Oh yeah, I'd personally love to see the Rockets go after Okur in the offseason. He can actually play D especially considering all the grooming he's received playing for a team like Detroit, can hit the perimeter bucket, has a good postup game, and is a pretty decent passer. He's a guy definitely under the radar atleast by media standards, and from the games I've seen him play against the Lakers, he gave Shaq fits. He'd be a perfect compliment to Yao. In fact both have pretty similar games in the fact that they can nail the perimeter bucket, and score inside.
No way Rox should start Paggett, i mean how are u going to deal with Duncan and Garnett and Webber??? NO way!!! Cato or Taylor is the right man at the PF.
It's hard to get both. We need someone who's big and strong to protect Yao and seal the middle, and we need someone who can pass and hit the open jumper. Someone like the old Charles Oakley. Not too many guys like that in the league anymore; or if they do fit that bill, they make big, big money.
ON topic, sure, Padgett looked good the other day. He certainly does more than Mo Taylor as far as playing a team game. Cato has shown he's really not good for extended minutes at the 4. Spot duty and situations, sure. Backup 5, good. Overall, I'm most disappointed in Mo T. He can score at the expense of his teammates 40% of the time, but he gets eaten alive on the other end. He can't start and doesn't play well with others. I guess they think they paid all that money to him and they need to do something to salve egos and Padgett, the career backup, will be ok with spot duty. However, in the world of your post, where they just look for the best combination regardless of contracts and egos, yeah, I'd play Padgett over Mo T. Padgett works better with his teammates.
I am not so sure I am willing to go so far as to say Padgett should be the starting PF. But I like the idea of JVG being FLEXIBLE to put guys into the game that turn into even or favorable matchups for us. You have to wonder though, if Cato wasn't hurt would he have played in the last Boston game? Would we even have known how well Padgett foiled the Celtics plans? The PF spot is really tough because of all of our guys there: Cato, Taylor, Padgett, Spoon, none of them are complete. They all have significant weaknesses. Sometimes one PF will be better in the game than the other to take advantage of the mismatches. It is up to our coach to be FLEXIBLE to be able to make those adjustments to help the team win. I still think Cato should start. He sets the tone defensively for the game and that is important. But after that I would give the most minutes to the PF that best works for the matchup that night. And chances are it will mostly be Cato and Taylor, but at times perhaps Padgett is the right choice.
It's interesting that JVG didn't start MoT in Boston's game when Cato injured. Anybody knows why he started Padgett, not MoT?
Because Mo T is better coming off the bench. In the rotations JVG wants to have at least one solid low post player in at all times. Why Yao rests Mo has to be in there and vice versa. Our offense just does not run properly without a low post player.
I think Cato should still start, but have Yao play PF on offense. Yao has range outside to hit the 15 footer consistently. Once teams start doubling Yao 15 feet away from the basket, an inside pass to Cato for a dunk might work a few times a game. When Yao and MoT are in the game together, Yao can shift back to C, and post up. This might give Yao a better probability of success when he posts up, since defenses have to respect MoT's ability to hit the 10-15 footer. What I think Padgett starting against Boston helped JVG see is that Yao can play well away from the basket, and once he establishes that, it makes it much easier for Yao to take his game inside. B
I doubt they'll really double on Yao 15 feet away from the basket. Yao's much more effective if he can get close to the basket because of his footwork and his passing ability. If you take Yao 15 feet out, you're taking away his court vision as well as his height. To explain deeper into the passing angle, when you're at the freethrow area, the spread out offense would not work. double teams can come from 3-4 different directions .. assuming they would want to double team at all. If Yao shoots and misses the jump shot 15 feet out, those are the shots where an offensive rebound is very unlikely. One thing I'm noticing in this offense is the importance of the 15-18 foot jumper by our PF. If the PF position is respected to make those medium range jumpers, then Yao's life will be much easier. A Horace Grant type player (in his prime) where that shot is perfect for him would be a perfect solution.. assuming that person can play some defense too. Robert Horry might actually accel as a person who could excel in our system. A few names that's coming to mind is Keon Clark (when healthy), PJ Brown, Mehmet Okur, Gary Trent.....
Padgett's weak. He's just a stop-gap. If he were to play regular minutes, he'd be exposed as a horrible defender and a one dimensional player, i.e., he can shoot the ball pretty well.
Duncan Brand Nowitski/Walker Rasheed Wallace Webber (when he returns) Karl Malone (when he returns) To name a few off the top of my head.
Big D you are right on the mark! If the last game is realy an indicator then Cato must return to do what he does best-Backup Center.This doesn't mean the the two Centers Cato and Yao cant play together under special circumstances like the LA Game. It just means that Yao Ming becomes 'The Man'in the middle. The court is opened up and the oppositions defence has to honor all of our five players instead of four. In this way we develop Yao Ming and expect him to play his game. With players like Padgett and Taylor who will respond to JVG and pass Yao Ming the ball! Then our offence picks up a whole lot.
Cato IS a hinderince to the team's offense, hence my signature. The experiment was fun, but JVG needs to get real. Cato is no starting PF.
Padgett shows some D that Cato is limited on doing, Scott can roll pretty easily on defensive rotation and he does easily. CAto should come out of the bench as a back up center.
I'm not sure what games you have been watching, but offense aside, Cato is our MVP thus far on the team. This guy has thrived so far under JVG. In the last game he played (Wash. Wiz.) his stats were as follows: 12pts on 6-7 from the field, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks Not to mention all the shots he changed during the course of the game. I don't mind bringing in Padgett to mix it up a bit when you need offense but Cato is the cornerstone in the paint for the Rockets defense. In the first half of the game against Boston we passed the ball like I have not seen this year, crisp, concise, on time passes that enables us to outpace Boston in the first half. In the second half the guards got a little selfish and didn't pass the pall as well until Yao got fed up and took over in the 3rd quarter... Back before there was free agency in sports team chemistry was the most important thing along with fundamentals. Thats why back in the 70's and 80's the scores were consistently over 100 per game and the shooting percentages were much higher for the players. And coincidently, the players back then would have loved to play against the zone defense because they played as a team and got the ball to the open guy. These days its all street ball and iso which is very easy to defend with the zone and as a result we get game scores like 72-65. Not every player on the team has to be a scorer, you need guys to play defense and rebound and hustle and fill a role, all great teams have these players. Personally I would trade one of our guards before I traded Cato. But thats just one mans take on it.
I do like how JVG plays with the lineup. Lets hope he gives Boki some more minutes, and cutt pikes. Pike has been shooting like crap. I could see Boki eventually turning into a Ginobli, we need one of those type of players on the team.
When Celtics coach heard CATO will not play in the Boston, he is unhappy. What do you guys think about? I agree with DD. CATO is good as backup C. As PF, he sucks especially at the offense end. Because CATO cannot hit jumper shots, YAO was doublly teammed more often. As PF, CATO's defense is questionable. But as C, CATO's defense is good.
