The Next Generation: Clint Capela

Every season the draft brings a fresh infusion of talent to the NBA. In theory this is an even, steady process. In practice, hindsight and historical perspective show that there are borders and boundaries — talent doesn’t just arrive in the NBA, it arrives in generational waves. Sometimes we can’t see these aesthetic dividing lines for decades, sometimes you simply can’t miss them.

The present day NBA appears to be on the cusp of welcoming a remarkable new generation to its forefront — players who are not just incredible but incredibly unique. Players who will not just excel but transform the roles and responsibilities of basketball players as we understand them. Over the course of this week, The Step Back will be examining many of the players who could figure prominently in The Next Generation. Not every player we turn our attention to is destined to be a star, but all could play a role in defining the future of the NBA. Read the whole series here.

The Next Generation: Clint Capela

The Houston Rockets shoot 3-pointers. They push the pace, they run pick-and-rolls, and they snipe like nobody has ever sniped before. They let fly from right behind the line and they fire from several feet beyond it. They’re indiscriminate. With 16 games left in their season, they’ve already launched more treys than all but one team in NBA history. They’re on pace to shatter the all-time attempts record (set by the 2014-15 version of the Rockets) by over 630 tries and smash the makes record (set by last year’s Warriors) by more than 120 connections; and those are probably the low-end estimates considering they’ve been increasing their rate of attempts lately.

James Harden calmly conducts Mike D’Antoni’s offensive orchestra with a precision rarely seen in basketball, threading passes all over the floor to shooters just waiting for the opportunity to rise and fire. Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson, Trevor Ariza, and Lou Williams all take in excess of seven per game, and Harden himself does as well. Add in Patrick Beverley, who’s making 39 percent of over 4.5 attempts a night, and you’ve got six of the highest-level deep shooters in the NBA, all playing for the same team.

Even the down-bench guys and almost all the bigs on Houston have connected on 3-pointers. The long ball is so deeply ingrained in the fabric of the Rockets that each and every player that has stepped on the floor for in more than two games for the team has made at least one trey, except for one: center Clint Capela, who amazingly hasn’t even hoisted a single one.

Read More: Next Generation — Lonzo Ball is unconventionally spectacular

Capela, when you think about it, is something of a throwback center — not to the post-dominating beasts of the 90’s like Hakeem and Shaq and Patrick (he’s finished only 18 possessions out of the post this season, per Synergy Sports data on NBA.com), but to the breed that became en vogue a few years ago before the new crop started getting more and more unicorn-y. He just screens-and-rolls and picks-and-dives and dunks and dunks and dunks — like a Tyson Chandler or DeAndre Jordan clone — and he hammers the boards: his team-leading offensive rebound percentage ranks in the top-20 in the NBA.

The Rockets’ transformation from the least fun team in the NBA last season into the crew that’s been romping through the league this year is far more attributable to D’Antoni and Harden and the bombers, but Capela is also making Houston look smart for its belief that he could easily slide into Dwight Howard’s role — and do it without complaining about a lack of touches on the low block.

Capela’s per-minute numbers were monstrous in a reserve role and this season he’s even taken them to a new level as a starter. Efficiency usually falls off with an increase in usage, but because Capela gets almost all of his offense through teammate-created opportunities at the rim and offensive board mooching, he’s managed to boost his finishing per-36 numbers even while taking a significantly greater number of shots.

The best part: he’s only 22 years old, and a relative neophyte basketball-wise since he’s only been playing since he was 13. The Rockets played the long game when they drafted him out of Switzerland in 2014, shuttling him back and forth to the D-League for a bunch of the 2014-15 season and giving him only 90 minutes with the big club.

Daryl Morey and Co. saw the athleticism and crazy bounce and figured they could mold him into a player with time, and well, they were right. The speed and quickness alone would likely be enough for Capela to be a contributor strictly as a dunker and defender (his rim-protection numbers, per NBA.com’s SportVU data, are on par with those of Anthony Davis), but he seems set on proving there’s more to his game than just that. He’s no Marc Gasol, obviously, but Capela has shown improved feel as a playmaker out of his pick-and-rolls in Year 2 of real minutes. He’s become more comfortable putting the ball on the floor and working his way toward the basket and with wheeling around and shuttling it out to the perimeter when the interior defense collapses on him before he can make his way to the front of the rim.

That’s about as important a secondary skill set as a player in Capela’s mold can have, and while it’s not fully-formed just yet, it’s at least on the way. The way he moves around already has him contributing defensively despite not yet having a crystal-clear understanding what the heck he’s doing out there. A lot of times, he survives on a combination of instinct, timing, and that aforementioned bounce. He’s still got to get completely comfortable. With that comfort will come more minutes; and with more minutes will come greater impact, which can only be good for the Rockets.