The Summit - "No, there has been no improvement. He has no skills, no fundamentals, and he is the laziest player in the NBA. There is absolutley no way this guy should be starting for an NBA team. And to my knowledge he was never good, he didnt even play high school basketball. He was 7'0", so Iowa State (I think) gave him a scholarship to play, somehow he got drafted, he got trraded to the Rockets, and after one good preseason game, he gets $42 mil." I couldn't agree more!! The ONLY value Cato has to any team is SIZE. There is something wrong with any "alleged" God that would allow a giant sphincter like Cato to earn millions of dollars while decent people are homeless and hungry !! I witnessed first hand Cato's unbelievable laziness while the Rockets visited a homeless services agency last Christmas. While our intrepid backcourt and coaches (as well as Willis and Postolos) interacted warmly with people that have less than virtually anyone who can afford the time to access this Board, Cato watched in the corner and then b****ed and moaned when I asked for his help in handing out new blankets and coats !! However, being human and therefore fallable and hypocritical, I'll probably root for Cato if and when he scores for the Rockets ! Please, if there is a God, let us resign Willis so we don't have to deal with Cato on a regular basis!!
First of all let's stop blaming Cato just because he makes more money than all of you combined (is it his fault?). The man is banking while you all are scrapping for chump change - enuf said. Secondly, I blame the fans for Cato's underperformance so far. Encouragement produces results: criticism doesn't. Lastly, with NBA centers being as rare as intelligent posters here, the laws of supply and demand dictated Cato's contract. Think about that next time you want to bash him.
I don't root for or against Cato. Certainly don't want to see him doing bad. I just gave up on him long time ago. Cato went downhill since that fat contract. He's in NBA for the money not the game. The best way to deal with this type of player is reward based on production basis, like ok if he grabs one rebound in every 4 minutes rather than 5 he gets 1 million more each year. It's quite suitable for unproven players IMO. Don't know about the rules, possible side effects or other reasons preventing this type of deal, I just think it's a kind of interesting idea.
Downhill? How could he do anything but go downhill? All we saw of him before he got that contract was a spectacular pre-season in which he had a 10 block game. He could have been Patrick Ewing and gone downhill from there. Cato has no post game, nor a jump shot. He has great physical skills, but poor shotblocking instincts. That doesn't leave much room for success.
How the heck can you blame the fans? What, is Cato surfing the board and reading all of this negative comments about him? No. It's not the fans fault that he can't shoot, has no moves at all, and is lazy? Heck no. The reason the fans are down on him is because he hasn't contributed anything to this team. Supply and demand? Are you saying that we couldn't have gotten Cato for less then 42 mill. ? That is crazy man. Cato is only good for an oop or two a game. That's it.
You're saying Cato doesn't have feelings too? Like it or not, every player has emotions, and their hometeam fans bashing them won't help their game any better than an injury. Cato has contributed class to the organization by the way. Could we have gotten Cato for less than 42 mill? Hell no! We are lucky he isn't getting a fatter contract: it's hard for anyone to name a handful of top-notch centers in the league. Even someone as ignorant as yourself can agree with the fact that lack of supply creates extra demand. And in our case, Cato was a hot commodity - we had no choice but to show him the money.
I think everyone who said he's lazy should take it back. 1) He does read the board. 2) Last season, he worked his ass off on a crappy team. he never gave up. If he did, would you blame him? We were out of the playoffs before the All Star break. 3) He's been working his ass off THIS offseason. Plus, rather than just being content with watching Ming become the starter, he's been working harder to show he should start. 4) The fact that he makes 42M is IRRELEVANT. I'll say it again. THE MONEY HE MAKES IS IRRELEVANT. he was offered the contract, and every single one of you Cato bashers would take that money the same way he did. 5) Size matters. If, for some odd reason, you say Cato's only value is size, then that's fine. We can forget Calvin Booth, Jerome James, Aaron Williams, Shawn Bradley....Right? Since they're OH-SO talented? The truth is, people STARTED hating him for just having the contract. Just because he got his payday. Last season, he did what the Rockets asked him to do. This season, he'll do that, and he'll be in better shape too.
to keep on tune with the positive catoisms, I liked it when he took that charge from Tim Duncan two years ago when the Rockets beat the Spurs late in the season. I also liked it when he took one for the team when he took that elbow from J. O'neal in the epic 30T game against Indiana two years ago. I also like it when he dunked in chicago and the ball disapeared straight up and fell straight down into the bucket. i think those were the only 3 good things cato has done on the court.
