Daryl Morey, General Manager of the Houston Rockets, is nothing but consistent. He is consistently wheeling and dealing not afraid to make any trade. Late last night, he made another one and as they always seem to be with Morey, it was a multiplayer blockbuster.
The Rockets, Hawks, Timberwolves, and Nuggets were all involved in the deal, stay with me here. According to Woj, the Rockets are receiving Robert Covington from the Wolves; the Hawks are receiving Clint Capela and Nene from the Rockets; the Wolves are receiving Juancho Hernangomez from the Nuggets, Evan Turner from the Hawks, and Atlanta’s first round pick via the Brooklyn Nets; the Nuggets are receiving Gerald Green and a first round pick from Houston. If that was not enough, more has leaked out since! Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt were reportedly shipped to Minnesota. Additionally, Jordan Bell was sent to Houston. The Nuggets also reportedly have received Shabazz Napier, Noah Vonleh, and Keita Bates-Diop. Long story short, a lot of players moved around.
The key pieces for this trade center around the Rockets. Clint Capela is a really good NBA center. A good rebounder, shot blocker, and rim runner. However, the Rockets collectively are not a good rebounding or shot blocking team so his best traits seemingly were not as impactful as they should be. Lately, the Rockets have been playing an extremely small ball lineup without Capela and it has worked out well. The floor is extremely spaced out, creating tons of room for Harden and Westbrook to attack. It’s a gamble for Morey to do this given the bigs you have to go through in LA, but the small ball lineup just feels right for Houston.
Robert Covington has been a name all season that the Rockets and virtually every other contender has been linked to. He is a real hustle player, good wing defender and a good enough shooter; you won’t think of him as a sniper but he has good enough offensive talent. I like this acquisition for the Rockets.
The other big part of this trade is Clint Capela going to the Hawks. The Hawks are not a good team right now, but they are building something in Atlanta that I think will eventually work. Bringing in Capela helps their All-Star second year player, Trae Young. He can cover for him with his shot blocking and his style of play also compliments their young big man, John Collins. When I first read the Hawks were interested in Capela, I was skeptical because I did not want them to stupidly give up their first round pick for him, but since they used the pick from the Nets, I think this is a win for them.
The NBA trade deadline is Thursday and 3:00 pm and this is was a good start to the craziness that will probably ensue.
