Clint Capela appears destined to put together a career year for the Houston Rockets this season, as the fourth-year center out of Switzerland has played a significant part in helping the team get off to one of its best starts in franchise history.
Despite playing on a team that attempts more shots from beyond the arc than any in the history of NBA basketball, Houston Rockets center Clint Capela has managed to stand out this season by doing the exact opposite.
The 23-year-old big man is currently averaging a career-high 13.3 points and 11.5 rebounds in his fourth season down in Clutch City, and is putting together a campaign that could possibly make him a candidate for the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award.
As of today, Capela leads the league in field goal percentage, shooting a career-best 69.6 percent from the field. He is also posting career numbers across the board, as Capela ranks among the top 10 in Player Efficiency Rating, Player Impact Estimate and True Shooting Percentage.
This leaves many to wonder how has the 25th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft found a way to emerge as one of the game’s breakout stars.
"“He was kind of thrown into the fire once Dwight [Howard] left, but he took it and ran with it,” said Rockets guard James Harden to ESPN‘s Tim McMahon.“He’s listened, he’s worked hard every single day in the weight room, and he just got better. Defensively, he got better. Offensively, he’s so mobile and skilled. His touch around the rim has got better. He just continues to work.”"
Yet Capela is not a player who’s known to score on the block or command a bevy of touches on the post, he is an unconventional 5 that does whatever the Rockets call upon him to do in ball games.
The 6’9”, 240-pound force generates the majority of his offensive production by running the floor, setting screens, crashing the lane and rolling to the rim for dozens of alley-oop lobs courtesy of Harden and Eric Gordon.
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He’s fulfilling the role head coach Mike D’Antoni has carved out for his young star to help Houston make early season waves. The 2016-17 Coach of The Year recently expressed that Capela has what it takes to be more than just an X-factor piece on a championship team.
"“To me it’s just a matter of time,” Mike D’Antoni said, per ESPN‘s Tim McMahon. “I’ll be very surprised if he doesn’t become, if not the best center in the league, one of the best. I’ll be shocked.”“He can get a little bit better at the foul line, and he can get better with his endurance…when he does that, when you say what the modern center should look like, it’ll have his picture there.”"
While D’Antoni might like to play Capela more minutes down the road, no one can deny that he has proven to be arguably one of the Rockets’ most impactful players when he is on the floor.
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Sunday night, Capela put together his eighth double-double on the season, scoring 20 points and hauling in 17 rebounds in Houston’s 118-95 win against the Indiana Pacers. He has also made tremendous strides at the charity stripe, shooting an astonishing 70.3 percent from the free throw line.
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The Switzerland product appears to be on his way to earning a huge payday next offseason, and joining the exclusive company of legendary centers in Rockets lore in the process.