It's been true all season....and he was improving last season too. He can still be boneheaded, but his value per salary dollar has always been favorable. Is he the perfect player? Hell no. Is he the worthless POS that people here make him out to be? Hell no also.
Playing harder defense does put a toll to the offensive end. I've noticed when im playing a good offense, my defense is not in focused like its been. and reverse. So I think it could be the case as well.
Speaking of Mobley's defence, we're gonna need it come Feb 18th when we go against the Lakers. Kobe is probably the hottest player in the league as we speak so Mobley's efence is gonna be key to whether we win this one.
If u are in good enough shape, playing good D should not harm your offensive game. Kobe does it on both ends. And Cat is definitely in good shape. I think his offensive struggles are caused be something else, maybe its as Bill Worell pointed out and something wrong w/ his shooting posture, or its spotting up instead of dribbling and shooting. But either way, it at least proves that it is not that he is not playing hard, its just that he is a little off on offense. But in yesterdays case, Cat knew he was a little off, so he played extra hard on D. Hey, whatever helps the team win, right?
Cat is a good defender, relative to his teammates. All in all, he's just average. However, I give him credit for being the one Rocket who does put in effort on defense. My only beef with him defensively, is that he goes for steals too often. Just stay with your man, and force a bad shot.
Living in A-Town I dont get to see many games so I have a question regarding our D. It seems to me that with Yao, EG, and Cato our guards should be overplaying their asses off. They should be playing the passing lanes and looking for steals since the basket should be protected by a big man (or two) at all times. Kind of like the way we would funnel guards and fowards into Hakeem back n the day. I haven't looked at stats recently, but how many steals per game do we get? Does it look like the addition of another shotblocker has affected our defensive ideology?
That is really the last thing we should do, no offense. At least if you do that for 48 mins. You might get 3-4 extra steals in a game, but you will give up 10-15 easy shots. Just not worth it in the long run. Also, Yao doesn't have the necessary footspeed, and recovery to play goalie, in that kind of scheme. It also means our defensive rebounding will be piss poor. Getting steals is nowhere near as important as just getting stops.
I'm a Cat hata, but I've noticed the improved d, all season. It's an improvement, and he certainly tries. He's even taken a few charges this season. He also gets his share of blocking fouls. That's effort. So let's recognize the effort. Anything to increase the trade value. I think he's still too short and wirey to really bother anyone who's on his game. He plays up on his man, but can't defend the post or get through a pick. He gets beat on the bump and go (Kobe) or any power play. He does well against the stutter or dribble juke (go figure). He's prone to reach when he gets beat and try to make up with an ill-timed jack at the other end. Personally, I'd like to see Cat switch to the opposing 1 from time to time, where I think he could be more effective on D. Unfortunately, we have Francis or Moochie providing nothing, so may as well pick the shot, and let them release early after a token show. I'll give the opposing 3 or 5 the advantage (typically the worst player) and seal 1,2, and 4. I don't think the effort is killing his jumper. Perhaps it's that he ranks # 4 in the NBA in min. per game at 41.6. Or not. He has an economy of motion, and he's in good shape. He's just not a shooter, he's a scorer.
kidrock- agreed as long as we are successful on d stay with what works. I was just wondering how our d has changed since it obviously has judging by stats. We just have such a strong last line of defense I feel like we can gamble quite a bit more than your average team.
