A pair of Western Conference rivals are keeping the drama going even in the dog days of the offseason.
Houston Rockets center Clint Capela, who is playing for his native Switzerland on the international stage this summer, had a poor performance shooting the ball against Iceland over the weekend, sparking a lowlight video on Twitter.
Utah Jazz counterpart Rudy Gobert, a French native and national basketball team participant as well, reposted the video on Sunday with the caption “July is definitely over” and three laughing-face emojis. He also tagged Capela in it.
July is definitely over @CapelaClint https://t.co/4yIqI4DFYN
— Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) August 11, 2019
For context, Capela had posted a subtweet last month, warning everyone not to put too much stock into offseason noise of players improving their jumpers because “everybody can shoot in July.”
Everybody can shoot in July!! Twitter coaches chill… lol
— Clint Capela (@CapelaClint) July 30, 2019
The timing was certainly suspect, as Gobert’s national teammate Nicolas Batum had just tweeted a video of the seven-footer flashing his three-point range in the gym a few hours before Capela’s post.
@rudygobert27 pic.twitter.com/eFbB1sPr82
— Nicolas Batum (@nicolas88batum) July 30, 2019
Back to Sunday — Capela caught wind of Gobert’s barb and tweeted back that he should take two shots outside of the paint in a game first before talking.
Let me know when you shoot two shots outside the paint… in a game Rudy https://t.co/AoRA06nf8b pic.twitter.com/sVf5PfeBZy
— Clint Capela (@CapelaClint) August 11, 2019
The two big men have done battle both on the international stage as well as in the playoffs each of the last two years (both victories by Houston). Gobert also has a history with other members of the Rockets, and it’s clear that there is no love lost between the two conference rivals.
