The Houston Rockets may have been bounced early from the playoffs this year, but they were able to put together another strong regular season in 2018-19.
There are areas they can improve upon, even though there were individuals who had immense success.
Rockets Wire is reviewing each player, starter or second unit, to recap the Rockets’ season.
CLINT CAPELA
The Rockets managed to stay afloat when Capela was sidelined for about a month between January and February. But Houston was clearly a better team in the regular season when the big man took the floor.
Capela posted a career-high in points per game (16.6) and rebounds (12.7) to average a double-double on the year after doing so last season as well. Although he wasn’t able to match his 2017-18 NBA-best field goal percentage (65.2), Capella was still efficient with his 10.9 shots per game (64.8 field goal percentage).
Perhaps most important among all of Capela’s qualities is his ability to protect the rim. The 6-foot-10 center averaged 1.5 blocks per game last season after nearly averaging two a night the year prior. Even when he wasn’t blocking shots, he forced opponents to make alterations on the fly.
The problem with Capela is the way he performed in the Western Conference Semifinals against the Golden State Warriors. He could not handle their smaller lineups. That’s a fairly significant issue when Capela is one of the best players on the team and the Warriors remain the team to beat in the Western Conference, if not all of basketball. Not to mention, other teams have smaller lineups at their disposal, as well. Those groups may not be as good as the ones Golden State rolled out, but the right mix of speed and outside threats can pose problems for the big man.
