Clint Capela Playing It Safe, But Eager To Return

Neither the Hawks nor Clint Capela know exactly when the center will take the court for Atlanta, but both sides are eager for the moment when he does.

If all goes without a hitch, Clint Capela will play a maximum of 12 games for the Hawks this year. Atlanta acquired the center from Houston at the trade deadline in February with the intention of slotting him in with the team’s existing young core as a rim-runner and defensive anchor with the ability to help stabilize a young team on both ends of the floor. But Capela hasn’t suited up for the Hawks yet due to plantar fasciitis in his right heel, and will be out at least another two weeks after being cleared for impact activities on Wednesday.

Capela will be re-evaluated on March 18, and even if he is immediately cleared to play, it will be difficult for Atlanta to evaluate him alongside Trae Young, John Collins, and the rest of the team’s young players. Even in a best-case scenario, Capela will be on a minutes restriction that will include short bursts of playing time and likely cap him around 20-25 minutes per game. That will necessarily cap the amount of time he can share the court with Atlanta’s young nucleus and limit the impact he can have on any given game.

“I know what he is and I know what he’s capable of doing,” Lloyd Pierce said. “I would love to see it at 100 percent, fully-conditioned. We’re not gonna see that Clint this year.”

Still, the Hawks will take anything they can get from Capela, even if it comes in a limited capacity. They won’t rush him back from injury simply for the sake of winning more games this season or gathering additional data on the big man. Capela exacerbated his injury by trying to play through it in his final games with the Rockets, and Atlanta has a long-term vision to mind with its new center. “We gotta protect Clint,” Pierce said. “There’s a greedy aspect of trying to do too much. We don’t want to do that, and that’s why we’re cautious with him, and he’s just not quite there.”

Even without Capela in the lineup, he and the Hawks feel they have a good feel for how he might mesh with the team. Players of his mold don’t tend to change their stripes. That can be limiting in some ways, but comforting in others. Pierce doesn’t need to worry about how or where to deploy Capela, who stays within the confines of his game to great effect. Unlike John Collins, he doesn’t need to judge when to pop and when to roll after setting a screen, nor will he concern himself with toggling between positions on defense. Regardless of who he shares the floor with, he will put pressure on the rim, rebound every miss within his range, and contest shots at the rim, which makes it relatively easy to project how he fits into Atlanta’s offensive and defensive infrastructure.

“Clint’s game’s not gonna change,” Pierce said. “I’m telling you right now, he isn’t going to the 3-point line. He’s a rim-runner, he’s behind the defense in the dunker area, he’s an offensive rebounder, he’s a lob-catcher. He’s not gonna be one of those guys that’s just gonna automatically transform their game and become different.”

That should make Capela a natural fit with Trae Young in the pick-and-roll and a welcome defensive anchor. Atlanta has struggled to keep opponents away from the rim and off the offensive glass this season, and the presence of a long, athletic, and competent defensive center should shore up those two key areas of weakness. “I know for sure that I’m gonna do what I do first,” Capela said. “Blocking shots, dunk the ball rebound as much as I can, be dominant. And then from there I will adjust with the team.”

That adjustment period could take some time, even for a player as portable as Capela. It could take time for he and Young to learn one another’s tendencies in the pick-and-roll -- how to angle screens, where to place passes, when to slip toward the rim -- and there will likely be a feeling-out process between Capela and Collins on offense. The longer it takes for him to return, the later that process begins. That isn’t cause to rush Capela back on the court or assign blame, but it can make for a frustrating holding pattern. For the time being, Capela can only watch from the sidelines, pick up what he can about his new teammates, and wonder how he might fit alongside them.

“I’m a basketball player, so I’m on the bench pulling for my guys, but of course I want to be out there with them, go to war with them,” he said. “I’m not here to sit on the bench and clap my hands. My job is to go out there and play and be as dominant as I can. So when I don't do that it’s hard.”