After 12 seasons, Clint Capela’s days of being an NBA-caliber center are gone.
Capela was a foundation of the early Trae Young era, holding down the paint with incredible effectiveness on a team that didn’t play much defense. He was the prototypical rim-running big on offense, setting screens and finishing lobs from Young. There was little flash or glitz to Capela's game; he did what nobody else wanted to.
He moved back to Houston, where his career began, in a record-breaking seven-team sign-and-trade this offseason. As the third-string center behind All-Star Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams, Capela has not been asked to do much this season outside of holding down the Rockets’ interior defense for spot minutes.
Capela is still a strong interior defender who can wall off the paint when in the proper position. Unfortunately for the Rockets, this is about all the Swiss big man can do at an NBA level. He struggles to move his feet well on defense, limiting his effectiveness when teams draw him outside the paint.
On offense, Capela is no longer converting his easy looks at the rate he should. He is just a hair above league-average in true shooting percentage, even though every single shot he has taken has been from within 10 feet.
The Rockets will struggle to move off Capela’s contract
The worst part for the Rockets (although the best part for Capela) is that they just committed to paying their third-string center $7 million annually over the next three seasons. This $7 million price tag is already far too expensive for a third-string player, and Capela will only continue to regress with time.
Big men like Capela have a place in this league. He was one of the best defenders in the world for a long time despite not having the freakish athletic tools of a Rudy Gobert or Giannis Antetokounmpo. He also understands the value of playing his role, a task many rim-running bigs never seem to grasp.
The Pelicans currently employ DeAndre Jordan to serve as a mentor for their young center duo of Derik Queen and Yves Missi. This is the role Capela should have in today’s NBA, not as a player who could be asked to play serious playoff minutes if one of Houston’s centers falls to injury.
The Rockets have no young centers who need a mentor, and they have much better uses for $7 million. The storybook ending of Capela riding into the sunset on the team that first took a chance on him, just as they reemerge as Finals contenders, was too good to be true – the Rockets are going to shop him as they look for a final piece to add to their already dangerous squad.