Dallas Mavericks: Pros and Cons of trading for Clint Capela

Pro: Roster fit

As discussed, Capela would make the Mavs stronger in their weakest areas: defense and rebounding. Although he doesn’t contribute much individually on offense and is looked at a system player, his fit on Dallas’ roster works well.

The Houston Rockets have the 2017-18 MVP in James Harden and an elite floor general in Chris Paul. Capela’s role on offense consisted of setting picks for the pair and later catching and finishing around the basket.

Harden and Paul are elite passers and able to set Capela up for many easy dunks and baskets.

Similar, Luka Doncic made some impressive lobs to big men DeAndre Jordan, Dwight Powell, and Maxi Kleber in his rookie season. Doncic is a magician with the ball and can make tough passes in traffic, so Capela could have the same role he does in Houston.

Outside of the pick and roll, Capela mostly makes his presence felt by crashing the boards on offense. He averaged 4.4 offensive rebounds per game, good for third in the league, which would help the Mavs get multiple second chance opportunities.

Both Powell and Kleber only played around 21 minutes per game, and Kristaps Porzingis is also coming off a significant knee injury. He could provide quality minutes as the starting center and buys Porzingis time getting comfortable next season.

He also allows Porzingis to play at his preferred position of power forward.

Once Capela and Porzingis are both fully healthy, they’ll prove deadly defending the paint in Dallas. Porzingis ability to stretch the floor and Capela’s willingness to crash the boards will allow them to complement each other on offense as well.