THE ATHLETIC DATE: 04/14/2021

Why Clint Capela belongs in the NBA Defensive Player of the Year conversation

By: Chris Kirschner

https://theathletic.com/2514665/2021/04/14/why-clint-capela-belongs-in-the-defensive-player-of-the- year-conversation/

One of the biggest pieces the Hawks felt like they were missing at last year’s trade deadline was a force in the middle of the defense. Before the Hawks traded for Clint Capela, their opponents were shooting nearly 40 percent of all their attempts at the rim — the second-most attempts in the league behind Chicago. It’s understandable when you look at what the Hawks were working with in the frontcourt last season.

The Hawks ended up finishing 28th in defensive rating last season; Capela ended up not playing after being acquired from Houston for Evan Turner and the 17th pick in the 2020 draft due to his heel injury.

The Capela trade has turned out to be a walloping home run for Atlanta in his first season in uniform, especially for how little it had to give up to get him. He’s completely transformed this defense and has been the anchor they hoped for. Atlanta is tied for 18th in defensive rating this season and is just four- tenths of a point away from being in the upper half of teams in the league. Remarkably, that’s come without De’Andre Hunter and for most of the season now and without , one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA who hasn’t played a game.

The biggest reason why is because Capela has played at an NBA All-Defense level, and he should be in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year, alongside guys like Rudy Gobert, Ben Simmons, Bam Adebayo and . The Hawks are 6.7 points worse defensively when Capela sits this season.

“I think he’s been probably one of the most consistent guys on the defensive end of the floor for us,” Nate McMillan said. “He has been helping us all season long. He’s not only been helping in blocking shots and rotating to the , but rebounding at an elite level. What he’s been doing now, he’s been doing it all season for us. What we are trying to do is not have to have him clean up on the perimeter where we’re guarding and not keeping the ball in front so that he can stay attached to his man and the basketball.

“With the adjustment for a in today’s game, you’re not defending low-post or post-up players a lot in this league. You’re out on the perimeter having to help defend these quick guards in pick and rolls and make adjustments to get back to a shooter that can spread the floor. The consistency has been there all season long.”

Analyzing individual defensive performances is hard because so much about what makes someone good on that end goes deeper than how many blocks, steals and rebounds a player had. That’s why you have so many fans on NBA Twitter and NBA Reddit crying over Simmons being in the DPOY conversation because his box score numbers aren’t as gaudy as any of the centers listed above.

As The Athletic’s Seth Partnow noted in his piece on the DPOY race, 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey said this on the Rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast about measuring defensive performance: “I would say public-domain, all-in-one defensive measures are all really bad. I think internally, several teams have some pretty OK ones, not good. Defense is hard…it’s so dependent on what the coach wants them to do.”

McMillan wants the Hawks to be aggressive and be disruptive on the point of attack. He said Atlanta’s game plan each night is to challenge every catch, every dribble and put pressure on the ball. If there is a breakdown, Capela is there to cover. Because of how dominant Capela has been at the rim, it’s allowed the Hawks to put more pressure on ballhandlers in the backcourt because of the trust they have in him to clean up the mess.

Opponents are shooting 5.6 percentage points worse at the rim than the league average when Capela is on the floor, per Cleaning the Glass. His dominance at the rim this season has led teams to shoot 1.4 percentage points more long twos than the league average.

“I feel like my presence in the paint makes guys want to shoot long twos instead of attacking the paint,” Capela said. “I feel that respect from other teams, and that’s a good thing.”

When opponents do drive on him and try attacking at the rim, they’re only shooting 50.2 percent against Capela. That’s sixth-tenths of a percentage point worse than Gobert, who’s seen as one of the favorites in the DPOY race. Before the start of the season, I questioned if Capela was going to be as good as the Hawks talked him up to be and what they needed him to be because of the center depth. He was never this good for the Rockets, but he’s been a godsend for this organization after having arguably the worst center depth rotation last season.

Capela is not only third in the NBA in blocks, first in rebounds, but he’s also second in DRAPM, second in DRPM and second in defensive RAPTOR, all advanced metrics that Gobert ranks first in. This story isn’t about why Capela should win the award, only how he needs to be in the conversation. As someone who voted for the league’s awards last season, Capela would be on my ballot with Gobert and Simmons; and he would be on my second-team All-Defense.

He’s played at an elite level defensively and no one will look at you sideways if you say he’s been one of the five or so most impactful defenders in the league this season.

“He’s our best defensive player,” said of Capela. “On that side of the ball — obviously we want Trae (Young) to tell us what he wants us to do offensively — we want Clint telling us the same thing (defensively). How can we help him be elite and be as good as he can be? That’s been huge, especially in ball screen defense. Our ball-screen defense is something we switch up every game. We might switch up mid-game when (Zach) LaVine was kind of going off on us. Clint is someone who, again, what is most comfortable for him and what’s the best way he can cover for everybody else is some ways where he’s been more vocal.

“He’s a difference-maker. There’s definitely no other way to put it. He’s a complete difference-maker. There’s just a different feeling when he’s in the game. Just as a guard, you trust him a little bit more back there. You can play guys a little differently knowing that if you get beat that you have Clint on the backside and I don’t think you have to help nearly as much. He really picks up for everybody. I don’t think we can stress it enough. He’s a big-time difference maker for us for sure.”

Solomon Hill said he thinks the guys take Capela for granted a little bit, and it’s reminded him of his time playing with Roy Hibbert in Indiana. Hibbert was the security blanket on the Pacers, and Hill said it’s easy to get lax on defense when you have someone so dominant at protecting the rim because your man could beat you off the dribble but he has to meet Capela at the rim.

That’s something Young noted when the Hawks traded for Capela last season. When he drove in the lane against the Rockets in his first two seasons, he would feel Capela’s impact because of how challenging he makes drives.

The amount of pressure on Capela to perform at an elite level defensively every night is immense right now as the Hawks battle for one of the top seeds in the Eastern Conference without three of its other best defenders in Hunter, Reddish and Dunn, plus John Collins has missed the past several games with a sprained ankle, so there’s even less protection around him.

Capela has been everything the Hawks were hoping he would be and is one of the biggest reasons why this team is currently playing like one of the best teams in the league and has won seven of its past eight games. If it was up to Huerter, Capela would be rewarded for his season and be named the Defensive Player of the Year.

“I think there’s no doubt,” Huerter said. “The difference between him on the court and off the court for us I think is a lot. I think that’s just a testament to how elite he is at rim protecting. That’s not a slight to anyone else we bring in to the game. He’s just a difference-maker. He can switch out and guard guards. If you were to ask any other player in the league who one of the better rim protectors in the league is, I think Clint would be the top one or two.”

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