Prior to the arrival of Yao Ming, Kelvin Cato was developing nicely as a good solid NBA center. During the start of this year, his play was much improved. Unfortunately, because of Yao, Cato lost a lot of playing time as well as the starting job that was his and now only gets around 10min/game which is far too little for someone of his calibre of talent. Now I do believe that Yao is a capable center and do feel he deserves to start even if I don't buy into all the hype and overinflated expectations people have of him and feel his game will somewhat stagnate as it is already with defenses adjusting to him. (But please respond to this point in the following thread: http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=47597 rather than this thread as I want to focus on Kelvin Cato here.) Even in a much reduced role however, Cato has been extremely productive. In about 1/3 of the time as Yao, Cato has almost as many rebounds and is doing well in limited minutes. And Cato is showing that he has and can develop offensive skills (recall the 22 pts he scored a few weeks ago!) I strongly believe that Cato's talents are being wasted on the Rockets bench and is better utilized on a team where he can start. For the sake of both Cato and the Rockets, I think that he should (perhaps packaged with other players) be traded to a team that will maximize his talents and allow him to finally develop into that solid center that I know he can be while the Rockets can improve in other areas of weakness at the same time. If Cato is only going to play around 10min/game, then Jason Collier is more than adequate for backup purposes. I don't think that Collier is as good as Cato but he is much better than people think and is perfect as a backup. On the other hand, Cato is simply too talented to be wasted as a backup when he could be a starter for most teams and playing significant minutes for them.
I agree with you, but we dont necessarily have to get rid of Cato. I think we should try and play bigger lineups more often. Rudy should be thinking what if we play Cato *** minutes at power forward? Can you imagine if versatile we could be if we could play Griffin, Cato and Ming in the front court. Talk about shot blockers!!!
What type of player do you think he would have developed into if not for Yao's arrival? You think if he was progressing as the next dominanat center the Rockets would do anything they can to speed up that process. Don't just look at the stats, they barely tell half the story. And I don't think his post moves will ever command a double team. I've been watching him since college and the Portland days, and he's not a multi-dimensional player you think he might develope into.
cato is perfect for the role he has now. do you think for a second that he'd perform this well without yao there to push and test him. no way.
No, he/she is a troll, starting threads that subtly bash Yao from different angles. Just look at the short history of his/her posting. Just ignore the threads.
Cato is the perfect backup center for Yao. Let him be. Rockets got other bigger problems. No PF. Guards keep playing ISO offense.
Cato has no offensive game. Leave him where he is. His bad attitude would always get him in trouble. He can't shoot, can't pass, can't post up, and doesn't have good hands. 20 minutes per game is fine.
Cato is the perfect change of pace backup for Yao. An enforcer and inside presence, but with bad hands. And he might have extended his scoring range from point blank to 4-5 feet!! However, he's GOTTA QUIT WHINING AFTER EVERY CALL. (Reminded me of Gasol in the Griz game.) His attitude won't win any points with the refs and ultimately will hurt the team. Dallas Rocket
Cato is perfect in his role as a backup. Good shot blocking, defense, and rebounding but not much of a legit scoring threat. He's great for backdoor slashing for those nice highlight alley oops. Other than that, he's simply a role player albeit an important one for the Rockets. He's fine just where he is. He can finally bring some value to the Rockets for a change.
I do, I do.. Every one peakes 30 games into his rook season. It is the first season Cato played, so we should trade him before he peaked (then he could only grab 1 RB/48mins). Hurry up! BTW, we should trade him for a HS kid, 15 years or under so he can play a couple of years before peaking!
You beat me to that. Anyway, we should at least try to play the Rox version of the twin towers. Our PFs should be the ones we try to get rid of. EG is cheap, so he stays, but get rid of the other 2.
Just to clarify in order to avoid misunderstanding: I am not claiming Cato is better than Yao nor am I claiming that Cato is a hall of fame or even all-star calibre center. All I am claiming is that based on Cato's performance this year based on his stats (when viewed on a per 48 minute basis) he is a very solid center and is deserving to start on most teams. In this last game for example, Cato had 9 rebounds in only 12 min of play while Yao Ming only had 12 rebounds in 41 min of play. I agree right now that he is not a huge offensive force but I believe as a starter he can develop into a 12-13 ppg center while being a great rebounder and defensive presence. And his 22 pts against Golden State shows that he does have offensive skills which I believe can be developed further. And although Cato is averaging 20 min/game, that includes the time when he was starting and since he lost his starting job, he has only been averaging about 12 min/game or so. Like I said, if Cato is only going to be given about 10 min/game, then Collier is more than adequate as a backup and Cato should be packaged in a trade in order to strengthen the Rocket's weakness in other areas while avoid wasting away Cato's talents.
Doesn't this go against your theory of our centers peaking after 20 games? If we use your theory, Cato peaked back in '98. Why do you think a guy's talents are being wasted when he peaked 4 or 5 years ago.
Before this year I thought Cato was among the worst in the nba, and has been for the most part during his career with the Rockets. He has no offense except when dunking the ball either off a rebound or the receiving end of an alley-opp, but he's now shown that he's a very solid back-up center that will play defense and grab rebounds.
Kelvin Cato is a very capable backup center in the league. No double about it. Every NBA fan with limited knowledge in basketball should understand that a good team needs more than 5 starters. For example, we can definitely use Cato's 6 fouls and his big body when playing against Shaq, at least for the next 2 years. Now you are trying to say we should trade away Cato because he deserves to start on another team. Are you a Rockets fan? You are no better than those who said we should trade Yao Ming because he would get more touchs on another team. Again, are you a Rockets fan? Or you are a Cato-only-fan? By the way, you still have not answered our question that if Cato has already 'peaked'.
