2023-07-14 04:04:47
‘I want to give myself a chance to go all the way!’ At 29, Clint Capela still cherishes the ultimate dream: the coronation in the NBA.
With a press conference announced at 10:30 a.m. but started at 11:53 a.m., Clint Capela immersed himself, no doubt reluctantly, in the current ‘mood’ of Swiss basketball where nothing is really simple. But the man with the annual contract of 20 million dollars was able to be forgiven for this delay. By giving in without restraint.
Clint Capela is preparing for a tenth season which he does not know if he will complete in its entirety with Atlanta. Isn’t he the subject of rumors that take him to Dallas? ‘I am now an Atlanta Hawks player with a guaranteed contract for the next two seasons, he says. It’s normal for such rumors to arise when you don’t win. We played in the Eastern Conference Finals two years ago. Since then, we have not been able to confirm this result’.
Like last year, Atlanta was eliminated in the first round of the play-offs. Released by Boston, the Hawks had qualified thanks to their victory in the play-in in Miami, which was to climb to the final against Denver. ‘It hurt me to follow Miami’s course, smiles Clint Capela. Beating them at home in play-in shows that we had the level… It was really a complicated season.’
No to the Swiss team
To live a more peaceful one, whether in Atlanta or elsewhere, requires making heartbreaking choices. The Genevan has therefore decided not to compete in the prequalifications for Euro 2025 with the Swiss team this summer. ‘I want to take advantage of this summer to work in order to erase my shortcomings in movement, he said. The conditions are not met for me to play again this summer in selection.
His last appearance for the Swiss team therefore remains this superb 109-85 victory against Iceland in August 2019 during prequalification for Euro M21. ‘It remains a unique moment in my career, admits Clint Capela. Winning with the Swiss team, there is nothing stronger in terms of sensations. I assure you.’ In his eyes, however, Swiss basketball failed to capitalize on this feat to take the hoped-for step forward. ‘I don’t think there is enough interest in Switzerland for investors to be able to fully commit’, he regrets.
Clint Capela admits, moreover, that he paid a high price for this summer campaign of 2019. ‘I got injured three months later. We had to go through a really difficult season with Houston. I was transferred to Atlanta, the general manager and the coach were fired afterwards. I tell myself that things could have turned out differently if I had been able to play normally.’
Clint Capela also recalled how the medical supervision of an NBA team can be so different from that of the Swiss team. “In the NBA, we feel like big babies with all the attention that can be around us, he continues. This is not a criticism of the Swiss team. Only the reality that sees billionaires investing in NBA teams worth billions…’
Ready to defend on Victor Wembanyama
Finally, Clint Capela has not escaped questions about the arrival in the NBA of prodigy Victor Wembanyama, the No. 1 in the 2023 draft. ‘He is only 19 years old. He is very young. A great career awaits him, underlines the Geneva pivot. He will grow physically over the next few years. But I don’t think San Antonio will make him play all 82 regular season games in his first year.’ Clint Capela says he is ready to defend against the French prodigy. ‘When you have defended against Kevin Durant, you can defend against anyone’, he slips with some wisdom.
The future will tell if Clint Capela will have to dunk on the head of Victor Wembanyama to reach the Grail, this NBA title which he had approached in 2018 with Golden State and two years ago with Atlanta. ‘I want it, he says. I’m still in my best years. As if to signify that his time is far from over. And maybe give a little wink to Luka Doncic, the Dallas playing master, who is pursuing the same quest..
/ATS
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