Houston Rockets center Clint Capela is off to a hot start on the hardwood and he’s making an early to case to win NBA’s Most Improved Player honors. How so?
The talented Harden-era HoustonRocketshave struggled for years with cleaning up missed shots and creating opportunities via the all-important rebound. WithClint Capela’s phenomenal early season rebounding improvement, could that issue now be resolved?
The new-look HoustonRocketsfeature two of the NBA’s last three MVP Award winners on the same roster. While much has been speculated concerning how a team featuring the playing styles of bothJames HardenandRussell Westbrookmight function, perhaps the biggest surprise concerning the HoustonRockets’ emerging chemistry and identity is center, Clint Capela.
Capela’s early-season campaign by the numbers
The HoustonRocketshave completed slightly less than 15 percent of their 82-game season. And though there remains so much basketball ahead for theRockets, Capela’s rebounding and blocked shot averages might tempt voters for the NBA Most Improved Player Award to do somethingthey haven’t done since 2006—elect a center as the annual winner.
Capela’s rebounding for this season has been top-notch. Most prominently, for three consecutive games spanning a mere five days in November, the 6-foot-10, 240-pound center successfully secured 20 rebounds per contest. It’s 11 games into his season and theRockets‘ starter possessesthe sixth-bestrebounds per game average in the NBA as well as the second-best average in the Western Conference behind only Utah Jazz center,Rudy Gobert.
Capela’s 137 total rebounds rank him atfifth in the NBAafter 11 games played. Additionally, theRockets‘ center isninthin the NBA in total offensive rebounds andsixthin defensive rebounds—good for a ratio of offensive to defensive rebounds of roughly 1-to-3. Also impressively, Capela currently ranks in fifth place in the NBA, averaging2.2 blocks per game, with 24 total on the early season thus far.
The Swiss veteran iscurrently listed as day-to-dayfollowing a potential concussion suffered in a contest against the Los Angeles Clippers. Hedid not playin last night’s matchup against the Indiana Pacers, and remains doubtful for tonight’s contest against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Could Clint catch any NBA rebounding records?
Though Capela has played in only 11 games, the following calculation represents a projection of where theRockets’ big man could end up at the end of the current 82-game regular season,providedhe does not cool off: at a current average of 12.5 total rebounds per game, the center could finish the season in the neighborhood of approximately 1,020 rebounds. Needless to say—in addition to staying the course or cooling off—Capelamightbe coming into his own as an elite NBA rebounder and may even increase his torrid rebounds per game pace as the season progresses.
Interestingly, over the last 25 years, eight players led the NBA in total reboundswith less than 1,000at the end of a season. In other words, 32 percent of the time over the last 25 NBA seasons, a player who accumulated less than 1,000 rebounds finished in first place in total rebounds. So Capela finishing with 1,000 reboundsmightbe enough to lead the NBA in rebounds this season.
However, over the last two seasons, being the league’s top rebounder has required securing north of 1,200 rebounds per season—a feat accomplished by reigning back-to-backannual rebound leader,Andre Drummond, of the Detroit Pistons.
Could Clint set a Rockets’ single-season or career rebounding record?
Only twoRocketshave ever led the league in total rebounds in a single season—NBA Hall of FamersHakeem OlajuwonandMoses Malone. Dream accomplished the feat twice with Houston, while Malone led the NBA in rebounding a whopping six seasons, three of which were with theRockets.
Malone’s 1978-79 contribution of 1,444 rebounds set the HoustonRockets’ franchise record for
total rebounds in a single season—a rebounding total that has beensurpassed only oncesince then in the NBA byDennis Rodman’s 1991-92 campaign. Nonetheless, when Malone set a single-
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season career-high with 1,444 total rebounds, the Hall of Famer averaged more than 41 minutes per game; whereas, Capela,averaging 30.2 minutesper contest, does not project to play nearly enough minutes to get close to Malone’s massive single-season rebounding total.
From a career perspective, the all-time NBA rebounds leader remainsWilt Chamberlain, who accumulated 23,924. Though Capela’s career appears far from over, the 25-year-old currently ranksaround 605thin NBA history with 2,843 total rebounds. The Rockets’ center hasaveraged 9.3 reboundsper game in his six-year career. However, that career average remains negatively skewed by Capela only playing in 12 regular-season contests as a rookie during the 2014-15 season—a season in which he onlyaveraged three reboundsper game.
How many rebounds Capela ends up with over his career—oreven at the end of the 2019-20 season remains anyone’s guess. Nonetheless, one thing is certain: the “Swiss Bank” is reinvigorating weary Rockets fans, giving them hope for investing their faith in a 2020 championship run.
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