I've seen Cuttino involved in a lot of the trade proposals on this board, for basically any player in the NBA, ranging from Garnett to Eric Snow. What I want to know is, why does everyone want to get rid of the Cat? He plays tough defense, is a fairly complete offensive player, has a nice outside shot, and likes to drive to the basket. Plus, he seems to get along with everyone on the team. And he's relatively cheap. I'd just like to know why, and for who, everyone wants to trade Cuttino, and how it would improve our team. From what I saw last year, we don't seem to play very well without him, and we have enough trouble scoring as it is. So I don't understand how getting rid of him would help us, and ask for some of you to take some time to enlighten a lowly newbie like myself.
I think Cat is a great asset for our team and I agree with you that we should keep him. However, many people seem to think that moving Steve to sg would help the team much more. I tend to dissagree with this unless a pg could be brought in with enough size to play opposing sg's and enough skill to offset Cat's departure.
I don't understand trading Cat either. I do understand he has trade value, but the players we mention trading him for are far lesser players. Last year our main problems were our only production was from the backcourt and not much else. People blame Cat and Steve because they have the ball so much. They just don't understand that they had it because noone else could hit the ocean. Fix the frontcourt, be thankfull for our good production for reasonable $s.
I would not trade Mobley. I think under Gundy, he will play a more controlled game. That was his only problem in my opinion.
People like to blame Mobley for us not winning. They claim he should have passed the ball to Yao more, when they don't understand Yao was a tired rookie and not ready to carry the load of the offense. Especially when Yao only played half the game. So should Mobley of passed the ball to Cato more? Mobley had to take all the shots he did, because if he didn't, who would?
Odom, Lamar as a point PG but a the SF position 1) PG - Francis / Norris 2) SG - Piatkowski / Hawkins 3) SF - Odom (as a PG) / Nachbar 4) PF - Taylor / Griffin 5) C - Ming / Cato Getting Odom for Mobley, Rice (sign and trade) and a pick.
i think the cat trades were in response to oelipere's insider info that cat would be packing his bags for pussyland. incidentally, none of the literal predictions op made this time around have came true
1) PG - Francis / Norris 2) SG - Piatkowski / Hawkins 3) SF - Odom (as a PG) / Nachbar 4) PF - Taylor / Griffin 5) C - Ming / Cato Getting Odom for Mobley, Rice (sign and trade) and a pick. Francis is used less for bringing the ball to the court as a point guard(like portland use Pippen), using Odom for that. Francis as a SG(like JVG would like) and Piatowski spacing the court and landing 3's. Ming Would be more open and [ Taylor/Cato/Griffin ] Helping with the boards, offensive putbacks and open shots. and a great rotation oportunities as Griffin (SF-PF), Cato(C - PF), Odomm-Piatowsky-Hawkins (SG - SF)
There won't be enough shots for Cat, Mo, and Rice. Also, we need better F's, and we have Steve to play the 2. We feel that, in a trade, he can bring back something that he couldn't give us. Right now, the Rockets need someone who knows how to pass it into the post from the PG position, while Stevie does HIS pg thing as well, which is to drive and then kick out. He's a good player, but he doesn't fit in with the direction of thixs team, which is to accomodate Yao and Steve.
that kind of garbage is why there are probably ten posters or less on this board i take seriously. i think most everybody is just entirely too negative, but point that out more than two or three times and expect to see the word "homer" get thrown out there fairly quickly. but my favorite thing about this board is that if you did trade cat, and he goes somewhere else and does the same things he does here (which is play some pretty damn good basketball) on a team that wins (and not even much more than the rockets), all of the same people who kept suggesting he be traded would be talking about "why did we give up cat?". you saw some of that with kenny thomas. everybody on the board seemed to absolutely detest him and then after he was traded the animosity shifted towards mo taylor and eddie griffin and of course after KT did basically the same thing he was doing here (though i do think they knew how to utilize him a bit better) it became fairly common place to see people suggest we should try to get Kenny Thomas back. i really think we have a talented team. my hopes for this offseason were reasonable i think. I wanted to see them hire a coach that can whip these guys into shape, re-sign Posey, sign a veteran power forward ala P.J. Brown and sign either Eric Piatkowski or Jon Barry. I didn't and don't feel it's necessary to spend my time praying for a blockbuster deal that would bring in a elton brand or kevin garnett, and i sure as hell didn't/don't want a trade that will bring in lamar odom (he hasn't come close to playing up to his potential but he has been suspended twice and spent long periods of time on the injured list just a bit too often for my liking) and when i read the threads suggesting we trade cat for troy hudson or alvin williams because they're "pure point guards" i'm baffled. it's 6:20 in the morning, i'm ranting... i should go to sleep. but first i'll say that i'm all for people enjoying themselves talking about basketball even if that means proposing ridiculous dream trades that could never happen, but alot of what i see here is just straight the grass is greener on the other side of the fence type crap. we've got two all-stars and a talented roster loaded with potential. we also have two championship banners hanging from the rafters. i'm not saying we should just call that satisfactory and not strive to win it all again, but i am saying i'd like to see fans be a bit more grateful for what we have and have had. i wish i could just send all of these negative types to cleveland or san francisco so they could suffer as cavs or warriors fans. we've got it pretty good.
I like Cat and his game, though I do wish he would pass a bit more often given the offensive talents we have on our team. I would not trade him, save for some miraculous powerhouse deal that would catapult us into title contention. I do, however, agree with the often expressed notion that he may be better suited as a 6th man, providing instant energy and offense off the bench.
I say start Pike, bring Mobley off the bench a la the Microwave. With fixed ankles, Mobley might be the 6th man of the year.
He made too many poor decisions on the Court. Refused to pass the ball to Yao Ming. Is not a Team Player. Thinks hes the Star. Even with all of this over his head JVG will insist in him making a complete reversal of these facts. JVG is a tough demanding Coach and wont put up with selfish ball from anyone. I expect to be surprised by Mobley this season!!
