Toast, i am so disappointed in you. what you suggested is ridiculous. that requires innovative, creative thinking and a willingness to try solutions that are "out of the box". what on earth makes you think that rudy would do such a thing? tsk. tsk. so ashamed.
Newgirl, this BBS is one of the few places around that has people who know about the CBA, the luxury tax and other things mundane to some and not mundane to others. I'm not one of them, but there are several who are. You haven't been lurking here for awhile? You've really missed a lot of discussions involving some of the most arcane minutiea of the CBA. Some of them have probably been drowned in Yao-Mania, but we have very knowledgeable people on just those topics. We also have a lot of people who love to talk potential trades, signings and deals because it's fun. And not all of them are pie-in-the-sky, by any means.
In case anyone has forgotten... Cato "injured" again Cato = Lazy Cato a bust? Cato a major disappointment to Rudy? Cato belongs in a remake of the Wizard of OZ Cato by the Dollars Cato pissed me off again! Cato really really sucks! Cato SABOTAGES games?!?! Cato stands for.....Catotonic! Cato sucks!! Cato's a dog Cato's movability Cato's Nickname Cato...Guess we're stuck with him... Cato: I think I know why he stinks Cato: "I've got the same fire I've had the last two seasons" Kelly Cato amazes me with his "tenacious D" Kelvin Cato -- 5-letter word that starts with "P" Kelvin Cato Sucks kelvin cato SUCKS Kelvin Cato: The Curse of Pippen Continues kelvin crapo... Kelvina Injured Again?!?!?! Trade the man ASAP if you could get anything of value in return...
it's the no-trade solution: C= Yao/ Cato PF= Cato/ MoT/ EG SF= Tmo/ Boki SG= JP/ CM PG= SF/ CM Give EG another year to develop. Cato can slide to the 5 when we need scoring from the 4, Cat can back-up both guard positions. Of course, you'd have to teach them all to pass...
The only difference I'd make is I wouldn't put EG in the PF rotation. In my opinion, we cover the C & PF with just a 3 man rotation, so there's no minutes for EG ... 'til he proves to me he can play like a big man. Otherwise, he's the odd-man-out (i.e., trade bait). I'm not sure we'll resign Posey, but you have the right idea with the 3 man rotation with the guards. However, I suspect we may see Francis as starting SG and backup PG. Dunno who the other guards would be, but I'd love to see Cat as the 6th man off the bench. He'd probably still get 30+ minutes a game. All we need to do is acquire another point guard and a SF who can play D & hit outside shots.
Yao isn't a 4, wouldn't work, he doesn't have the mobility for the spot. Yao and Cato together on the court is workable so long as you don't ask Cato to pull too many minutes there. I really don't see much of a trade coming so with what we've got its not a bad idea. The thing is Cato has never seemed to be happy about starting. He seemed to reject the idea of being a dominant center when we brought him in. I think he prefers to come off the bench and play hard for 15 minutes rather than have to work a full game. Cato doesn't need the ball a lot, we need Yao to get the ball a lot more, so they make a good pair. MoT and Cato make a solid backup team as proven this season when Mo would score and Cato would rebound and block shots. Griffen be the third man PF so Cato doesn't burn out by playing too many minutes and hopefully his pride will make him earn his way onto the court. Posey is my SF of choice backed up by Nachbar and Morris. Posey's defense is too good to be ignored and we don't need much more offense than we've already got. What I feel we need is another Guard, which we should be able to sign with our 4mil exception, doesn't need to be a great player, just someone who can get the ball up the court and make a reasonable passer. I would prefer someone who can play both 1 and 2, and thus spell Cat and Franchise as needed. So long as someone can reign in Cat's 'must shoot' attitude we've got a team that can make the playoffs, which is our number one goal right now.
I see Posey as a 2 in the Doug Christie mold. We need a three who's a threat to score from outside, and can feed the post. Tmo and Boki seem better suited to this role, although I'd definitely give Posey some time at the 3.
hmm, now that I read the two prior posts again I can deal with the solution there as well. Posey would be a more stable 2 then Mobley because he doesn't take such terrible shots every time he touches the ball. Mobley can be a terror off the bench but good luck moving him there and keeping him from being a problem in the locker room.
Actually I have mixed feelings about trading Cato. On the one hand, I am not sure if Cato's improvement is permenant or a fluke. As someone pointed out, Cato's temperament is fickled. If so, we should trade him now while his value is high. If not, he might return to his old form and would be impossible to trade. On the other hand, he might continue to improve. We already have swallowed half of his contract while he was not productive. Now he starts to be good and might actually be worth his money. So if we trade him now that means we never get the worth out of Cato's contract. Moreover, getting rid of Cato also create a depth problem at the 5 position. There simply aren't many quality backup centers in the league. If Yao is hurt or simply can't play heavy-duty minutes yet, we might be in trouble. So, I'd say if we trade him, we need to make sure we get something really worthwhile in return. It shouldn't be some kind of scrub for scrub trade. It should be a high-stake trade (or at least part of one). And, A-Train, yeah, trading players is kinda like trading stocks.
Cat needs the ball in his jands to be effective. giving him time at the point should go a long way towards mollifing him.
I gotta go with Sane and A-Train, and those others who're supporting Cato. He's improved dramatically, and based upon his performance he is better than just about every center or pseudo-center in the f'ing east and most backup centers in the west.
thats a solid point basso, for some reason I hadn't really considered him as a pg. Do you think he'd actually pass the ball though?
Yeah, he was actually not bad as the point his rookie year. If we went to a three "guard" lineup, i might even let him take moochie's role, SF at the 2, posey at the 3.
While I do see the value of keeping Cato to be a nice 2nd string center to Yao and someone that is more agressive and more of an enforcer type, I have to say that if you can trade Cato for something quality then DO IT! Cato had a nice year as a back up center this year. His stock will never be higher than it is right now. We should cash in on this to try to improve a few different areas on the team that need more immediate help. Despite what some people say about Cato's contract I feel he has value, especially in the eastern conference where he could be a starter and an effective starter in terms of rebounding and defense. The last thing this team needs to do is keep Cato, Yao ends up playing the lions share of the center minutes and Cato sits on your roster and we aren't getting any value for him while other areas of the team is suffering!
Although I loved watching Cato play...and he is the comedian of the team...and very entertaining to observe...Yao Ming will be playing more and more...and Cato will not be needed. Cato would be making $7 million for just sitting there... He has some trade value because he is big and rebounds like crazy. SOME..."some"..Some...Some may think he could be like Ben Wallace. A ton of teams in the East need a center... We can maybe package him with another player to get something nice in return. Trading Cato is *good*
