Okay, it seems to me that Kevin Willis has not been playing at the level that he first played at in the beginning of the season. Here are some of his partial stats (ones that I keep up with over the last 3 games): at Seattle - 21 minutes, 9 rebounds, 8 points - not great, but respectable at LA Clippers - 17 minutes, 2 rebounds, 0 points - what the hell happened here? Definitely his worst game this season, statistically wise vs. Sacramento - 12 minutes, 2 rebounds, 4 points - this performance puzzles me...it's like Willis was hurt or something...I don't understand why he only got 12 minutes. Some of you might be saying that he has always played bad...well look at his other games: vs. Atlanta - 23 minutes, 5 rebounds, 9 points - respectable vs. LA Clippers - 26 minutes, 13 rebounds, 12 points - outstanding vs. Minnesota - 26 minutes, 17 rebounds, 8 points - outstanding at Phoenix - 22 minutes, 8 rebounds, 12 points - not bad vs. Denver - 21 minutes, 11 rebounds, 12 points - another double-double vs. Philly - 17 minutes, 9 rebounds, 2 points - bad game..maybe due to Dikembe at Denver - 10 minutes, 3 rebounds, 6 points - didn't get a chance because everyone sucked here except for KT at SA - 30 minutes, 10 rebounds, 17 points - did a yeoman's job in this game vs. LA Lakers - 27 minutes, 8 rebounds, 15 points - another finr job vs. Dallas - 24 minutes, 12 rebounds, 13 points - another double-double at Sacramento - 29 minutes, 7 rebounds, 10 points - decent at Portland - 24 minutes, 5 rebounds, 11 points - not bad, but not great Okay out of all those games (12 of them), I think that KW had 2 bad games out of those 12. In the last 3 games, he has had 2 bad games. I know that people are going to have bad games, but I guess I have gotten spoiled with his consistent production. The whole reason that I bring this up is that I fear that Willis may be burning himself out by playing so hard. Let's remember...this guy is 39 not 29. I just don't want to see a Rocket player overcompensate for Francis to the point that they get hurt as well. The sooner that Jason Collier can get off the injured list and contribute, the better that it will be for Willis, IMO.
Maybe cato has been teaching him some of the finer points of the game. Such as how to sit on your ass and not do a damn thing and still make millions. Hmmmm.....maybe I should sign up for that class too....working for a living sucks
RT has asked Willis to assist in the professional “maturing” of Cato. Kevin takes that task serious, believe me. (Note: Rice has also bonded and taken Kelvin Cato under his wing to a much lesser degree, but more on a social/personal basis.) The coaching staff have … how can I say this … they have asked Willis to have "input" into how Cato is being brought along as far as game situations go. This includes assignments, who to match him against, how to handle the criticism when he needs correcting during the game, etc … . By-and-large Kevin has given some excellent advise on how to treat and use Cato as a player. Anyway, Willis does have some aches and pains, he plays a hard game remember and he has pulled himself out a couple of times too. But he has also asked to be put in at other times and RT has complied. That is almost unprecedented on a Rudy coached Rocket bench for a second tier player. Don't worry about Willis he'll look after himself. IMHO – This Willis-Cato connection has been doing reasonably well.
You know, OP, this mentoring of Cato by Willis is just about the best news possible, as far as the development of Cato as a player goes. From what I've seen, Cato can never reach his potential by his own doing. He needs help. Hopefully, he realizes how lucky he is at this point. Not only does Willis have to want to help in this way, but the staff is doing an extraordinary thing by giving Willis the latitude to handle that situation. Gosh, I hope it works!
Pops, thanks for the post. I'm glad that this is the case. Willis has been playing like a man possessed so far this season, and I was just a little concerned that in the last 2 games, he may be suffering from some nagging injuries and that is cutting his effectiveness. I feel that if we can stay around .500 until Francis comes back, then we should still have a good chance of making the playoffs. As others have said, Utah, Portland, and Phoenix are all off to mediocre starts and that will definitely help us. However, for us to stay around .500, we must get people to step up that haven't so far and ones that have stepped up need to keep it up.
I love how you took out the last 3 words of that quote of mine. It was pretty much the most important part of the quote...Willis. I'm not going to get into "playing a game" with you on discussing Jason Collier. If you can't see that having Collier play a couple of minutes like 5 to 10 in selected games will help Willis in letting him rest and not break down, then I don't know what else to say to you. If you respond, try not to twist my words or make something appear to be there, that really isn't. I know it's hard, but I think that you could do it, if you tried.
I think it's about time Manny Ramirez and TheFreak took the personall attacks somewhere else. I opened one thread yesterday, you were arguing. I open this one. You're gonna start arguing. Personally, I don't know why two anonymous people on the internet can't just forget it and act like it never happened. What's gonna happen, awkward moment? Anyways, about Willis. I think it's a great idea to bring Collier of the IR. We can stick Langhi back in there, ince he's not ever gonna play much anyway. In fact, I think Willis should may more PF minutes alongside Cato so that he can be in the game, and monitor/support him WHILE he's on the floor.
