Capela finally blossoming
Rockets’ young center is improving with time.
Scott Cacciola PORTLAND, ORE. — The most accurate shooter in the NBA began his career by missing his first field-goal attempt, and his second, and his third — all of them in a span of four seconds after he collected his own rebounds against the Memphis Grizzlies.
It was the start of an unfortunate trend for Clint Capela, then a first-year center for the Houston Rockets. He wound up spending most of the season with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League in between sporadic appearances for the Rockets. It was four months before he finally made his first shot in the NBA, capping a sad string of 11 straight misses in all.
Worse, he bricked his first 15 free throws.
“Yeah,” Capela said, “that was tough.”
Houston general manager Daryl Morey could sense Capela’s potential, or at least had enough faith to believe in it despite his struggles. Capela, only 20 at the time, was long and strong with a sturdy work ethic. But he could not make layups, and forget the small tragedies that befell him at the foul line.
“It was a bumpy start,” Morey said. “There are only so many ‘Hey, everything’s going to be fine’ conversations you can have. It has to seep into someone’s confidence when they’re that young.”
All of which is meant to underscore a simple point: Look at him now.
Going into the weekend, Capela, now in his fourth season, was shooting a leaguebest 65.2 percent from the field while averaging 14 points and 10.9 rebounds in 27 minutes a game for Houston, which set a franchise record for wins this season. The Rockets (64-15 entering the weekend) will be the No. 1 seed when the Western Conference playoffs start this week.
“Knowing where I was four years ago and where I am now, I’m just embracing it,” Capela said in a recent interview before a win against the Trail Blazers.
On a team led by longrange technicians such as James Harden and Chris Paul, Capela, now 23, plies his trade in the immediate Rocktets star, who grew up in Switzerland
‘It just took me time to get comfortable: a new country, a new team, a new system. I was so impressed by everything — being in the NBA. I was just like, “Wow.’’ ’
vicinity of the basket. Of his 655 field-goal attempts in the Rockets’ first 78 games this season, just 13 came from beyond 9 feet, according to statistics compiled by the NBA. But the shots that he does take — a smorgasbord of layups, dunks and sweeping hooks — he tends to make.
The Rockets’ offense, to be clear, does not run through Capela. He uses his 6-foot10 frame to collect offensive rebounds, score on putbacks and occasionally flash a Harden-esque Euro step on drives to the basket. He also defends, blocking 1.9 shots a game. He is a complementary piece, but an essential one, on a high-octane team.
“I’d like to say we’re geniuses on our picks,” Morey said, “but the reality is that he’s even better than what we expected.”
Morey got his first look at Capela during a scouting trip to Europe in 2014, when Capela was playing for Élan Chalon of the French league. Morey recalled that the team had a fun mascot: Scott the Moose. But he was also struck by how Capela ran the floor, set screens and rolled to the basket. He had unusual dexterity for a young man his size.
Growing up in Switzerland, Capela played soccer before switching to basketball at age 13. Out on the court in France, his fancy footwork showed.
In his first season with Houston, Capela was not exactly a polished product. He missed all those free throws. He had greater success with the Vipers, for whom he actually made some shots. But the experience was generally overwhelming.
“It just took me time to get comfortable: a new country, a new team, a new system,” Capela said. “I was so impressed by everything — being in the NBA. I was just like, ‘Wow.’”
Capela’s most consequential lessons began in July 2016, a few months before the start of his third season, when the Rockets hired John Lucas II, the former Houston guard, as their player development coach. One of Lucas’ first assignments was to recalibrate Capela’s shooting technique when the Rockets were in Las Vegas for summer league.
For three weeks, Capela set his alarm for 5 each morning so he could get to the gym with Lucas by 6. As a part of his new morning routine, Capela had to sink 250 free throws, which may not sound like the most arduous undertaking except that he had made only 84 of 234, or 35.9 percent, in his first two seasons.
“Trust me, it was tough,” Capela said. “Oh, my God.”
Capela would practice with the summer league team most afternoons before returning to the gym with Lucas each evening for another 250 makes from the foul line — and however many misses. It helped, Lucas said, that Capela was an enthusiastic student. He craved instruction. They continued their morning routine once they returned to Houston. (In an act of benevolence, Lucas moved the workouts to 8 a.m.)
“I told him that if he worked, he could be one of the best centers in the league,” Lucas said. “I believe that even more now. He’s just scratching the surface.”
Lucas went as far as to compare Capela to — wait for it — Hakeem Olajuwon, a former teammate who happens to be one of the greatest centers in the history of the league. Like Capela, Olajuwon played soccer when he was growing up. Like Capela, Olajuwon had nifty footwork. Like Capela, Olajuwon entered the league with tremendous potential.
But unlike Olajuwon, Capela is not a 12-time NBA All-Star — not yet, anyway.
“There’s so much more to his game than what you see,” Lucas said.