Houston Rockets: How Clint Capela can steal the Most Improved Player Award

Comparing Capela’s stats with the nominees

Let’s talk about Capela’s improvement — he averaged 13.9 points, 10.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks off 65.2 percent shooting from the field and 56 percent from the charity stripe which are all career-highs.  His numbers are up from averaging 12.6/8.1/1.2 and shooting .643/.531 in 2016-17.

This is enough for him to be nominated for the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award along with two other nominees in the Indiana Pacers’ Victor Oladipo and the Brooklyn Nets’ Spencer Dinwiddie.

Let’s compare their seasonal stats with Capela’s:

Victor Oladipo

2016-17:  15.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.2 steals and a shooting line .442/.361/.753

2017-18:   23.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.4 steals and a shooting line of .477/.371/.799

Spencer Dinwiddie

2016-17:  7.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists and a shooting line .444/.376/.792

2017-18:   12.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 6.6 assists and a shooting line of .387/.326/.813

Defensive Rating

Clint Capela

2016-17:  105.9

2017-18:  104.1

Victor Oladipo

2016-17:  102.1

2017-18:  102.9

Spencer Dinwiddie

2016-17:  106.3

2017-18:  108.9

Defensive Win Shares

Clint Capela

2016-17:  .025

2017-18:  .035

Victor Oladipo

2016-17:  .051

2017-18:  .049

Spencer Dinwiddie

2016-17:  .023

2017-18:  .020