Pure speculation on my part but any way we could have kept Pryz & traded Cato to Milwaukee in the sam epackage? I'm not sure of their cap situation or if they had any interest in Cato. I know everyone will say Cato has the potential of a great (or at least good) player, but his lazy play last year showed me nothing. I personally would have rather kept Pryz as a backup C to Dream this year than having Cato. Also it would have freed us up from Catos large contract. ------------------
Przybilla was never a Rocket. The Rockets asked the Bucks who they wanted them to pick, and they chose Przybilla. The Rockets wanted Collier when it came time for them to choose, it was just a matter of who the Bucks wanted them to pick. The Rockets had no interest in Przybilla. ------------------ Too-Rye-Aye!
Cato. Pryzbilla does not have the offensive skills of Cato and is more of a project than Cato. The only comparison I have heard of Przbilla is that he is a poor mans Kelvin Cato. ------------------
Another reason it couldn't have been Cato is that the Bucks are over the cap, so they'd have to surrender a lot more than the picks to make the trade comply with cap rules. We just swapped some picks, which all have zero value as far as salary-matching goes. ------------------ http://www.gaffordstudios.cjb.net/
Catos only offensive skill is waiting for his defender to double Francis, run towards the basket, hold out his hands, hope Stevie throws a perfect pass, and then try to complete a dunk. Cato has NO offensive skills. At least Pryz will hit the boards as well, where Cato is really a pathetic rebounder for a 7' shot blocker. ------------------
Cato has better offensive skills than Billa. I'd venture to say his defensive skills are better too. Not to mention Cato is a much better athlete. People can learn to rebound better, or we could get a Danny Fortson. It's hard to make up for a stiff in the lane (see Luc Longley) ------------------ The more lefties on your team, the better. Collier is Seven Foot and Left Handed. How can you go wrong? Trade or bench Kenny Thomas.
What has Cato ever showed offensively (serious question)? All I see in him is a defensive presence who can run the floor. I look at rebounding as part heart and part skill. Certain players are good at it naturally w/out being big (Barkley & Rodman and to a lesser extent even Stevie), others are big and can rebound (look at most NBA centers) and others are big and only rebound when the ball falls in their hands. I don't know the thread but a few weeks ago I posted Cato's rebounds based on 48 minutes and he was near the very bottom of NBA centers. Cato likes to block shots and he likes to dunk and run the floor. I don't see a real offensive player or someone who will hit the boards. ------------------
4chuckie-Cato can take alley oops. Pryzbilla can't. That's a huge plus for the Rockets in Cato. Easy baskets are always good. ------------------ The more lefties on your team, the better. Collier is Seven Foot and Left Handed. How can you go wrong? Trade or bench Kenny Thomas.
Nike yeah, easy baskets are good. But Cato is getting most of those becasue teams don't respect him and double with his man. Any 7' in the league can dunk and yeah Cato can jump higher than most other 7' but I think his offensive game is pretty pour. Also here is a rebounds/minute comparison with our other Post players from last year: Pig .345 Barkley .337 T-Ham .330 Dream .261 LOS .250 T-mas .248 Cato .246 KT .243 I think that may show that rebounding doesn't have a lot to do with a players frame, but more his heart. Pig is too small to play C in the NBA, Chuck is too small to play PF, T-ham is too small to be a sumo, Dream couldn't breath last year, yet they all got more boards/minute than Cato. ------------------
Kelvin Cato’s 1999-2000 NOTES Posted 13 points and 12 rebounds in a 91-88 OT loss in Portland on 11/26 Totaled 13 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks in a 118-110 win in Vancouver on 11/29 Scored 23 points in a 128-122 double OT loss in Phoenix on 12/1 Posted a career-high 27 points (11-13 FG) and snared 12 rebounds in a 100-94 win over Boston on 12/18 Tallied 20 points and 12 rebounds in a 105-89 win over Washington on 12/23 Registered 21 points and 11 rebounds in a 122-100 win over the Clippers on 12/30 Not bad for a scrub who can’t score or rebound. During that same time period here are his stats… 27 mpg , 11 pts, 7 rebs, 2 blocks. Add starter minutes and some offseason improvement and the guy could give us 15 pts and 9-10 rebs and 3 blocks per game. And he does it all within the context are new running offense. Plus the guy has a defensive presense that only a few centers in the league possess. Frankly outside of Duncan Shaq and Mourning I can’t think of nother center as athletic as him. ------------------
I've seen Cato make a few jumpers, not to mention a few fadeways throughout the course of the season. I think with the work in the offseason, he should have a somewhat decent post game, and a consistent jumper. ------------------ treasurer of the moochie norris fan club
Well, he ain't working out for nothing! give the guy a chance! ------------------ Ostertag for Three!!!!!
