Is Clint Capela really the answer at the C position?

Cousins hates CP3. He would likely try to strangle him, the dude is an emotional lesbian.

 

how would GS do against a lineup of

CP3
Harden
Gordon
Ariza, or Tucker, or Moute
Cousins

honestly, I think we could go at least 6 games against GS with Cousins

Draymond won’t be able to roam around and help on defense because he’s gonna have to deal with DeMarcus and try to keep him off the boards

Cousins has issues, but we are 1 of the few organizations equipped to handle him...we have guys in the locker room like CP3, Tucker, and Ariza to keep him in line...we will be the 1st winning organization that Cousins has played for, and that could do wonders for him

 

What team has a better chance to win than us with Harden and this supporting cast? How would CP3 get there? We're positioned to be in the second tier of the West with SA and OKC. There is a risk of CP3 leaving, but greener pastures are in short supply. All contending teams are either capped out or don't need him.

There is a bigger risk in trading Capela for Cousins this season. Capela is a decent young center we can lock up for years. Cousins can bolt at the end of the season and will have suitors. He's younger than CP3 and not necessarily looking to play second fiddle to Harden. Most importantly, he hasn't chosen Houston like CP3 has. Unless you really think he would help us beat GS this year, I'd rather pursue Cousins in the offseason where we could lock him up for years rather than taking a chance on him leaving. Can we trade Capela for Cousins in the offseason?

 

How many coaches did Cousins go through in Sactown? I'm not blaming him for all the turmoil within that organization because Lord knows they've been horribly run for over a decade. But you would think if he was such a great player that they would've sniffed the postseason at least one time. Harden was traded to a rebuilding Rockets team in 2012-13 and got them to 45 wins and the 8th seed in his first season here. And that was with a moron like McFail on the sidelines. I'm just not sold on Cousins. He's incredibly talented, but he seems like he's not worth the headache.

 

Not sure where you got that whole Cousins hates CP3 thing from. How players react to one another on the court is quite different than off the court. Cousins reacting angrily to a flop doesn't mean he dislikes CP3, it means he hated the flop. Unsure if you have ever played ball, but it's easy to be enemies on the court when your friend is on the other team. Point is, CP3 becomes much more likable when he's on your team.

We used to think the same of Melo until that whole thing happened. Things change rather quickly in the NBA. I didn't say it would happen, just said that if the Rockets don't show they are aggressive and another team pops up and gives him a chance to play on another team why wouldn't he walk?

Also, yes, I know the risk of Cousins walking...but you have to ask yourself, is this lineup getting past GSW? If not, how long are you willing to wait for the perfect superstar to fall in your lap? I'm all for going for it now, you never know when your window is completely shut down by some random event like a major injury or something.

 

You guys still trying to trade Capela after last night especially for Cousins are clueless about value

 

He went through a bunch of losing coaches while losing a bunch of games, just like other great Bigs have been losing. (KAT, AD, Embiid, Kristaps)

It doesn't mean he isn't a great player, because he clearly is.

 

I've been streaming most of the games. I always listen to the opposing team's feed. Almost every game the opposing announcers rave about Capela and talk about how under rated he is. Hubie Brown did the same. But in this thread, people seem completely oblivious to how lucky we are to have this kid.

I'm not sure if he'll ever be an All-Star, but I am sure that if he isn't it won't be because he didn't try hard enough or want it bad enough. Give me a kid like that every time.

p.s. DeMarcus Cousins would make us the worst defensive team in basketball.

 

The answer? That question is a fluid one. I still like him but if we could get an elite PF or SF, he would be the answer to get such a player.

 

This was one season after flopping against him...

 

Yeah, I know about that. This doesn't mean he hates Chris Paul though and wouldn't want to play with him.

 

Per basketball-reference.com

Cousins (17/18: 1 game vs Grizz):
28 pts, 38.0 mins, 9 FGM, 21 FGA, .429 FG%, 2 ORB, 8 DRB, 10.0 TRB, 111 ORtg, 101 DRtg, 32.5 USG%, 26.4 PER

Capela (17/18: 2 games vs GSW/Kings):
17.0 pts, 23.5 mins, 8 FGM, 11 FGA, .727 FG%, 3 ORB, 7.5 DRB, 10.5 TRB, 125 ORtg, 100 DRtg, 24.5 USG%, 34.9 PER

Just a tale-of-the-tape after a few games (small sample size)

Not saying that Capela is better than Cousins....just that Capela is adequate for the Rockets needs.
I love Cousins ability to knock down some 3’s....but I don’t care for his attitude while on the court.
Wish he would just play ball without the chit-chat arguing with refs. Just play ball.

P.S. biggest stat of all: Cousins $18.1 mil while Capela gets $2.33 mil this season

 

Capela has improved every season. Thats the value. No one knows his peak. Maybe Morey knows and thats why he wins trades for the most part.

 

I respect you wanting to go all out to compete against the Warriors this year, but I don't think Cousins is the kind of guy you push your chips in for. Guys like Lebron and CP3 are no brainers to add regardless of their free agency status, just solid superstars on both ends of the court. Paul George would be in the next tier, where you take a chance he might go to the Lakers and still trade for him as long as it's not too much.

Melo and Cousins are in the next tier. They are talented, yet flawed players that might elevate our ceiling. You only trade for them if it makes sense. If we wanted Melo, we easily could have traded Gordon or Capela for him but it wouldn't be worth it. I used to advocate trading for Cousins when a second star was hard to come by, but there will be better options. I'm not into taking any chances with him. If we traded for him and he left it would be too great of a setback. Pursue him when we can lock him up long term, not before.

 

I agree, Rockets need more defense from 5 spot, not less.

 

I'm not sure about this as Rockets would likely have to send Anderson to offset salary. I would assume Morey could find a way in the CBA to keep Paul and have money for Lebron or some other max/near max guy if Anderson was off the books.

 

I don't think he is underrated, but we definitely need more defense and consistent rebounding from the 5 spot. Capela can't rely on just P/R's on offense, he needs to develop a mid-range jumper, and post moves.

 

Why can't he rely on P/R offense? IMO Capela is limited in what he will be offensively in this league. The Rockets don't need him to develop a mid range shot because he will never use it here. He doesn't need to develop a post game because he won't use it here either. What he needs to get better at is not being backed down and keeping his intensity going all game long. He also needs to finish around the rim and stop dropping passes that he should catch.

The rockets don't necessarily need an offensive all star talent at center, although it would be a nice luxury. The rockets also don't have time to develop capelas post game and mid range game because we are in win now mode. So we don't have time for him to go through growing pains on the offensive end.

If we could get Cousins for Capela, that would be magnificent. I feel it's worth the gamble if we are all in. I'd do it. It's a risk though because Boogie has that cancerous history he carries with him, so even with a good locker room, one player can **** it all up. Look at when we had Dwight, we had a pretty good locker room full of good guys and we still imploded.

 

9/21 FG shooting for a 6'11, 270 post player is impressively terrible.

Granted, Capela is mostly just a lob catcher. But it works for us, like you said.

 

his FG% will never be impressive, he takes a lot of jumpers and plays more like a perimeter player than a post up big...9 of his 21 shots were from 3 and he also took some shots from midrange

a lot of jump shooting bigs don’t have a great FG%...Marc Gasol went 6-18 from the field in that very same game and shot 46% from the field last season as a 7’1, 255 lb big for example

even tho he went 9-21 from the field, his TS% in that game was still 57% which is solidly above average because he got to the line 8 times...he also contributed 10 boards and 7 blocks while being the only player on the Pelicans that had a positive +/- in that game