot less than Houston probably expected they could get him for when headed into free agency. In a tough free agency period in which they lost Trevor Ariza to the Phoenix Suns and Luc Richard Mbah A Moute to the L.A. Clippers, and given a maximum contract to Chris Paul that will be of questionable value in the back end, the Rockets needed to win on this one, and they have done.

In large part, this was due to their patience. Taking this full month allowed the relative impatience of the competition to take effect, and as the other cap space teams spent their money up, Capela quickly ran out of bidders. The Rockets have been significantly aided in this quest, though, not only by Capela's restricted free agency, but also by a flat overall market for 'big men'. [...]

[...] Whiteside in particular is a good point of comparison here for Capela. The two are reasonably similar players; long, wiry-strong five men with good rebounding rates, some natural shot blocking ability, no shooting range and limited offensive skill. Capela is considerably more efficient than Whiteside overall; offensively, he does not insist on getting half-court paint touches (and has both Chris Paul and James Harden to set him up), while defensively, he is more positionally aware, does not overly chase blocks, and steps up to the perimeter more effectively. He is the better player of the two. And yet despite that, he is now on the lesser deal, earning $17.5 million a year versus $24.7 million a year. You could get a whole Dewayne Dedmon in that gap.[...]

Capela could in theory have taken his qualifying offer and re-entered the free agency market in 2019, the one that stands to be a 2016-esque boon for players. It is however easier to take that gamble when you have already made big money once before like Evans, or when your one-year gap-bridging deal is of some significant size like Jordan. Precedent for this is not strong; both Nerlens Noel and Alex Len took their qualifying offers last year, for various reasons, yet both now earn a relative pittance (especially Noel, who went from wanting the maximum to getting the minimum in twelve short months). Having never yet been paid adequately for his services on his rookie contract, Capela will understandably have wanted to start drawing in the big bucks when he could. Houston wanted him to do that, too. But on their terms. [...]

[...] The money for good quality centres, then, is down. But the money to the second and third tier players at all positions has gone down too. And in putting the two together, reconciling the league-wide eye on 2019 with the cap stagflation and incumbent dead post player money, Houston took advantage with their third tier centre. Some teams needed Clint Capela, but only some, and almost no one could afford him. And thus the one team that needed him the most got him back at a discount. Fortune favours the patient.

Clint Capela
C – 6’10, 240lbs - 24 years old - 4 years of experience

In an era of pace-and-space basketball, featuring much more perimeter stuff from the big man spots, there is a special place remaining for those who make no effort to go along with that. Clint Capela is one such player.

Doing what used to be the normal big man thing of leaving the paint only to screen, Capela takes no shots from outside of the painted area, or, at the very least, none from outside the foul line area. He instead offers what seems to now be called ‘vertical spacing’; a presence around the basket and a ability to finish lob passes means defenders are unable to help off of him.

If you have to keep your defender stuck on Capela’s body, he is not going to be able to step up and contest the drive, which is exactly what James Harden wants. And if you do step up, Harden will find Capela for a dunk or a lay-up instead. Damned if you do, etc. It is a simple yet effective formula that relies upon players not only physically capable of performing in this way, but also willing to limit themselves accordingly.

Elsewhere, Capela is an absolutely prodigious rebounder, with a 22.2% total rebounding rate that ranks amongst the NBA’s best. 10.2 win shares from a centre that barely plays half the game is an amazing total, too, and speaks to Capela’s effectiveness within his finishing, rebounding and interior defensive role. With good screens, good timing, good hands, excellent shot-blocking timing and the ability to run the court, Capela is the perfect complement at the centre spot to the rockets guards.

It is therefore a shame that he needs the salary slot that Ryan Anderson is currently taking up.

Player Plan: Entering unrestricted free agency and probably about to get about four years and $80 million or so. The only scenario in which he should be not be kept at that price is one in which LeBron, Giannis, AD or someone equivalent is coming in instead. Otherwise, pay the man.

Clint Capela
PF/C, 6’10, 240lbs, 23 years old, 3 years of experience

Not only did he not struggle in his first year as a full-time starter, but he thrived in it. Capela's athleticism, rolling and running was the perfect compliment to Harden's ability to dissect and D'Antoni's spread offence, while his rebounding sustained what would otherwise be a team weakness, and his rim protection allowed for a four-out approach. He even added 15 points to his free throw percentage, up to a striking 53.1%, mak-ing him one of the best 438 free-throw shooters in the league today. Capela is becoming a star role player, and if an extension can be signed for below his maximum amount, it is worth doing, because at his rate of growth and at this age, he will soon be a max-calibre player. (Note to Dwight Howard: if you played like this, you'd be so much better, so much more popular, and so much more desired by teams. This could have been you. But no, you wanted to be a post-up player.)

Player Plan: One year of rookie scale salary remaining, and extension eligible this summer. Could command quite a lot on the open market. Probably to be maxed beforehand.