Houston Rockets: 3 goals for Clint Capela in 2019-20

1. Earn All-Star nod in the Western Conference

Before missing a month-long period due to ligament damage in his right thumb, Clint Capela appeared to be on a trajectory that would lead him towards earning a spot in one of the league’s premier events.

In a 2018-19 Rockets season that will forever be remembered by fans as the Year of The Beard, Capela would quietly put together an impressive stretch of his own on the way to producing 45 double-double outings on the season.

Including several 20-rebound performances in the process, the center who quietly dominated the likes of Karl Anthony-Towns and Rudy Gobert through the first two rounds of the 2018 playoffs would cement himself as a viable second option for the Harden-led Rockets when Chris Paul was out of the lineup.

Yet in spite of his noteworthy accomplishments, Capela would fall short in regards to garnering enough support and fans to play in last year’s All-Star Game.

A particular honor that would mean a lot to him if ever selected one day, the longest-tenured teammate of James Harden’s career recently took time awhile back to express exactly why he belongs in the ultimate pickup game with his fellow peers:

"“I think I’m an All-Star,” Capela said to reporters last season when asked about it. “I think I’ve been playing at an All-Star level. My numbers are showing that. My team’s winning.” “I have a great impact on that…I’m sure that I’m going to show it. I’m pretty confident in what my team is doing and what I’m doing. My teammates believe in me. I feel pretty good about that…This is what I work for.”"

Although one could assert that the cases for players such as Towns and Nikola Jokic were much stronger than Capela’s to be considered for a flight to Charlotte this past February, earning a spot in the 2020 gala would make for quite the feat for one of the game’s rising young players.

A selection would also show why the franchise sought to invest $90 million into him the previous offseason, as Capela would join an exclusive lineage of legendary Rockets centers to suit up in the exhibition contest.

Capela would also continue to insert his name in the annals of the sport, as he would become the second NBA G League alum to ever play in the annual midseason affair.