Can you ever see ming and cato in the starting lineup (assuming they dont trade anything) ?.. If MoT gets injured again and the rocks needs to go up against say duncan and robinson or double team shaq down low.. I mean KTs a good player but he hasn't got the greatest of heights.. and griff is still developing.. can cato play pf?..
Probably not but they could easily be in the lineup together to match up with another center-like PF. But remember Cato sucks in general and MoT, Griff or KT are better.
i see Cato stepping in to give Ming a breather and providing energy/dunks/a few blocks off the bench. That is a best case scenario.
well if Ming is running the high post Cato can run to the basket but that's about it, he's a liability offensively he's going to pout and have little reason to show up to camp in shape
in the given senario, cato would play center and ming would play pf (to the likeing of all the ani-mingers that like to say he is a 7'5" sf)
I hear what you're saying Smoothie, but the only way that happens is if two of the three guys they already have at PF get injured. Even then I'm not sure you want Cato guarding WC power forwards (except maybe the bigger ones like Duncan).
As long as Cato can get the occassion block on Shaq in crunch time, he has a job in the NBA. That includes the Rockets.
If Yao works out, I'd be quite happy to have Cato back him up for the remainder of his contract. The real question is, will Cato? If he's okay with it and puts some pride into being the physical big man off the bench (like against Shaq), I think we'd all be happy with Cato. And he wouldn't have to worry as much about picking up fouls.
I think Cato will start the year in the starting lineup and they will ease Ming into the NBA game. I also think that regardless of who is starting, you will see some times where Cato slides to PF, Griffin to SF and Ming at C. Now imagine if you had a Quentyl Woods (who BTW, I would be thrilled to get at 15 despite the plummet and questions), he could slide to 2G guard and give you a lineup of 6'3", 6'8", 6'11", 6'11", 7'5" Wouldn't run it all the time, but we've had small ball, why not tall ball once in a while?
BuckeyeRocketFan: "I think Cato will start the year in the starting lineup and they will ease Ming into the NBA game. " I would agree, especially since Yao will miss training camp. He may not even get significant minutes till 2003. But I believe Yao and Cato will complement each other beautifully: <ul> <li>Cato is more physical and knows how to push on D but has poor offensive skills. Yao has many offensive skills but doesn't know how to play NBA defense yet.<br> <li>Cato is a veteran, Yao is a newbie.<br> <li>Cato may be poor for an NBA starter, but few teams can boast as good a center as a backup. Once Yao works his way into the starting lineup (around the all-star break?) we may have the best center duo in the league outside San Antonio and the best talent overall at that position outside SA and LA.<br> <li>Given the above, I would think playing against each other in practice would improve both their games. </ul> If the two of them combine for 12 points, 12 boards, and 4 blocks in 40-45 minutes, I'd be pretty pleased considering it's Yao's first year in a new country and league. I would hope for more like 24-14-6 and 2-4 assists from the two of them in Yao's second year.
