Well, since pothead MoT is getting suspended for reefer madness, I think we ought to keep Cato. But what do I know I think we should keep Cato anyway.
Jamison is way better than Cato talent wise, but he doesn't fit the JVG style. Jamison is not known for his defense, he is not strong enough to defend the big 4s in the west. He is a great offensive player, but his offensive game is too unstructured for the Rockets. He would have been a good addition before we drafted Yao, but not now. --daoshi
An interesting idea that won't come to pass. Cato is exactly what Dallas needs. Therefore, nyet on giving Cato to them. I like Jamison but not for his salary. If JVG is looking to do anything, it is to solidify the rotation at C and PF (obviously). I don't know about the validity of recent trades we've heard mentioned, but assuming there is a grain of truth to each (Boston, Denver) it looks like we want a backup C/PF, with Boki/Mooch/EG as the bait (which is why nothing has happened yet). Here I am assuming too much, but that would give us a small/big rotation that doesn't lean on the classic PG setup, with Steve, Cat, and JJ as the primary ballhandlers: Steve/Cat Cat/Piatkowski/JJ JJ/A-Griff Cato/Mo Yao/Cato/Guy We're Trying to Trade For Bench: Amechi, Braggs, Wilks
I understand passing on Jamison--my concern is whether Jamison would be closer to his GS's or Dallas's effectiveness playing with Yao and SF--and I really don't know. But our 1st priority can't be solidifying the C spot or even the back-up 4 spot. Yao and anybody is good at the C spot, Yao and Cato is outstanding--we are fine in the C spot. In Cato and Mo and some of the fill in guys were more or less are good at the back-up 4 spot as well. But we don't have a true starting quality 4, nor 3, that can go out and give you 35+ quality minutes in one of those positions. To me what we most need is a heavy minute effective forward--be it a 3 or 4. Cato is doing fine for some spot 4 minutes along with backing up Yao--but his offense is just too limited to play him there for 30+ minutes. We want guys to make JJ the 6th man, Cato the 7th and Mo the 8th--Cato is a nice luxury 5 who can play spot 4 minutes, but I just think we can get more bang for the buck with a legit heavy minute multi-dimensional forward--it is just doesn't look like anyone on the roster (EG, Mo, Boki) is going to be one of those guys and we need one desperately.
Also, remember Dallas has to take back almost as much in salary (within 15%). So it would not be like we just added Jamison's salary, we would deduct Cato & Mooches for instance--all of these players salaries are also off the books in 06 or 07. So money/contracts would not be a huge issue with this deal.
I hope everyone sees this post. Cato benifits them more than Jamison benefits us. That, and teams hardly ever make significant trades within their own division.
On the plus side ( probably too much), these guys are on different levels as players; Jamison is a much better player. On the negative side, this would leave us with a VERY short team, aside from Yao. Steve is average, certainly not tall at the point, Cat is a short 2, JJ is a short 3, and AJ would be a short 4.
RM95 I totally agree. Why make a division rival stronger? Also, Jamison would not be a huge upgrade to the team and help us. I really like Cato's game so far at PF.
Interesting. I like Jamison quite a bit, and this does seem to be a rare trade idea that could benefit both teams. If I'm Dallas, I do this trade without blinking. It gives them the muscle that they have long coveted. As recently as a month ago, this whole BBS would respond to this suggestion with something like: "BS! We could never get 'Twon for Cato!" Here's my concern. Cato fits so well into JVG's new schema for the Rockets. Gundy has repeatedly praised Cato's ability to be effective without the ball, to play solid defense, to crash the boards. Jamison's a terrific player. But his key strengths are offensive, and we already have enough firepower with our starting 5. Cato takes the kind of shots we need from our starting 4: putbacks and dunks and the occasional mini j. Our 4 should be a blue-collared lunchpale guy, not someone who we try and feed the ball. Can Jamison wear the hard hat? Maybe. But we know that Cato can. We lose some on defense, we gain an offensive weapon (which might or might not be needed), and we help out a division rival. As much as I hate trade suggestions, this is a good one. But I'd pass.
How about NO. Cato is a physical monster out there. He's intense--tenacious on defense. We don't need to trade him. MoT plays a valuable role off the bench, but let's not start getting carried away. There's no need to start dismantling our team b/c our 6th man is going to miss 11% of the season.
NO Way! the rockets needs defensive-minded players or good long-range shooters not a one-dimensional scorer like jamison. we need cato more than ever now since we can't depend on taylor and EG.
That's what we need. Another player that shoots first and asks questions later. Also, do we really want to send Dallas the type of player they really need. Terrible suggestion.
