3 lingering questions for the Houston Rockets
2. What type of role will Clint Capela have moving forward?
Clint Capela’s return to the lineup has been nothing but positive for the Rockets since the All-Star break has wrapped up. Despite missing 15 games due to ligament damage in his thumb, he’s returned as a staple in the team’s offense and a deadly weapon out of the pick-and-roll.
However, Capela has only eclipsed the 20-point mark once since his return, and it begs the question as to whether he’s just easing back into the game, or if Houston’s offense is still very Harden-dominant. While Houston doesn’t particularly need Capela to score big numbers to secure a win, his contributions are certainly helpful. The Rockets are 11-3 this season when Capela scores 20 or more points.
While he’s proved to be worth every bit of the five-year, $90 million contract he signed last summer, he may miss out on two big performance-based incentives this year, which might actually be beneficial for the Rockets on the cash front.
It’s becoming increasingly likely Clint Capela won’t earn either $500K bonus, for 65% FT (currently 62.4%) or 30% DREB (currently 26.6%), which would give Rockets $963K of room below luxury tax. (For perspective, to sign a player at min counts $8,546/day, and season ends 4/10).
— Albert Nahmad (@AlbertNahmad) March 4, 2019
The Rockets aren’t nearly as invincible this year with the trio of Paul, Harden and Capela as they were in 2018, but the offensive strategy has changed, if not temporarily, for the foreseeable future with a red-hot James Harden. We have yet to see how that will impact Capela.