Cato Leading the League?

Yeah...no one cares about Cato! I'm sorry, but he was the Least Valuable Player last year. I wish they would respect him, but they don't. He has been doing a great job this year. He just rebounds like crazy and he has good offensive awareness. His dunks are great to watch. And his defense was good in the beginning of the year. Maybe he doesn't play enough. Good job Cato!

 

Cato DEFINITELY doesn't play enough. Why do we play Mo Taylor so many minutes at PF when he is undersized and can't defend well and/or rebound, especially when the Rockets have one of THE BEST REBOUNDERS in the league in Cato.

Cato is no fluke, either. Last season he averaged 7.0 rebounds in 25.6 minutes, for a 13.1 rebounds per 48 minute average, which isn't as good as it is this year, but I think we can all agree that Cato showed significant improvement in his game over the final 1/3 of the season.

I made this point in another thread, about how Cato was near tops in the league in rebound-per-48-minute average, and that he deserves to play over Mo Taylor. At this point, the Rockets need defense and rebounding, even at the sacrifice of offense, which isn't a big sacrifice at all given how badly Mo Taylor is shooting this year.

Regardless, I want the ball in Yao or Steve's hands every time down the floor, not Mo Taylor's. Steve and Yao will give us much higher percentage shots, because they are 1) better shooters and 2) better passers. I also like Cato because he almost always takes high percentage shots (he is a career 52.2% FG shooter). Mo Taylor is a career 46.7% shooter and only 35.8% this year. Cato has bad hands, but the only shots he should be taking are alley-oops and put backs. I can live with his bad hands and occasional foul trouble.

Can anyone please give me any reasons why Cato should not play more minutes than Mo T? I am stumped.

 

Mobility. Cato can be effective defending the C position, particularly as there is a dearth of talent in the league at this position, but with the range of many of the PFs right now, he would definitely struggle (IMHO).

 

Cato definately cannot guard Dirk or KG, but he can hang with most PF's. I cannot understand why we haven't Cato backup the 4 yet. He's playing well...and we can't do any worse.

 

I am guessing that Rudy is hesitant in using Cato at the 4 for any of the following reasons:

1. Cato might not be fast enough to defend many PF in the league.

2. Cato's game is near the basket on offense. So you either let him stay inside and clog up the lane, which would hinder Yao's game, or park him outside and basically play 4 on 5. (If Cato stays outside, his man will most likely leave him and double up on Yao. Remember, illegal defense is gone. Somebody who can't shoot won't create any spacing.)

3. If Cato and Yao played together, they might both get into foul trouble.

4. Perhaps Cato's effectiveness this season has something to do with less minutes.

I don't know. These reasons are just my speculation. I don't mind seeing Cato play alongside Yao for limited minutes, but not for long stretches.

 

You may also notice that players like Shaq aren't on the list either. Neither has met the criteria to be on.

To qualify: a player must be on pace to play 70 games or collect 800 rebounds.

 

Cato definitely cannot guard Dirk or KG, but is there really anybody in the NBA who can?

Certainly Mo Taylor is not a defensive improvement over Cato at all, Cato is about 2-3 inches taller and probably weighs less than Taylor. Cato is 6'11" and 255, Taylor is 6'9" 260, although I don't believe that he is 6'9". I have seen nothing from Mo Taylor that would suggest that he is a better defender, and he doesn't block shots or rebound. I don't think that Cato is incapable of guarding most NBA PFs, plus he would play the majority of his minutes at backup center.

What I am suggesting is to play Cato as a backup PF, a sub for Eddie Griffin as well as Yao. 20-25 minutes per game would be ideal.

At some point I would like to see this lineup:

C Yao
PF Griffin
SF Posey
SG Mobley
PG Francis

Griffin should come out with 2-3 minutes left in the 1Q, to be subbed by Cato. Yao comes out of the game after the 1Q, to be subbed by Taylor.

In the 2Q I'd like to see a lineup of Francis/Mobley/Posey/Taylor/Cato, then Moochie would come in for Steve after a few minutes, and Glen Rice in for Posey. Rice would have an easier time against other teams' 2nd units.

With about 6 minutes left in the 2Q, we sub Yao for Cato, and Griffin for Taylor. At this point if not sooner, we'd probably take out Mobley and put Steve in, or vice versa.

With 3 minutes left in the 2Q we put Posey in for Rice, and now we have the lineup of:

Moochie/Steve (or Cat)/ Posey/Griffin/Yao. You could also take out Moochie and play Cuttino with 3 minutes left.

At this rate, Steve would continue to get his 40-42 mpg, Mobley his 40-42 mpg, Posey about 30 mpg, Yao about 32-34 mpg, Cato about 20-23 mpg (with the intent of playing Cato more in the 2nd half of the game than Mo Taylor).

Moochie would only get about 16-18 mpg, and Glen Rice would ultimately get maybe 12-15 minutes at most.

Of course I haven't thought out this rotation very thoroughly, but I'd like to hear some opinions on it.

 

I don't see why Rudy would not at least experiment with Yao and Cato being on the court at the same time.

I could see a 3-2 zone defense with Steve, Cat, and Moochie on the wings. Then on offense put Cato in the low post with Yao feeding him from the wing. Or initially setting up in a double post. Which ever one doesn't gets set moves out.

 

i was going to say something like that too bob....

also there is one other thing that might complicate thing with cato. he seems to come in really strong off the bench and grab like 4 rebounds in 2 minutes and then fades off a bit and gets lots in the game. anyone else notice that too?

 

Pipe, Kelvin Cato is leading the NBA in rebounding per 48 minutes!!!

