The New Orleans Pelicans and their fans haven't had much to be excited about this 2024-25 NBA season. They came into the year with hopes of making the playoffs again, intending to make a deep run after getting the healthiest campaign of Zion Williamson's career last season and adding All-Star point guard Dejounte Murray in the summer. Unfortunately, injuries derailed their season before it even began and they're now staring down the barrel of a potential franchise teardown.
In that sense, the Pelicans' faithful can look forward to the trade deadline on February 6, which should finally reveal the direction that this team is taking after such a disastrous year and what roster they intend to take into the offseason. There have been a few bright spots for New Orleans this year, though, despite their lost season.
Trey Murphy III's ascension has completely vindicated those who believed that he had an All-Star ceiling, as he's putting up numbers that suggest he could be a viable franchise cornerstone, either alongside Zion or as the new focal point of the Pelicans' rebuild. New Orleans may dump all of their veterans at the trade deadline, but they won't be building from ground zero. Even if they do wind up trading Zion, they'll still have Murphy III, Herb Jones, Jordan Hawkins, and rookie phenom Yves Missi as foundational pieces for their next era.
The season has been utterly disappointing, but their 21st overall pick from last summer has been exceeding all expectations. Coming into the year, the center spot was the roster's most pressing concern. With the way Missi's been playing, the Pelicans could have been legitimate dark-horse title contenders had everyone else stayed healthy. Even NBA fans outside of New Orleans have started to take notice of Yves Missi. He recently received a comp from national media that should have Pelicans' fans thrilled.
Could Yves Missi be the next Clint Capela?
Yves Missi has done a lot this season, but his primary strengths so far have been his shot-blocking and his interior finishing. A bit undersized at 6'10, 230 lbs, he makes up for it with a 7'2 wingspan and athleticism to spare. He needs to fill out a bit more to withstand back-downs from the occasional low-post threat, but his timing and reach as a paint protector suggest that he'll be a feared anchor for years to come.
On offense, he's been relegated to a simplified role that only requires him to screen, dive to the hoop, hover around the dunk spot, and finish anything that comes his way, including putbacks off of offensive boards. He's done all of those things with aplomb. On occasion, he's flashed some ball-handling and acrobatic finishing which might open up more opportunities for him as a short-roll playmaker and transition threat down the road.
If his game sounds familiar, it might be because we've seen an incredibly similar archetype recently. Sam Vecenie and Bryce Simon pointed this out on their Game Theory Podcast, comparing Missi to Clint Capela.
Like Missi, Capela came into the NBA a bit undersized and wiry. He only played in 12 games his rookie year but was eventually able to make an impact early on as a shot-blocker and rim-runner next to James Harden on the Houston Rockets. As he matured, he gained the bulk necessary to become a big-minute, full-time anchor and learned how to harness his athleticism along with his size.
Capela carved out an eleven-year career playing a simplified role of defending the rim and converting easy looks at the basket. For much of his tenure, he's been around a top-10 player at his position in terms of two-way impact. It wasn't until very recently that he finally lost his starting spot on the Atlanta Hawks to Onyeka Okongwu, who's long been one of the league's most intriguing young centers. Capela led the entire league in field-goal percentage in 2017-18 and finished in the top 15 in Defensive Player of the Year voting twice.
If Yves Missi carves out a career path similar to Clint Capela's, the Pelicans will have gotten a steal with the 21st pick. Yves Missi's flashes of advanced ball skills suggest that he could be even better than Capela though.