As per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Clint Capela, the star center for the Houston Rockets, agreed to a 4-year, $90 million contract with the team on Friday afternoon. Capela was a restricted free agent, allowing the Rockets to match any deal another team would offer him. But it seemed that at least to MVP James Harden, Capela’s return was inevitable. When asked if he was skeptical about Capela’s offseason moves, he simply responded: “no, not at all.” And Chris Paul, the 9-time All-Star point guard for the Rockets, simply posted a photo of Clint to Twitter with the caption “#RUNITBACK” to voice his excitement for the young star to return.
This deal was one that needed to get done after the Rockets lost major pieces of their offense this offseason. Forward Trevor Ariza joined the Phoenix Suns, while Luc Mbah a Moute landed with the Los Angeles Clippers. They replaced their missing forwards by signing Carmelo Anthony to a 1-year, $2.4 million contract, but still needed to secure their big man, which they finally managed to.
Capela has shown improvement from each of his 4 NBA seasons, and this past year, with no Dwight Howard on the roster any more, Capela exceled his way to having the best season of his young career and becoming known as one of the best defensive centers in the NBA. Last season, he averaged career-highs in PPG (13.9), RPG (10.8), field goal percentage (65.2%), BPG (1.9), SPG (.8), free-throw percentage (56%), minutes per game (27.5), and games played (he stayed healthy for 74/82 regular season games).
Part of the reason for Capela’s flourishing is his ability to thrive under the Mike D’Antoni coaching system, as Capela works mostly around the basket, catching lobs, finishing tough lay-ups in the post, and crashing the offensive glass for easy points. And his defensive presence is second-to-none, as he averages nearly 2 blocks per game. He is the big man that the Rockets need in order to match the defending champion Golden State Warriors.
Capela voiced his opinion on why he deserved a nice contract extension, citing his work ethic. Back in may, he told reporters the following:
“Just because I know where I came from, I know how much work and focus that I’ve put into this. I’ve wanted to make myself important to the team. I’m just glad that now everybody sees it. It just gives me more motivation and confidence to continue what I’m doing.”
And his work ethic and sky-high limit is why he got the extension he wanted. Look for the Rockets to be the team next year that has the best chance to dethrone the defending champs.
Feature Image via Dreamstime/Alexey Novikov
