Following the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss to the Orlando Magic on Tuesday, Deandre Ayton was overheard lamenting the team seemingly putting him in a Clint Capela-like role. Capela, who is currently playing for the Houston Rockets, has built his career off being a rim-running big man who did the dirty work on the glass and on the defensive end.
Capela was never a big-time scoring threat in the NBA, and he never was one to take many shots during a game. He holds a career average of 8.1 field goal attempts per game, and throughout his 12-year career thus far, he’s only ever had two seasons where he took double-digit shot attempts.
But then again, Capela was a late first-round draft pick. He was never expected to turn into a star player of any sort. He’s always known what his role is in the NBA and he’s played that role to perfection. Ayton, on the other hand, was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. There has only been one season of his eight-year career where he’s taken less than 10 shots attempts per game, and that’s this season with the Lakers.
When the Lakers initially signed Ayton as a free agent this past offseason, it was not without some reservations. His previous stops with the Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers were overshadowed by reported behavior issues. But Ayton insisted that he knew what was at stake in terms of his career when joining the Lakers.
And now, with more than half of the season gone by, some of those issues are starting to creep up again. But if Deandre Ayton wants to continue to shape his image and the overall perception of him in a good way, he needs to embrace the Clint Capela role for the Lakers.
Deandre Ayton becoming Clint Capela will help Lakers
The way that Ayton referred to his role turning into Capela seemed to suggest that, that was beneath a player of his caliber. But all of that aside, Capela actually played a major role as the starting center during a period when the Rockets were viewed as a legitimate contender in the Western Conference.
His Rockets career averages are 11.1 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots while shooting 61.4 percent from the field. During the playoffs, his averages were 8.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots with 60.2 percent shooting from the field. Again, Capela knew his role and played it to perfection.
Coming into this season, Ayton himself knew he was going to have to sacrifice some of his offense while playing alongside Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves, as per Daniel Starkand of Lakers Nation. Those three players will always have the ball in their hands the majority of the time, and will take the lion’s share of shot attempts. That’s not a bad thing, and that’s how the Lakers should operate.
Ayton has already shown he can be a good defensive anchor for this Lakers team. He’s shown he can be engaged on both ends of the court and on the glass. Back before the Lakers squared off against the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 13, head coach JJ Redick mentioned how Ayton can’t fool anyone in terms of the effort he can bring on the defensive end on a consistent basis.
“When he’s engaged, he’s been good. There’s some technique stuff that we’ve worked on with him all season, in his individual workouts and our defensive shells,” Redick said. “It‘s just more consistency. He’s shown he can do it. . .Deandre has told on himself. He can be a really good defender.”
For a Lakers team that has had their issues defensively, Ayton can be the piece that makes a major difference. It’s just that he’s been more engaged on the defensive end when he’s consistently getting shot attempts.
There’s a trade off for that, however. Ayton is taking a career-low 9.0 shot attempts, but he’s shooting a career-high 66.7 percent from the field. Playing alongside creators like Doncic, James and Reaves, the quality of looks he’s going to get are going to be better.
Embracing the Capela role of playing strong defense and hitting the glass hard, is not only crucial as far as raising the team’s ceiling, but also extending his NBA career. Ayton potentially has one more year left on the contract he signed with the Lakers should he exercise his team option.
Whether he stays with the Lakers or opts to go elsewhere, if he can show that he’s able to buy into that Capela-like role, he will have a spot in the league. The NBA is often a rude awakening for guys who are used to having the ball in their hands and being a primary offensive option. That was Ayton’s role during his lone season at Arizona. That was his role in high school.
But in the NBA, players don’t just sprout into No. 1 options late in their career. It’s either there or it isn’t. And Ayton has the ability to be a good complimentary player on a winning team. He just needs to realize that before it’s too late.
