I think the Rockets should put the responsibility square on Cato's shoulders to step up. I am afraid Cato will have an out if we sign Jackson. And I'd rather learn whether Cato and Collins are going to be useful or should be dumped. Subconsciously Cato might be motivated by the fact that he is the man at the 5 spot. In addition, Jackson is undersized and as others have pointed out is not a large defensive presence in the middle. Some of you didn't want Webber or Hakeem, so lets really see what this baby can do stripped down and running and gunnin...
If Jackson can come cheap enough on a short term deal, I think you take the chance just for insurance? Collier is nice but as a 3rd option.
Jackson is the same height as Cato, and is actually heavier. And if Cato playing with Dream on the injured list didn't motivate him, how would forcing him to start now going to motivate him!?
Why is everyone so down on Jackson? I'm a late night person and after watching the Rockets, I used to watch the Clipps and the Warriors. Mark Jackson actually played very well when the coach decided to start him. When he started,he avg 18pts and 9 rebs. Jackson has a good jumper from 15-18ft, a good passer, plays hard, and he has a good back to the basket game. He is the type of center you could move to the elbow to free up the baseline. Plus, everyone says his work ethic is very, very good.
If you sign Jackson and he gets you 15pts 9rebs, whats wrong with that. He's kind of like a european big man. He's very fundamental for a big guy 6"10 270lbs. Good footwork, good floor game, and plays very hard . If the Rockets don't want to wait for Duncan, he is a good option.
Depends what you consider a "short term deal". The SHORTEST deal we can give Jackson is 3 years, because he is a restricted free agent. And it'd have to have a start value over 4.5 mill. At the very least, you'd be putting 3 years and 16 mill or so into Jackson. Probably more.
4.5 million a year for 10+ rebounds a game is fine, let Steve / Mobley / Mo / Eddie score I'm not sold on this "lets wait for Duncan" crap. Gee, we waited for Webber. This month we waited for Hakeem. LETS WIN NOW.
True Jax may be the same height, but he plays small. He doesn't serve as a defensive stopper in the middle like Cato can. And I believe that even with Dream injured there was the inevitability of his return. Now Cato is the only option and that might have a different psychological effect on his play.
It beats not playing at all, like Cato does. Besides, I don't know how a big man scoring 13 points, and grabbing 7 plus rebounds per game is "playing small" though. He reminds me a lot of Kevin Willis. The ironic thing is that EVERYTHING people are saying about Marc Jackson people said about Kevin Willis before he came to Houston!
If I may be so brash as to quote myself here ... http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&postid=137392#post137392
Kevin Willis has very short arms and he is serviceable. Thats why tehy call him Alligator. In a way, I'm kinda hoping we don't do so well this year so we can get Chris Marcus in the up coming Draft.
