Clint Capela
While many Suns fans are very high on the possibility of stealing Clint Capela away from the Houston Rockets this offseason as a restricted free agent, there is one thing that makes me very wary at the prospect of throwing an inordinate amount of money at him: how many players do we know have career seasons in Mike D’Antoni‘s offense who were never quite as good anywhere else? And that’s not to mention specifically those players who had exceptionally talented point guards, i.e. Steve Nash, James Harden, and Chris Paul?
While I would certainly not be against the Suns signing Capela if they do not land DeAndre Ayton in the draft, I would be wary that he would come in and remain the dominant double-double player here that has been with the Rockets. Phoenix will likely not be anywhere near as talented as Houston is and therefore he may very well see a statistical slip with the Suns, not a spike – and may himself not even be able to beat out Tyson Chandler for the starter’s role should Chandler be retained.
If Capela was the best player Phoenix acquired this offseason too I do not see the team taking that large a leap forward either. He is a nice complimentary player but not the kind of talent that would make the Suns that much better right away. Therefore, if he is signed, my hope is that he wouldn’t cost near the max line because they will need to acquire additional talent at some point in the next season or two to truly take that next step and having a large contract on the books for a good although not dominant center would hurt the ability to improve the roster from outside the draft.