Matt B. and Chris W. interviewed Cat at home for Sports Sunday- My impression was that again Cat is negative towards Yao. Why should Cat be tired of being asked about Yao, unlesshe has an issue with Yao. Go read the other teams comments who have impressive rookies- Stephon Marbury gives Stoudemire all the props he can and pushes him for ROY. Brian Grant and players in Miami give Caron Butler props and love and see him as a ROY. Cat was asked to comment on playing with Yao and replied " He makes rookie mistakes, missed assignments, rookies just take time... " OK- he makes rookie mistakes- but don't you think he's exceeded our rookie expectations Cat, and become a key to our success. I would feel alot better about where Cat stands if he would gives Yao his due... Yao Ming has earned his props, Mo Taylor said it best after the New Jersey game (when asked about Yao's clutch 4 th quarter play) " He's the man" I just don't get why Cat is giving off the negative vibes on Yao. We need to get out of our denial on Cat there is something wrong with his attitude towards Yao Ming.
Well would you be upset, if you hired a publicist to help you gain more popularity but your plan was ruined horribly by some rookie from China who made the whole world including your "bestfriend" forget about who you are? BTW it's kinda weird if I said it's Cat's and Steve's team.
Maybe he had higher expectation for Yao. Maybe he thought that Yao's not good enough for this team. Maybe he thought that we lost games and fell out of the playoffs picture because of Yao. Maybe he didn't feel very happy that despite him having better stats than Yao, Yao became an All-Star while he's not and probably will never be (Remember All-Star was a big goal for him before this season started). Maybe he sensed that he's gonna be traded because of Yao's presence. Who knows?
Francis almost always talks positive about Yao. Yao gives Francis more attention, and the opposite applies to Cat (Fact), but hopefully we are reading too much into some of the things Cat said lately and there is really no issue between the players. -G'day-
I don't think we are reading too much, I would like for Cat to be positive towards Yao... Steve gives Yao positive reiforcement. I believes it helps the team to give Yao the message that we have confidence in him. Rudy is obviously making him a primary low post option. And Yao is obviously doing very well for a rookie. To me there is something to Cuttino's attitude towards Yao that is a negative for this Rocket team. I have the opinion (just my opinion) that Cat feels slighted, that he sees himself as an all star quality player and in his own eyes he believes he should be star status along with Steve. I think it is good for him to be confident, but from day one he has also shown overconfidence that has led to poor shot selection and all the other complaints ei too much dribbling etc. I think it would help the team (emphasize team) for Cat to get a new perspective of this team having Steve and Yao as the go to stars and himself as a very good player with a role. Not the man!
Yao Ming gave the Houston Rockets franchise and all the players much more attention, that included Cat. We were on national TV many more times. We were in the frontpages of so many national papers. We had many more sellouts. If any one of our players performed well, more people would notice that. All of our players should be grateful for that.
Agreed. With Stevie now acknowledging a move to the 2 the disenfranchisement of the Francis/Cat friendship may have shown its roots?
I wonder if he's already fired that publicist! Consider this, if not for that Chinese rookie, who would talk about Cuttino Mobley outside of Houston? (I mean not many people talked about him when he scored 20 ppg last season) Now at least more people are talking about him... Maybe his publicist should give him this advice!
How is this negative. Yao does make rookie mistakes. He's made some that cost us games. All Cat is saying is he is a rookie and rookie do make some mistakes and that is to be expected. We shouldn't expect too much from Yao. This board is getting rediculuous. If you want to drama, do watch General Hospital or something.
It's a negative because everyone in our starting lineup makes rookie mistakes, but I wouldn't want Cat doing this to any of the players... Hey Cat how is it going with you and Steve as a guard tandem? " well hey Steve still makes rookie mistakes, but he'll mature" Hey Cat how is it going with Eddie and Posey starting? " you know they make rookie mistakes and they are not rookies" True enough answers but I don't think it would cross Cat's mind to respond that way. It is a negative because Yao has not disappointed, we don't expect him to carry the team, we just needed him to be a credible center, an improvement over Cato. And it is negative to me to keep down playing Yao like because he's a rookie in some way we are being hurt not helped by his contributions. I just want to hear Cat say " Yao has been a big plus for us at the center position." " I am very glad we have the big guy down there on the post" " I am trying to look for him and get him the ball where he likes it because he creates a mismatch against most other centers when he gets it down deep in the post" Yao is a rookie. Fact Yao is an exceptional rookie. Fact Yao is becoming a go to option. Fact Yao is a key part of our playoff hopes. Fact Yao deserves props because he has helped the team get where we are.
Yao prob thinks to himself, "Damn, for a 5th yr player, Jack sure does make a ton of rookie mistakes "
Yao does make rookie mistakes. It is true. Mobley is right.Cat make rookie mistakes this year too I love cat. I hope cat ,yao ,SF get rings together.
Wow, I really can't believe I'm reading this. I'm no Mobley apologist or anything, but he's right on here. I remember a few games ago after Yao hit a big shot, going back to the huddle after a time out, Mobley was so excited he jumped on Yao's back. He was really showing his negative feelings for Yao there.
Rumor has it that Mobley was trying to hurt Yao's back! All kidding aside, if Mobley strictly said Yao makes mistakes that's not right. If he said, Yao's been great and is playing well, but still makes mistakes that's fine. But to comment and only talk about his mistakes well that definitely can't be good.
Rocketman 95- I didn't see that jumping on the back move, but that is encouraging. I like Cat and I hope I'm wrong about sensing him downplaying Yao. I stand corrected if Cat is a positive for our team chemistry. I know I'm reading things into his comments. I do believe that if there is a problem and Cat does have some resentment towards Yao ( meaning letting him have more of the spotlight and priority on the floor) and we do not make the playoffs it will only get worse. If Steve, Cat, Yao and Rudy are not on the same page we will be in trouble until it is worked out. See P. Jackson, S. O'Neill and K. Bryant in LA
The problem is that when Yao gets props, no one really notices because he gets them all the time. As soon as someone says anything that can be construed as being negative, we jump his butt. Yao is getting G.W. Bush treatment. Yao is stud. Fact Yao is a rookie. Fact Yao is will lead us to a championship. Fact (at least I hope) Yao still makes rookie mistakes and is not ready to carry this team. Fact
Also I would like to hear the interview replayed, I may have gotten it wrong... Jeff- You usually remember those things said what was your take if you heard the interview?
I saw the interview. I got the same impression, it wasn't anything big. To me he was just saying that he is a rookie, they expect him to make mistakes, he wasn't ragging on him or anything. They also asked Cat if these few days off and extra practices would help them get Yao more touches in the offense. Cat was like "yeah of course", then he said "but you have to bring rookies along slowly". I think Cat is a little jealous, he is losing some shots because of Yao, but really I think it is just a case of a veteran trying to keep a rookie in check. He doesn't want him to think he is the big dog, yet.
