This is very telling. Because in the past we'd have role players like Divac, Massenburg, and Songaila scoring at will. Not because they are such great offensive players, but because we played such bad defense. I mean, it expected for Shaq, Malone, or Payton to get their points. But when guys like Andrei Kirilenko, Zachary Randolph or Matt Harping score 17 points!!! Grrrr!!!!!!!
Cato can bring tougher defense to the Rockets, but you still need to score in order to boost your chance of winning. Cato is not a scorer. In his carrer he scores only a little over 5 points per game. Defense is the key but you still need to put the ball in the basket. Anybody remember the Miami Heat last season being the top defensive team in the NBA for points allowed per game? The Heats was also the worst scoring team in the league. They had a terrible season. Rockets fans should be worriesome because so far the team has not yet able to scored 90 or more points in a game. So that's the disadvantage of Cato being at the starting lineup. Also the transition defense is the weakness of the former starting Center who didn't get used to running much. So speed is of a concern.
Junior, you can rest assured that our low scoring has nothing to do with Cato. If we made more of those many open shots we have had you would not be blaming Cato for it. Regarding transition defense, the way I see it or hear it as I have not seen a game being in CT, our transition defense is much improved over the past two games. Plus Cato is fast enough to keep up with most PF on the break. The flip side to Cato, who was 2nd last year in rebounds per min, is that you will get more rebounds and both he and Yao are very good and getting better with the outlet pass creating more break or early offense opportunities. We would not be putting in, or considering at least, Cato at PF if some other things were not in place. There is another backup center who can spell Yao. Our starting SF spot is not settled and there could be an opening there to start EG at the 3, which JVG speculated about in the offseason. You have Kevin Garnett, R. Lewis, Jamison, R. Wallace, Novitsky and even Skita who play the 3. I just would not like to exclusively depend on JJ, Pike, AD and Boki to defend those cats. Yes I know we could give them fits on the offensive end forcing them to come out to guard our guys but I do not see that as a sustainable solution. When we do go with the Zone you could not do badly having Yao, Cato and EG in at the same time. The added bonus with EG at the 3, for some minutes depending on matchup assuming he is not starting, is the rebounding, shot blocking, lane control will be something else. So will the interior passing with those tall, long hands guys.
My big concern in having Cato start at PF is fouling. Cato is prone to foul trouble, so if Yao also picks up a few early fouls, the Rockets are in trouble up front. I hope JVG can teach Cato how to avoid the cheap, ticky-tack fouls so he can stay on the floor.
Of course it is true that you need to be able to score in order to win, but history tells us that having a strong defense is MUCH more important than a strong offense. Looking at the last 15 or so championship teams, I recall reading a list one time where every single team (save for one) were a top 5 defensive team, with highly varying positions in offensive ranking (although I don't think any were worse than the middle of the road offensive teams). Interestingly enough, the one team that wasn't a top 5 defensive team was the '95 Rockets who ranked somewhere like 15th in the league in defense. Of course, the Rockets were an offensive powerhouse that year too. You point out the Heat's terrible season. I can point out the Kings and Mavs seasons. Both had tremendous offenses with so-so to terrible defenses...neither was even playing for the championship, despite having excellent regular seasons.
Do you guys realize how much our team would improve if we could somehow implement an INCREDIBLY simple and basic 15-foot jumpshot into Cato's game? I've noticed Cato hits the 10-footer with surprising consistency. In fact, I've rarely seen him miss the open 10-foot jumper. If we can work on that shot, and SLIGHTLY increase his range, it could be potentially devastating for other teams. Basically, he'd be Ben Wallace with slightly less rebounding, and better offense. I would really appreciate it if those people that were arguing with me in the summer about Cato's rebounding vs. Stepania's rebounding would come out now and admit they were wrong. Cato's getting this much praise in the NBA, Stepania is playing in Croatia now.
I have not seen Pig play but I would have signed Tmo instead. He played some PF last year and can still play that position in spot duty, both defensively and offensively. With JVG's needs around Yao and Francis being the ability to hit high percentage shots, rebound, slash, handle the ball and be smart, I would go for Tmo instead of the pig. Too bad Tmo does not have the aggressiveness and hunger of Pig which could be the difference.
I admittedly haven't seen him play, but looking at his boxscore numbers, the added offense has come at the expense of slightly lower rebounding. Anyway, it's definitely premature to compare Cato to Wallace right now. But with Yao in the middle (better than any of their big man) and Francis on the perimeter (better than any Guard on their team), even a semi-Wallace would be fine, don't you think? With Mobley and JJ demanding a large number of shots relative to role players, having Cato in there (demands ZERO shots, gets putbacks) would really ease the distribution of offesne among our starters.
The lower rebounding for Ben Wallace is the result of fewer minutes played (it is the preseason) and more help from teammates (Elden Campbell is a hell of a lot better rebounder than Cliff Robinson). Cato is the Rockets best bet at PF whether he brings it offensively or not.
Totally true. I can't believe Cato is doing so well, but I want to see that in the regular season. Hopefully, he can keep it up. If Cato and Yao both play 35-40 minutes, the backup question is not all that relevant.
