When news broke in July that Dwight Howard would be leaving the Houston Rockets, it was widely assumed that the team would have to find a replacement center. In fact, GM Daryl Morey spent a good portion of the summer pursuing Al Horford. Eventually, Horford signed with the Boston Celtics and it became apparent that Houston’s backup center Clint Capela would be tasked with filling Howard’s shoes.
As a fairly inexperienced player who posted a single-digit stat line the previous season, it was unsure how well Capela would fare in his new, much larger role.