Rockets HC Ime Udoka makes stance on Clint Capela crystal clear

As the Houston Rockets navigated this offseason, their plethora of moves beyond their blockbuster acquisition of Kevin Durant were all clearly designed to grant the team additional depth.

Yet, one move, their signing of former Rocket Clint Capela to a multi-year contract, has an extra utility according to head coach Ime Udoka's recent Media Day comments: to help extend the viability and usage of their infamous double-big lineup.

Towards the end of last regular season and into the playoffs, Houston leaned on their unconventional move of keeping both Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams on the court together in order to help dominate the possession battle, and, now, it appears as though Capela could be the newest addition to this feared lineup.

Clint Capela will enable the Rockets to lean even more on the double-big lineup

With both Adams and Sengun on the court last season, the Rockets saw an impressive 32.7-point increase in their net rating. Moreover, with 6'11" Jabari Smith Jr. on the court as well, the team saw a 41.1-point increase in the same category.

While this was spread across a relatively small sample size, it is clear that the Rockets' choice to go big for stretches of their most important games was highly effective, and Udoka has made clear that Capela is here, in part, to allow them to continue to do that: "I think we saw some things that worked well once Steven [Adams]... got his legs and his rhythm back. We still will be cautious with him and some other guys on back-to-backs, and so we'd like to have a third guy in there that can play on those nights."

Capela, 31, is very much still a viable center in the NBA. Last season, through 55 games with the Atlanta Hawks, he averaged 8.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists.

However, what he provides even beyond the counting statistics is an insurance policy behind Steven Adams, whose availability is somewhat questionable heading into the season. It is likely that Adams will not play back-to-backs, and he has been limited to just 100 games over the past three seasons due to a variety of injuries.

Therefore, Capela, more than anything provides the Rockets with the versatility to continue to run the double-big lineup even if Adams needs to miss some time.

While it remains to be seen if the absence of Fred VanVleet, and the resultant dip in the team's spacing, will affect the viability of this line-up, it appears as though Udoka is poised to continue to play bully ball as the team enters a season with a completely new look on offense.