From NBA.com: Sam Cassell Traded by the Rockets with Robert Horry, Mark Bryant and Chucky Brown to the Phoenix Suns for Charles Barkley on 8/19/96... Traded by the Suns with Michael Finley, A.C. Green and a 2nd round draft choice in 1997 or 1998 to the Dallas Mavericks for Jason Kidd, Tony Dumas and Loren Meyer on 12/26/96 Robert Horry Traded by the Suns with Joe Kleine to the L.A. Lakers for Cedric Ceballos and Rumeal Robinson on 1/10/97.
Portland would have given up anyone we wanted on the roster that year. We really wanted Walt and Cato. It was just bad judgement on our part because we wanted to win in 99 not the years after.
In the right situation, Cato would've been almost as good as, if not better, than Jermaine O'neal. Cato is nowhere NEAR a triple-double player (i.e. preseason game), but possibly 15pts, 9.5reb, 3blk. That's pretty damn good. To me, it just seems he wasn't in the right situation (Dream was playing for us). Jermaine O'neal was immediately given the chance to be the starter, playing big minutes, and an option on offense. While Cato was playing in Dream's shadow, not as much PT, and was hampered by injuries. I still think Cato can be a very good player if he gets traded, not to say I don't like his contribution this season (effort, rebounding, defense). Cato would do well on a Riley-coached team. On the Pippen trade, I think Portland said no to trading O'neal, and we got ripped off.
Didn't Cato at some point even say that he did not want to start (I know he does start now...) and that he did not want that much responsibility? I think he did say something like that... I would be very happy if Cato could show very soon how well he can do on a Riley-coached team....
I do think Wells would have been a deal breaker. However, just me, but my hunch is if we demanded Oneal instead of Cato that would not have been a deal breaker. Oneal was traded by Portland the next year for an over the hill zero-O power forward. Portland thought Pippen was their final piece and really wanted him--he very nearly was all the extra they needed, just like foolishly thought Davis was the final piece the year later. We thought Cato was good, at the time he was Portland's 2nd string guy (over Oneal), and would be of more immediate impact. If we would have gotten Oneal instead of Cato obviously it would have been a brilliant trade. As it is, taking on Cato (he hasn't been playing that bad) and Walt to get rid of the cancer (Pippen) is less than a disaster. The Portland fans should be saying what they hell we were thinking in trading Oneal for Davis though, if they really knew Oneal would be half the player he already is that trade was stupid, stupid, stupid. Would have been nice to take advanatge of their stupid decision making, it might have been a near miss with Oneal, only our own and Portland's brass knows for sure.