 

Cato doesn't play much because:

A. He's not Ben Wallace.

B. His offense is beyond terrible.

C. His hands are horrific.

D. His D is merely above-average.

E. Yao and Cato are both true C's.

Rudy prefers a PF with range and and the ability to work within the offense. Cato only fits that description if you think our offense consists only of alley oops and the occasional put-back (though he often has trouble with put backs).

 

i luv cato! he is a great blue worker this season, even thou he still has no shooting skill at all on the offence end, but his rb #s r so impressive that i still think he deserve to be the starter for this season.

yao is great, i meant i'm a huge yao's fan too. but yao is still a student in NBA, so i think cato should have more playin mins and let yao get stronger.

 

Cato is pretty good at free throws if he's in the mood.

Legendz3, you have a great signature.

 

To address these points:

A. Obviously we know that Cato is no Ben Wallace, especially defensively. However, he IS putting up Ben Wallace-like numbers when it comes to rebounding. That is impressive, and it's a good argument for him playing.

B. His offense is beyond terrible, that is true. However, Cato's FG percentage this season is 52% compared to Taylor's 36%. When Cato takes a shot, it is usually a dunk, plus his agressiveness can get the other team's big men in foul trouble.

Do we really need Taylor taking 8-10 shots a game when he is shooting this kind of percentage, not playing defense, and not rebounding the ball?

C Cato has terrible hands, but that's on offense, and he's usually pretty good in putting down those alley-oops. When he rebounds, he grabs the ball strong, and rarely loses it. His bad hands aren't really a big deal, since we just need him to crash the boards and take easy shots.

The problem the Rockets make with Cato is that they drive through the lane, pull up for the 10 foot jumper, then instead of shooting it, they try to rifle the pass in to Cato who is already thinking about the rebound. I have seen us get 3-4 turnovers because of that. Cato should simply be used to take easy alley oops, play defense, and rebound. His medium range jumper hasn't been horrible this year, either, although he uses it rarely.

D. Cato's D is merely above average, and that's great. Mo Taylor's defense is WELL below average, in my opinion. When Cato is on the court, we have another shot blocker/shot alterer, which is not the case with Mo Taylor.

E. Is Cato really a true center? Has he ever been experimented with at PF? I don't think it's really a big deal with the way the NBA is these days, most PFs could play C if they had to. Personally I think guys like Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Shaquille O'Neal are true centers, guys like Cato are more like PF/C.

 

To adress your reply to my points .

This argument is complementary to the others. Personally, I think that people who can't play O had better be damned, damned good at doing EVERYTHING else. Cato can rebound almost like Wallace, but his D isn't remotely as good.

Umm... when the player is only attempting alley-oops, the fg% is pretty unimportant. You can find almost any 7' in the league to do the same thing Cato does... and with our guards, have a great fg%.

Nope. But we do need somebody fulfilling that kind of role.

But he does lose out on far too many passes.

I've yet to see this supposed jumper. Maybe it exists, but I dunno... if Cato is to be productive at all, he has to be available for the dish on drives. Other C's don't seem to have as big of a problem with this.

Cato's D will prove to be below average at PF because of a lack of lateral quickness. His shot blocking and rebounding will also be minimized away from the hoop, as many PF's would force him away.

In today's NBA, the PF position requires that a player have a jump shot, hopefully be able to put the ball on the court a bit (not necessary, but very important), run the court, and play inside and out. Cato cannot do this. That makes him ill-suited to the position.

I mentioned Ben Wallace as the exception to this. In situations when one has a PF that can do everything nearly perfectly except score, that's fine. But Cato can't.

Maybe he could get some very short-term minutes there. Especially until Mo recovers his form. But he's nothing remotely resembling a long-term solution at the PF, either as a starter or as a significant bench contributor.

Cato's an excellent back-up C, but just because he does that well... everyone's scrambling to get him more minutes. He doesn't need those. Pull him out of his comfort area and put him in something he isn't suited for, and he'll flop again.

 

I thing Cato would make a better enforcer than MoTaylor. He's the one with the mug that would put Magliore down on the ground! Cato's also benched because of Yao. It would definitely build team character to see the backup center honestly have his replacement's back. It should be an experiment when we play the L.A. Lackers. It should keep Shaq honest even if in the motion offense, if he were to guard Cato, and Yao made a move to the basket, Shaq comes of the weak side, or just simply rotates off of Cato. With Yao and Cato in the game, Yao has the presence of mind, I'm sure, to make that outside pass to Cato, therefore having an open 7 footer, w/ a clean path to the basket, and a dunk on Shaq. For Shame! But it should be an experiment until we have someone really step up to play Yao's bodyguard. What's Otis Thorpe doing now?

 

i'm with u on this one!! i said it before, and i'm saying it again: plez put cato and yao on the court at the same time as shaq is on the court. cato will take care the D of shaq and all the other dirty works, and let yao focus on the offence!!!!!

 

After the second lost to the Clippers, many people complained about the tactic of Yao from the perimeter feeding Rice at the low post. Are you suggesting Cato is a better scoring threat than Rice down low?

The fact is, if Cato is in with Yao, Yao will play out of position on offense simply because Cato is useless offensively anywhere outside of 5 ft. from the basket. I agree that it is at least worth experimenting to play Cato at the 4 on defense. But on offense, Yao will have to play PF. I don't think that's what we want to do, at least at this point of Yao's career.

I am sure Rudy wants Yao to get the inside game down solidly before he works him outside. It is very conceivable that after Yao's game matures inside, we will see some "twin tower" configuations. But that will probably take another couple of months.

 

It should be noted that in Cato's first remarkable preseason here, the one where he averaged 5 blocks a game and we prematurely signed him to a big contract, he played the 4 next to Hakeem Olajuwon. He certainly didn't do a bad job of it back then. He swatted everything from every opponent, period.