I know he left for a family funeral and I believe he is back. The past few box scores list him as DNP- Coach's Decision. I am not a big Cato fan, but he has been playing better this year so I am surprised he is not in there at all. Anyone know what is up?
As well as Cato has played, I just don't see where there's time for him to play. There are 96 minutes at the 4 and 5 to be played. 30 are going to Yao, about 25 each to Mo and Eddie, and that's 80 right there, leaving you only 12 for KT/Cato. Instead of trying to play both at only about 10 minutes per game, Rudy is going with Kenny almost exclusively, since he can also play some at the 3, and thus gets in the flow easier. It's also about matchups. Yao's our starting center for good now... you can't argue with that. The thing is, most teams don't have true backup centers. For example, Washington was sending out 6'8 Christian Laettner and 6'9 Etan Thomas to sub for Haywood. There's no question that Mo Taylor is a better basketball player than Kelvin Cato. Cato gets minutes over players like Mo and Kenny because he has the size to match up with big men that they can't, but off the bench there just aren't many intimidating big men. And if you don't have to worry about defending the size of the other team's big man, there's virtually no reason to have Cato out there instead of Mo or KT. I think Kelvin was doing a very good job, but he's just an unfortunate victim of the depth of this team. If Yao were to ever get hurt or in early foul trouble against someone (Duncan, Shaq), Cato would be a good option, but other than those situations I just can't see him getting a consistent role on this team, unless KT is traded.
I was wondering the same thing today. I believe his playing days as a Rocket are over. Ming has arrived and he is the real deal.
Maurice Taylor and Eddie Griffin shouldn't be playing center if you have a legitimate big man on your roster. I understand they can be used when Rudy wants to go small and create mismatches, but you can only do that for a few minutes at a time before the opposing defenses begin to compensate and the opposing offenses begin to dominate down low. There's no reason for Cato to not be playing from a logical coaching standpoint. I would guess more along the lines of an ego thing with Cato getting pissed and taking it out on the coaches after Ming's explosion lately. Other than that, he just might really care about his grandmother quite a bit. He'll be a big part of the rotation though; he's getting paid too much to not be.
Catos days as a rocket are not numbered, He is still the starter Cato was VERY close to his grandmother VERY...He is taking it hard. When Cato felt like quitting what he loved his grandmother change his mind. I feel for him because my grandma is still alive and It would devastate me if I lost her.
I'll argue with that. If we want to play defense and shut a team down that way, then Cato is my man. He gets way too many rebounds and blocks a game to be sat on the bench. I wish him well and miss seeing him catch those Sfra alley-oops.
Rudy T knows that teams are UNABLE to win in the playoffs with a 7'6 rookie as the starter, backed up by a 6'9 PF who is a below average rebounder or a Second year PF who, I think, weighed less than our backup PG last year, and is probably one of the lightest 6'10+ players in the league. We need Cato's tough rebounding and defense, no doubt about it. Ming is playing incredibly well, and he may or may not be the starter. Regardless of the meaningless title "starter", we need Cato to play meaningful minutes on this team. Of course, the solution, as always, is to trade KT. T-Mo looked good to me last night, and he can cover any garbage minutes. Our SF rotation is looking very good, and there's no room for KT in it. Rice/Tmo/Hawkins/and eventually Boki is a very good SF rotation. As I'm sure you've noticed, Rice has begun hitting the open shots, Hawkins is very effective against smaller SF's, and T-Mo will be very impressive once he gets his jumper down (he's very close). I'd like to have a veteran, but I just don't know where he'd play. My suggestion: KT and Moochie Norris for a veteran PG with a short contract, along with a very future pick (2004/5). It looks like one more veteran who has valuable experience may put this team over the top. I don't know much about Avery Johnson's contract, but once NVE comes back, he may be a good pickup. Rice is the only player on our team with true experience. Adding ONE more would be very valuable. Thoughts?
Ditto and well said. In terms of picking up a veteran PG, I'd be all for it, but I don't think Dallas would have any interest in Moochie or KT. Avery is better and KT wouldn't be able to get off the Dallas bench. Dirk, Najera, Popeye, Finley, Griffin = no KT interest.
But that's my point... how are opposing offenses going to dominate down low with Christian Laettner and Etan Thomas? If there's a pretty good big man that we need to defend, I fully agree with you. But, on most teams there isn't. It's about playing matchups. If you don't need Cato for one on one defensive purposes, it comes down to this: Cato can block a couple of shots. Taylor can handle the ball, shoot from 20 feet, and establish and hold low post position offensively. I'd sacrifice a couple of blocked shots for someone that can be a low post presence on offense and shoot the ball. If we need Cato for defense, it's different, but the point is that you don't need defense against most backup centers. They just aren't that good. And though Mo is technically the center in this scenario, it's either playing Mo at center and KT at PF or Cato at center and Mo at PF. And Kenny gets just as many rebounds as Cato, so it's not a dropoff there either. Cato's much better at defense, like ya'll said, but with the quality of backup centers in the NBA it's almost irrelevant. He provides more of a defensive presence in the lane and gets one or two more blocks, but I think that's heavily outweighed by having a player on offense that can play in the low post and shoot. Also, Sane, take a look at the backup centers from the playoffs last season: Samaki Walker Scot Pollard Dirk Nowitzki (he slid over when Lafrentz would sit) Malik Rose Shawn Kemp I'd say you can do just fine, and those teams were able to win. And Yao being a rookie has nothing to do with it... he's already better than every center besides Shaq for those teams.
I still think that Cato has an important role to play on this Team! Remember the Phoenix Game last shot for Phoenix, I bet if Cato had been out there clogging up the middle, we would have won! Whwn it comes to the Playoffs we dont want our Power Forwards playing a mixed role, they just cant defend the five best back up Centers.
