Houston Rockets: How the team felt about possibly losing Clint Capela

The Houston Rockets were able to ink Clint Capela to a five-year, $90 million deal but was there doubt that he’d leave H-Town? It’s time to take a dive.

The Houston Rockets are likely complete with assembling their roster for the 2018-19 season. Although there’s always room for some margin for error in my predictions for Daryl Morey with his next move, I think the guys that are currently signed will be what the team rolls with.

I do have my hopes pinned on the Houston Rockets swinging a trade for Kent Bazemore but with Ryan Anderson already shipped to the Phoenix Suns along with De’Anthony Melton, Morey has traded away two of the team’s most valuable yet expendable chips to put on the block.

Trying to complete a swap now with the Atlanta Hawks would severely impact chemistry with most of this roster having been brought back into the fold for the upcoming season.

So let’s review the upcoming season, shall we? The Houston Rockets were able to re-sign Chris Paul to a four-year, $160 million max deal while inking Carmelo Anthony, James Ennis and Michael Carter-Williams to veteran’s minimum. The team allowed wing defenders Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute to chase free agency, being able to net respective paydays totaling $19.3 million between the both of them.

You already know about the Anderson/Melton trade that allowed the team to hopefully reap the possible rewards of Brandon Knight and Marquese Chriss.

But perhaps that biggest prize of the off season is being able bring Clint Capela back into the trenches once again. Trying to get his pact complete seemed laborious and painstaking for those on the outside looking in but the Houston Rockets would like to paint a different picture as such.

Here’s how key members of the Houston Rockets felt about Capela’s contract situation from a piece that Kelly Iko of the Athletic penned recently:

"“The question was never if Capela and Houston would strike a deal, it was a matter of when. “We both wanted to get it done, it just takes time,” owner Tilman Fertitta said. “It could have dragged out another month — we didn’t want to do that, Clint didn’t want to do that.” Other members of Houston’s brass expressed no doubt that he would return. “Oh, we’re not worried about stuff like that,” [Mike] D’Antoni said. On if he ever had concerns about getting the deal across the finish line, [James] Harden simply replied, “Nah.”"

Even though it was late June, I remember it vividly. The rumors of Capela receiving big money offers from other teams just did not surface. There were teams that had interest but none seemed to make a solid offer for the versatile center’s services.

You can thank LeBron James for deciding to opt out of his deal because he then became the

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highly-coveted free agent that everybody wanted. The Los Angeles Lakers, of course, won him but there’s no doubt that the King received offers as large as the span of this great continent.

Plus, except for a chosen few, many teams are cash-strapped as they decided to jump into spending frenzy in the 2016 off season when the salary cap exploded and now they’re handcuffed without the cap flexibility that’s needed to land a player like LeBron.

The Houston Rockets were mired in that situation with Ryno and it made it worse that he was not meeting expectations to succeed as a power forward with this team.

Capela knew all along that he wanted to stay in H-Town but he just wanted a fair, reputable deal to validate the hard work that he had put in over the past five seasons. He truly has come a long way from the lanky, awkward-looking project out of Switzerland some time ago. He’s now a force to be reckoned with on the team’s front line and will now be for many seasons to come.

I’m just glad he’s back and it truly was one of the headliners this season that made me grin in jubilation from ear-to-ear. I still believe this guy has the goods to win Defensive Player of the Year honors as he improved so much in that regard and truly is what I like to refer to as a “new age” center, being able to adjust with the changing times of the NBA revolving more around the guard rather than the big man.

That’s why it didn’t work for Dwight Howard and why Capela has been thrust into the position of being a paint warrior and the ultimate rim-protector. Let’s all keep an eye on his progression — I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Next. Three reasons why James Harden can repeat as MVP. dark

Capela, 24, 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 last season, all career-highs.

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