With Clint Capela out for the foreseeable future, we explore how the Houston Rockets will cope with the absence of the big man
It has been confirmed. Clint Capela, the blossoming young center for the Houston Rockets, will miss 4-6 weeks with a broken fibula. This injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Rockets, with the team on a 10 game winning streak and only a game and a half behind the San Antonio Spurs for second in the Western Conference.
The question now is: how do you cope with the loss of Capela?
The short answer is that you can’t. No frontcourt player currently on the Rockets’ roster provides the rim protection and lob-catching capabilities that Capela does. In fact, each of the frontcourt players the Rockets will use to mitigate Capela’s loss has a major weakness in their game.
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Nene is simply too slow on the defensive end to contest shots at the rim at a significant rate, Ryan Anderson lacks any sort of presence on defense, Montrezl Harrell has poor hands and defensive rotations, and Sam Dekker is only a small-ball four who can’t compete down low defensively.
While all of those players provide advantages in their own way, they all have defensive struggles.
The most likely scenario is that more minutes are given to Nene, Harrell, and Dekker, with rookie Chinanu Onuaku being called up from the D-League to provide insurance. In this scenario, the Houston Rockets’ defense (currently 14th in the league in defensive rating) will surely fall. However, the extent to which it will struggle isn’t very clear.
Although Clint Capela is the best (and frankly, only) rim protector on the roster, he hasn’t been playing significant minutes consistently this season. Capela is averaging just 24.5 minutes per game, and in the past ten games, Capela is playing 21 minutes a game. While it is a significant loss, it’s not like the Rockets are losing an elite defensive big man who plays 30 minutes per game.
Nevertheless, the Rockets would be wise to explore the trade market for a big who can replicate Capela’s skill set of providing interior defense and catching lobs from James Harden.
Trade Targets
In terms of big men who may be on the market, the obvious target would be Nerlens Noel, who has quickly fallen out of favor with the Philadelphia 76ers. Noel can provide that defensive presence down low while also being a threat in the pick-and-roll. The question is: do the Rockets have enough assets to make such a trade? Would K.J. McDaniels, Tyler Ennis, and a 1st round pick be enough to secure Noel? It’s highly unlikely.
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Other trade targets could include Willie Cauley-Stein, Tyson Chandler, and Greg Monroe. It will be just as hard to obtain Cauley-Stein because he is a young player who the Kings are high on and control his contract for a couple more seasons.
Chandler is an interesting target because he still has two seasons left on the $52 million contract he signed in 2015, but would surely help a contending team like the Rockets. It’s likely that Chandler would have to accept a buyout in the next year or so if he were to join a contender that can’t afford his contract. Chandler is averaging close to 12 rebounds per game and has a 1.99 DRPM, proving he still has value on the defensive end.
Plus, Chandler can help James Harden in the pick-and-roll and is a threat to catch lobs.
Finally, Greg Monroe doesn’t have the skill set that Capela does, but he is still a presence in the frontcourt who can provide some defense. Monroe has a 98 defensive rating and 1.40 DRPM, so he’s above average defensively. Plus, Monroe provides another offensive player for the Rockets to use in their system should they struggle shooting the three on a given night.
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In the end, it’s most likely that the Houston Rockets won’t be able to complete a trade to obtain the talents of any of the big men discussed above. Rather, more minutes will be given to Nene, Harrell, and Dekker and the Rockets will rely even more on their high-powered offense to stay afloat in the top half of the Western Conference standings during Capela’s absence.