Who cares about his shot. You dont really want 5 scorers on the floor at the same time. You have to score, rebound, or play defense. If you cant do one, youd better do the other 2. Mo Taylor's reboundinghas always been somewhat suspect. He's never been super athletic or agile and is not considered a great defender. if he's having problems with his offensive games, what's left is just a guy clogging up the lanes who cant rebound. Cato definitely deserves more minutes and probably at Mo Taylor's expense until he starts imroving.
What game were you watching? Yao did not get pushed around all nite...he established his position just about whenever he wanted to..Miller *tried* to push him around, to no avail. Also, I'm tired of hearing ppl speculate on whether or not YM is too tired to play...Did you not notice that he played the ENTIRE second half? He was just as effective(if not more effective) in the later stages of the game than he was earlier in the game. No doubt, Catoi has made me eat my words from previous seasons...and I have never been morre glad to have to do so. I think Cato is much more relaxed knowing that he isnt under pressure to perform with YM takeing all the offensive load at the center position..Kelvin knows that when he comes in, all he needs to do is grab boards, block shots, and try to keep the opposing center from scoring at will...these are things he can do. We have always known that he has the physical abilities to play like this..but his heart and desire were what we questioned. All I can say is, Thank you Kelvin, for accepting your role and fulfilling it like we all hoped you would.
Ya props to Cato he has really stepped it up. Rockets dont lose much when Yao goes to the bench other than scoring. He plays 110% when he steps out there. I have nothing negative to say about Kelvin Cato.
People need to drop the idea of playing Yao and Cato together. They-are-both-true-centers-not-suited-to-the-PF-position. Cato's hands are horrific, he can't shoot from further than 5 feet our (and to be safe, he needs to dunk it), he can't pass, or post up. Ben Wallace could make up for all these things... but Cato's D ain't that good. Yao doesn't run the floor as well as a PF should. Besides, he's more effective in the post. yes, PF's can post... but when you have a C who can't shoot (Cato), then you've got a person standing around doing nothing. To complement Yao, we really need a PF with some range.
You mean like Ben Wallace? Of course Cato is not Ben Wallace but Wallace does nothing on the offensive end other than to set screens, box out, and rebound.
I mentioned Wallace as a caveat, already. But in any event: 1. Cato doesn't rebound as well as Wallace 2. Cato doesn't play defense as well as Wallace 3. Wallace isn't an elite PF, anyway. 4. Wallace doesn't play along-side a legit true C with a great post game. 5. Cato has trouble even making put backs, due to his severe inability to do anything besides dunk. Wallace, at least, scores after he makes an offensive rebound. I'm sure we've all seen those wondrous sequences where Cato nabs 3 offenses rebounds in succession... only to miss the easy lay in all 3 times. With Yao's game, it's best complimented w/ a PF who has range to prevent the other team from collapsing on Yao, and to keep the defense honest. Let's see... who fits this description? Oh yes! That would be Eddie Griffin. I like Cato has a back-up C off the bench. He's an excellent back-up C. But he lacks ALL of the requisite qualities of an even mediocre PF.
Does anybody think Cato is playing well because of jealousy? Cato didn't think we should pick Mr. Yao. He has been playing well since pre season before Yao got here. Maybe Mr. Yao is the one motivation his lazy but needed.
Haven, the real comparison is Cato vs Wallace. It's Cato vs the backup PF - Mo Taylor. Is Cato a better rebounder than Taylor? Yes Is Cato a better defender than Taylor? Yes Is Cato a better shot blocker than Taylor? Yes Until Mo Taylor improves his offensive game, there is no reason not to look at Cato as a backup to EG.
If Cato can develop a reliable 12+ft jump shot, ala H. Grant, then he will be very effective at both 4 & 5 for the Rockets. Right now, he cannot play along side of Yao because his man will just leave him alone to double Yao every time down the court.
Where did this come from? The only public negative comments I know were from Francis and Mobley before the draft.
Damn expert, why don't you become coach? Maybe you should actually see them on the floor together before you come to this judgement. Maybe you should see Cato shoot around some before you say he can't shoot from further than 5 feet out (He actually has a decent shot for a center, but is no Brad Miller). Cato does have bad hands, but his passing is average, not horrible. NO, Cato would not be standing around doing nothing. If Yao is posting up ten feet away from the basket, would the PF defender come and double team? If so, then Ming can throw an alley-oop to Cato. If they don't double team, it's over and Ming will score. Cato's D isn't that bad either. He can get blocks, is a big body, and wouldn't have much more if any of a problem with PFs who play more in the post than Mo or Eddie. Now with PFs who take the ball outside, that's another story.
geez...whats with all the haters saying cato and yao can't play at the same time? maybe rudy will work it in by having them play 5 to 7 minutes a game together and see how it goes. it would be pretty sick if somehow we could get cato and ming out there for 10 to 15 min a game together. granted i do see the difficulties, but it would be fun to watch on defense and on rebounding. a lineup of ming/cato/posey/hawk/sf could be our defensive team and still have decent scoring.
I defintely think Cato can play some PF time. I am a Jazz fan as well and I remebered that he owned K. Malone when he played for Blazers. I think Cato can guard J. O'Neil as well.
We've all dogged Cato like hell so I'm really proud that he's playing so well and not sulking on the bench. Keep it up Kelvin!
One reason we will never play Yao and Cato much togther is we need at least one of them to stay fresh and out of foul trouble. However I agree there are spots where it might not be a bad deal. Last night might be one of those--where you can put Cato on Oneal and have Ming help. Similarly, against SA or Sac or LA at times it might be useful to have Cato work on Duncan or Webber or Shaq but also keep Yao in there. I think this can work because offensively, with his range and skills, there is no reason Yao can't set up where a PF would. In other words, on offense set up Yao as a PF, defensively set him up as C, and visa versa with Cato. Likewise, say we really need a stop late in the game, how about putting Yao, Cato, EG, Posey and Mobley or Francis out there in a zone. Talk about some serious extending length with still decent team quickness.
I don’t think anyone is saying Cato should be moved to PF, but he should be getting some playing time at PF depending on the match up. He is doing much better than MoT and EG right now on defense and rebounding. Since the other two are producing squat on offense we loose nothing there with Cato taking 5-10 minutes at PF. He’s only been averaging 15 minutes a game after coming back from his mother’s (grandmothers?) death. The way he is playing he deserves 20+ minutes but he can’t take minutes away from Yao, so why not some at PF?
Cato deserves props for sure. He has been playing great...coped very well with losing his starting position and has done just what we need him to. The most impressive thing is seeing him and Yao work together during shootaround. I think they both respect each other and like each other. I could see no jealousy...only one teamate helping another and vice versa. WE have a great center tandem. I hope we can keep them together.
LOL It pretty much sums up about 1/2 of the posts after every loss. I don't mind Cato and Ming playing with each other for a few minutes each game, but that slightly defeats the purpose of a back-up center. I do prefer Ming playing with either Griffin and MoTaylor....once he gets back into shape and his offensive game returns.
Cato would not be jealous of Ming. He has said that he didn't mind playing backup. As someone has already said, Cato plays better as a backup because he doesn't have to deal with the pressure of carrying the starter's load. If I'm not mistaken, I think Cato has some kind of depression problem he needs to deal with. I think not having the pressure helps him tremedously. BTW, according the the NBA statistics, Cato's rebounding number per 48 min. should be second only to Ben Wallace. Cato isn't on the list, probably because he doesn't have enough minutes to qualify. 1. Wallace: 19.1 2. Cato: 18.6 3. D. Robinson: 17.2
