Cato, More of a Difference Maker than Previously Thought?

Yeah, I know that when the Rockets are blowing 3 on one fastbreaks, missing wide open jumpers, and creating more turnovers than Jack in the Box after the weekly Weight Watchers meeting, I'm just screaming for Kelvin Cato to get back in the game

 

Personally, I dont think he is that much of a difference maker. I think he helps Yao when Yao has fouls and he can guard other low post players but other than that, he doesnt really do anything more than Spoon does. Cato starts the game and the 3rd quarter but usually is nowhwere to be found in the 2nd quarters and at the end of the game. More and more Cato's liabilites are being exposed and thus JVG has given him less playing time in favor of Spoon.

The PF position really is a spot that needs to be addressed in the offseason. Taylor is fine coming off the bench but as a starter we need a player that can hit the jumper and still be a good defensive player.

Personally, I am hoping we can try like hell to land Rasheed Wallace, perhaps with our 6.9M T.E. Detroit has some cap problems and likely wont be able to sign BOTH Wallace and Okur and most likely they will sign Okur over Wallace because of the age factor.

Wallace has been VERY intstrumental in Detroit's recent surge. He provides a lot on defense and would be the same difference maker here in Houston paired iwth Yao Ming.

 

The sad truth is that Cato makes a very insignificant impact on a game. Whatever "defensive presence" he makes is more than cancelled out because he has the offensive game of a bobblehead doll. He has no jumper, which every team exploits by doubling off him and sliding over to front Yao. He's also a poor post passer. If it weren't for Steve feeding him alley oops, he'd probably be shooting 35%...

 

interior defense i'll give you. maybe he could have challenged a few of the layups last night.

with Cato gone, we still have a great rebounding margin, I don't really think we miss him at all in that respect. Clearing the lane? I'm happy if he doesn't clog the lane.

 

82 games has an interesting (if not totally reliable) article about players' defensive impact: http://www.82games.com/comm26.htm. They attempt to find a statistically valid way of measuring defensive contributions when NBA statistics are not very good about capturing it. In their concluding rankings, Cato is behind only Garnett and Duncan for defensive presence. And, you'll notice in our 3 losses, our opponents have each scored 99, 90, and 100 points, significantly more than our what we usually allow.

Measuring that sort of thing is sticky, of course. And, it cannot be denied that his offense is keeping him off the court. But, I think he is very valuable in some situations where we care a lot more about defense than offense.

(Btw, it seems to me that Cato was less of an offensive liability last season when he focused more on the alley-oops and putbacks. It seems like VG has him attacking the basket less.)

 

Cato makes an impact in a variety of ways... most of them are subtle, but EFFECTIVE.

His rebounding and interior defense are probably the best on the team... especially the offensive boards.

Additionally, he's another body who can play effective minutes... Mo, Spoon, and Yao can't play all the big minutes... they need a buffer, and Cato provided that.

However, he doesn't help our offense... in fact, our offense was probably BETTER yesterday with Mo-T getting more playing time, and hitting some big shots.

When Cato is healthy, I'd still like to see him become Yao's backup... and let Mo-T start. There's way to much of a defensive let-down, when Cato gets tired from starting... and Mo-T comes up for Yao.

This way, Cato (who is as high-energy as they come) can go in and bang a little (what bench guys are notorious for), and provide a stark change from our starting lineup which would be focused more on post-up and finese shooting by Mo and Yao.

Of course, JVG values defense... thus, Cato will get some preferential treatment.

 

Cato is the type of roleplayer you need on a playoff team.

He is defensive minded, defends the lane well, offers good weakside help, a decent perimeter defender (he moves his feet well), he bangs and boards well, and he is long (something that we lack outside of Yao).

Who cares about the offense... he should not be in a position to shoot jumpers anyway. He is a light version of B. Wallace and if Cato was in the East he would be a monster.

 

You overvalue Cato. He is decent but has a lot of holes.

Pretty much everything you used to describe Cato can also be said for Spoon (sans being long) PLUS Spoon is a better passer, perimeter defender and shooter. I disagree with your statement that Cato is a decent perimeter defender. That is a HUGE defensive weakness and why we have problems matching up with 4's that are quick like Dirk, Cliff Robinson, Vlad Radmonovic etc. That is a BIG problem for this team.

 

Those examples are not really fair. NO ONE can match up with Dirk or Rad (when he is on) for that matter. Plus, you are talking about Cato guarding true threes who play the four while Cato is a true five playing the four.

Against traditional fours and in the ROX help defense schemes... Cato is valuable and he presence has been missed these last four games.

 

I think his shotblocking is essential to this team, which is why I thought Eddie Griffin could've been perfect for us.

I remember some stats Clutch posted a while back of our record with 5 blocks or more vs less than five blocks. The results are stunning.

In fact, when Cato and Yao Ming combine for 5 blocks or more, we RARELY lose. I believe we were 17-3 with those numbers last season, not sure about this one though.

 

Also, if you've noticed, Yao picks up a lot of his fouls when Cato sits, so techinically our offense slips a bit when Cato sits.

 

I agree. Not having a mobile 4 like Griffin who can block shots hurts the team. All the more reason why a Rasheed Wallace would make a perfect fit.

 

Without Cato we are a VERY small team.

Whereas we used to balance off starting 3 guards by also starting 2 centers, now we play that old-school Phoenix type of small-ball game.

Then when Yao rests, our tallest player is what, 6-9? That's simply not gonna cut it.

 

I agree that we need Cato but only because he provides more depth and versatility to our front court. There is no way he's the X-factor or a difference maker. The reason I say this is Cato's performance since the start of the new year has been borderline disappointing. Check out his month-by-month stats:

MPG FG% RPG BPG PPG
Oct/Nov 29.3 34.0% 9.1 1.6 5.8
Dec 28.2 47.6% 7.3 2.1 6.2
Jan 25.4 50.7% 6.5 1.1 6.8
Feb 20.5 52.9% 6.0 0.8 6.8
Mar 21.7 40.7% 4.4 0.9 4.3

KC's slide has hopefully hit bottom with an awful March. Sure, his FG% and PPG went up but KC is not here for his offense. I'm sure many people here thought KC could be a poor-man's Ben Wallace. Well, I'm just hoping he becomes the Kelvin Cato of old at this point. I would even agree that Spoon his more valuable that KC now. For the entire year, KC averages 13 boards and 11 points per 48. Spoon, since the start of Feb, averages 13 boards and 18 points per 48. Now, I'm not saying that KCshould take a back seat to Spoon when he gets back. But I do agree with Nick that KC should mainly be our backup C and let MoT and Spoon split the PF duties.

 

Sane ,

Our team is very impressive when get block shots:

28-13 (.683) when Roxs have 5 blocks or more
15-6 (.714) when Roxs have 7 blocks or more

Individually,
12-3 (.800) when Yao has 3 blocks or more
8-5 (.615) when Cato has 3 blocks or more

Also, Cato hasn't had only had 2 games of 3 or more blocks in 2004. Here's hoping Cato finds his 2003 self when he returns.

 

Cato + Yao = 2 shot blockers
Yao only = 1 shot blocker

seems like a different to me

Rocket River

 

Is Cato underpaid?

The answer to both these questions is the same: hell yes.

 

Cato is an asset to this team.....u can neva have too many big men......he plays decent D and takes fouls away from Yao......