Cato is athletic and can move and block shots. Pryz is a big body that takes up space. I don't think the Rockets were trying to replace Cato. Everything that's been said sincce the end of the season indicates that that Rudy is pleased with Cato's progress and has renewed faith in him as a center. We have a young quick team and our goal was add some outside shooting without giving up that quickness. The most important thing about our choices were that they were impressed with their quickness and agility. Their is a mindset in some circles that says that you need a big body to bang with Shaq. Well thats great, but their are 27 other teams that you will have to beat consistently for it to matter. Their aren't any Shaq clones out their so it will be hard to find someone to bang in the post. THe key is beating him with our schemes and our quickness. We've seen that this works best. You can put a guy like Collier on Shaq to body him up and then have Cato assist for the block when he comes in the lane for that hook. Or you can have Cato play him straight up and use our the quickness of our guards to come in on the double-team and try to guard the passing lane. We've seen that Shaq can dominate a game, but even when he does the Lakers can be beaten. Shaq cannot be the go-to guy in the 4th with his crappy foul shooting. What Rudy has done is to create a team that gives the other team fits. If a team has a center with a strong outside shot the he can put Collier on him and leave Cato on the PF so he can control the lane. Having a PF & C that are both 6'11" with totally differnt styles is going to be a huge benefit. I HAVE NOW TURNED THE CORNER! I NOW BELIEVE THAT WE HAVE MADE THE BEST DECISION OF ANY TEAM ON DRAFT DAY. I GIVE THE ROCKETS AN AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ------------------ "Stranger things have happened, but none stranger than this" - Commentator after a parachutist landed in the ring of a Holyfield fight
Let's face it Cato's offensive game still sucks. Cato however certainly has the ability to become a good offensive player. I think he'll be much better next season. However, I can understand why people would choose Pryzbilla though. Cato's movements are fairly clumsy, like the cartoon character Goofy, and if you pinned big ears on him then you would see what I mean. But I see Cato as having so much more athleticism than Pryz and future upside that Pryz doesn't have a shot at. I think the Rockets are not going to trade Cato or even seriously consider it, no matter what the source. Do I believe his name is being floated by the Rocks, sure, only to see if any sort of offers might return that cannot be passed up. Cato is the future and we must learn to think of Pryz as though he never happened. He was not chosen by us but by the Bucks! Who should we have kept? Answer: CATO, CATO, CATO! ------------------
Cato wasn't even that great of shotblocker last year. I pulled his stats ve Ostertag (another overpaid, talented potential player): Cato Ostertag MIN 1581 1606 PTS 567 367 RBS 381 482 ASTS 26 18 STL 33 20 BLK 124 172 TO 71 79 This really surprises me that the potential of Cato to block shots and rebound was outdone by the flat-footedness of Ostertag. Also I'm sure if you pulled stats for Francis's 6 best games that you could make the case that he was the MVP last year. A great (or even good) player is consistent. ------------------
Well at least Cato is better offensively than Ostertag... Seriously, the guy has hardly been in the league, his first 2 seasons he hardly got on the court (small exaggeration) - I still remember a Portland Utah game where Cato blocked Malone 7 times - but last season was his first "real" season in terms of getting decent playing time. Now that he's figured out what he can and cannot do, and had a chance to work on that this off season, he may well be improved this year surprise us all!! Anyway, as far as Cato's offense goes, he may not get asked to score in the post very often, I see his role as hanging around and crashing the offensive boards this year. With Collier stretching the defense that may make his task easier, and with Collier's solid rebounding on the defensive end I think maybe Cato's rebounding shortcomings may be partially covered. I'm looking forward to seeing the 2 big guys in action... ------------------
Comparing Ostertag to Cato you got to be kidding. So what Ostertag had more blocks, he had more blocks per minute than almost every one in the league. That doesn't make him better than Cato. In 24 minutes per game Cato averged 6 rebs almost 9 pts and 2 blocks last year. Give him starter minutes and that goes up to 9 rebs 12 pts and 3 blocks. And with his offseason work and new attitude I expect him to do much better than that. Let's forget the stats for a moment if you can't see that Cato is clearly better than Pryz and Ostertag than I can't help you. The guy is a much better athlete and has a good upside still. Let's face it we may never get another dream but with our new offense there are only a few centers in this league that I would rather have. ------------------
