As Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young has shown, great players will get theirs and impact the game one way or another. That is an important caveat when discussing another Hawks starter, center Clint Capela.
Capela has seen his production and playing time fall to ominously low levels this season all while the annual cycle of trade rumors surrounds him.
He remains an understatedly effective player.
Clint Capela’s warts show worst against NBA’s elite
Capela boasts the third-best on-off differential among the Hawks players this season, per Cleaning The Glass. His differential is 8.9 points better than his top backup, Onyeka Okongwu, who the Hawks are said to be ready to insert into the starting lineup.
However, in matchups like the Hawks have against the Los Angeles Lakers, in which Capela matches up against the elite centers in the game, Atlanta remains at a clear disadvantage.
Moreover, there is a simple explanation for why that will continue if Capela remains the starter.
Taking Davis as an example, Capela is 12-6 in their head-to-head meetings. But he did most of his winning versus Davis while the two were with their previous teams, the Houston Rockets and New Orleans Pelicans, respectfully.
Capela and the Hawks are 2-2 against Davis’ Lakers, but the former has never outscored his counterpart in any of their matchups but has held his own in all other facets of the game.
Davis is a special player, but that is the point about Capela.
He is not a scorer, with nothing to offer outside of lobs and dunks. That is all the Hawks really ask him to do on that end, so he is doing his job. He makes consistent and valuable contributions on the glass, as an outlet, and defensively.
But so long as Capela is the Hawks’ starting center, they will always be playing against the elite bigs on just one side of the floor which means opponents expand half the energy they should.
Of course, with Okongwu that side is offense only.
Okongwu’s impact on defense ranks even worse than Capela’s offense, and the duo’s history of injuries is also ominous. As currently constructed, the Hawks need both big men healthy to replicate what the game’s elite centers do.
It can also be informative on how the Hawks can ascend to that level as a team. They must find an elite center that complements Young and Jalen Johnson.
That is easier said than done, to be sure.
Road tripping
This will be Game 3 on the Hawks’ six-game road trip, their longest of the season. The impacts of their injuries are clear. But the fatigue of being on the road could start to set in soon, and the lack of depth due to those injuries becomes an even bigger issue.
That may have been the case against the Nikola Jokic and Denver Nuggets.
The Hawks trailed the Nuggets 74-71 at halftime. But they finished with a 139-120 loss. It was an improvement over their first meeting (141-111).
The Hawks have played an equal number of home and road games and are coming off a four-game road trip. So, the question the Hawks will have to answer is whether or not that was the result of facing the Nuggets or a sign that the road trip is getting to them.
Controlling your (opponent’s draft pick’s) destiny
The Hawks control the Lakers’ 2025 first-round draft pick, currently projected at No. 22 overall. A win would help move the pick closer toward the top of the draft.
It would also move the pick the Hawks owe to the San Antonio Spurs back.
The Hawks also control the Sacramento Kings’ 2025 first-round pick, so long as it falls anywhere from No. 13 overall to No. 30. The Kings have won back-to-back games to snap their six-game losing streak, which is good news for the Hawks.