This is what irritates me the most about Cato. Last year, I posted about the big man camp that Marcus Camby was attending. SOME people pointed out (and we all know who tends to over anal-yze things on this board) that how can I get irritated about Cato when he doesn't have the same talent or he wasn't as high a pick or whatever. But you know what? For 48 million, at least make the effort to get better. And he doesn't. Last year, Camby was hurt for about 20 games. He still averaged 12pts, 11rebs and about 2.5 blocks. He has had big games of 20pts, 20rebs during the year and in the playoffs, he tends to do pretty good also. I see him all the time on cable and the man hustles all over the place which explains some of his injuries. Last night, I hear Camby in an interview on sports radio talking about what he is doing this summer. He went to the same camp again. He is developing a hook shot, spin move on the baseline and has been working on his jumper. On top of that, he has added 25 pounds of muscle. This is what pisses me off. Why can't I ever hear that Cato is making an effort to improve his game? This not to say that he is not trying to improve his game because we don't hear about it on the news or whatever. But I bet you he isn't. I am not asking for 20pts, 12rebs. I know some people are going to break down this post and get that from somewhere. But that is not what I am saying. What I am asking for is just a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitle progress or some kind; a sign that Cato wants to live up to that potential we know he has and he showed to steal the 48 million in the first place. Can you imagine if Cato scores 10 points, grabs 10 rebounds and blocks 3 or 4 shots per game how good this team would be? Is that too much to ask for someone with his talent? Or are we just wishfully thinking and he is going to end up like alot of the NBA stars who just never reach their potential? This is year 3 of the Cato project. And to me, he is getting worse and worse. Injuries have something to do with it but Camby gets injured also. Its what you do when you get in the game! Cato doesn't do squat!
see, i think you have it all wrong. cato has been going to the big man camp of laziness for quite some time now. let's see, benoit benjamin is there, oliver miller is there, kevin duckworth is there, and they all have FANTASTIC things to say about kelvin's potential. he's the real deal.
Almu- I definetely agree with you. I'm not sure what Cato does in the off-season, but obviously it hasn't worked! If the guy sucked but tried hard I could deal with him (think of Danny Ferry, he plays hard but just can't do most things right at least when I watched him in Cleveland). But Cato has a very laisse faire attitude. The is why if worst comes to worst that we make him play 30 minutes a game to just show him how pathetic he really is.
From the title, I thought this thread would be about Charles Barkley. Since we are talking about Cato, I will bet anybody a dinner that Cato has a very good year in 2001-2002, and cc.net bbs members will be glad the Rockets kept Cato.
Actually, last offseason we did hear about Cato working out and saying his approach the season before was all wrong and now he was going to stop barking at the refs and concentrate on playing ball. He was going to lead the league in rebounds. And most of the board was pretty happy, especially when we saw his muscle definition was better. But he was injured before too long and never got the chance to show the offseason enthusiasm on the court. I thin, during the injury, that enthusiasm faded, he returned to his jaded attitude and played out the string. I wonder how he'd have done if he didn't get injured last year. (Btw, that injury may have been the result of a poor work ethic. This stuff happens to players who don't take care of themselves.) I don't know what to expect this coming season. He hasn't made any comments to make us feel encouraged about his attitude about next season. And all the public bashing he gets couldn't be helping his confidence. Plus, I can feel a lack of confidence emanating from the Rockets -- if I can feel it, he must be able to too. I can see a person go two ways from here: (1) Be pissed off and succumb to all the negatitivity people are giving you or (2) Be pissed off and set out to prove the whole world wrong about you. I'm afraid he may not have the strength to take the latter approach.
I remember a season or 2 ago people going crazy because Cato was pumping weights in the off-season to bulk up. I'm sure he does something... err... now that he has the fat contract, maybe not... But the fact is, nobody really knows other than the people he hangs out with and himself...
