Why Cato and not Willis? Divac likes it to the (primarily left) side about 6 feet out or in the dead ass middle at about 8 feet. He also will take you (from either side) across the face of the rim, again - dead ass center, at about 8 feet and loop or hook you. The way to play him is to crowd him, don’t pursue out of that range, but stay as close as you can while he is in there, and push him off those spots,or deny him that move to the middle. That’s the D on Divac. He can pass as well as any and better than mostr big men, but that is what you give up to prevent him having a big scoring game. But Divac, as talented as he is,…. … well he’s half the player when he is pushed off his sweet spots. Cato can, and does, that very effectively against Vladi. Kevin Willis on the other hand, pursues Divac, overextending Kev’s position and opening up the middle for everyone with a “Crown” on his chest. So the answer is that Cato is able to get Divac off his honey spots better than Kevin.
Willis is 39 years old. I don't think we can expect him to play 30 minutes every night. We need Cato to contribute!
Exactly what oeilpere said. The same reason Willis didn't play much tonight is the same reason Cato didn't play much against Nowitski. Matchups.
Willis can't even make a layup. Cato doesn't try to make a layup. But at least the offense don't give up the rock for Cato. Willis on the other hand seems to lose the ball every time he gets a chance. Man I wish it was the first week of the season again. We had so much hope for our front line and now even our savior sux.
Why no hope? Cato is improving every game. No matter how pessimistic you are, this is evident, and he will continue to improve. Kenny showed us what he can do. Glen Rice is also improving and statistically has to catch fire very soon, which means regaining his touch and legs. I don't think our frontcourt is that bad, in fact, it's much better than I expected. With Willis, Griffin and Walt off the bench, our frontcourt really isn't that bad. In fact, 45 games into the season, when Rice is back to normal, Griffin is starting and Cato is finally blocking shots, rebounding and not sulking, we will have a perfect frontcourt for our backcourt. A perfect fit. Fit......to a T.
Have you not been watching the games (barring the past 3 games)? Willis at least can hit jumpers from the outside. I am not questionaing his offensive skills. I was questioning why he didn't play/
Becuase Willis keeps dropping perfect passes and misses layups. Cato at least doesn't get any passes sent his way.
Cato drops just as many passes as Willis. Cato also blows as many dunks as Willis blows layups. The difference is that Cato can play great defense when he gets inspired. Lately, he has been doing more often.
Some of these extra minutes are probably part of the mentoring process from Willis to Cato. If Cato is on his game it is better that he get the minutes and keep the confidence quotient up. I think Rudy T and Willis are working on this to help Cato. It is reflected in a good game by Cato againt the Kings. As Oielpere explained in much greater detail why it all worked-Willis is giving support to Cato as well. Go Cato!!
