Ming will not walk in and take Cato's job - you must remember Ming is a project in the works. Cato will be serious about keeping his position and will most likely relish in dunking on Ming a few times in practice. Ming is the #1 pick but he is still a Rookie and will have to earn the respect of his teammates. Also consider the fact that Ming may be playing PF some of the time depending on how he adapts to the NBA. Lets start fresh and show Cato a little respect going into the new season and see how his game responds to the new pressure of Mr. Ming.
If picking Ming motivates Cato to be the player he is supposed to be, then the pick was already worth it. That's my two cents.
No offense, but Cato doesn't deserve any respect. His name is written in pencil for the starting job. If he was the center the Rockets needed him to be, would we have drafted Ming? I highly doubt it. We most likely would have traded the pick. Cato has had his chances to be the player he was hyped up to be from Portland and in the first preseason when he first arrived. I hope he comes out with a fire and plays up to his so-called potential so the Rockets can trade his a$$. I don't care about whether he played baseball or backgammon growing up, I don't care if he was the dishwasher or the busboy. All I know is that he is lazy on the court, shows no fire, lacks competitive spirit (unless his starting job is in jeopardy or he is going to be traded), and has no plans to add anything to his "Mother Hubbard" offensive repitoire. I agree that Ming should not be the starter at the beginning of the season, but when Christmas time rolls around, and if Ming shows enough court savy, he should usurp Cato as the starter.
I think Cato's only problem was confidence. His teammates didn't have confidence in him because he woudl drop balls and make bad plays every now and then and that would hurt his self confidence and he woudl be very concious of everything he was doing and was maybe trying too hard to not make mistakes and he would be passive. When his teammates finally showed confidence in him, he became a much more productive player.
Lets see, here's Cato's big improvement from season to season. 99-00 Hou 65 32 24.3 3.3-6.2 .537 0.0-0.1 .000 2.1-3.2 .649 0.5 1.9 1.1 2.7 0.0 1.6 4.4 6.0 0.4 8.7 00-01 Hou 35 13 17.8 1.8-3.2 .577 0.0-0.0 .000 1.1-1.6 .649 0.4 0.9 0.7 2.5 0.0 1.3 2.7 4.0 0.3 4.7 01-02 Hou 75 73 25.6 2.5-4.3 .583 0.0-0.0 .000 1.5-2.6 .582 0.5 1.3 0.7 2.8 0.1 2.3 4.7 7.0 0.4 6.6 To me, it looks the opposite. In 99 he played less minutes scored 2 morepoits, blks more shots and grabbed 1 less rebound. Where is the improvement ? Is this who is suppose to be our starter. Once Ming comes in and plays his time, I expect the 2nd yr numbers our of him which is what is expected from a pine rider.
The NY trade is just fine. Done. We trade TLD and Cato (huge contracts- no defense!) and an extra PF (value) for Kurt Thomas (Defense, thug) and charlie ward (short contract - all defense). Um, OK! Where do I sign? I'd like a pick back for KT, though. Hate to give him up to be rid of those contracts, but, hey. I like the Mooch and all, but geez, his contract is forever, he plays no defense, and should only get 8 min tops on the floor, with a healthy steve.
