I don't know why everyone is poo-pooing the idea. I think this could be quite intriguing. Cato playing Shaq and Yao playing Samaki Walker. 1. Cato could definitely help muscle up on Shaq with double teams to save his fouls. 2. Yao will spend 0 energy guarding Samaki Walker and will basically clean up the boards and support the weakside. 3. Shaq will have to work hard on both ends of the floor - Offensively against Cato who can muscle up on him and defensively guarding Yao. 4. Yao won't pickup any cheap fouls which will help our offensive ball movement with his passing. He can also bring Shaq out further and prevent him from guarding the paint.
Starting Cato on the 17th is a bad idea IMO. 1) What will other players think? They will think Yao as coward who trys to avoid playing face to face with Shaq. Yao will lose respect from other players, and also from the fans. 2) What will Yao feel if he is told to sit on the bench instead of starting? Yao understands Shaq is much better than him at this moment, he knows he may not be able to handle Shaq, but so what? How many players can handle Shaq? If's Shaq's going to score 40 on Yao, let him do it. If Yao's going to pick up a lot of fouls on Shaq, let him pick up the fouls. Yao will learn a lot from playing with the best center in the world, he will understand more about what to improve and he will improve. We are not protecting Yao but hurting him if we don't start him. Yao must face Shaq because he is going to become the best center in the league. BTW, who knows the result on the Friday game before it is played? Yao has surprised us a lot already and there can be more!
