How much would he command on the open market? Anyone think he'd be useful to us in a S+T? How chronic are his injuries? It would seem like he can still play some, be a decent backup/platoon C that any number of teams could use. Our having his rights means we could do something with him for existing players without a team having to dig into its MLE. I'd love to get a pick down the road.

Depends on the market to be honest. Let's face it if Cato somehow finds PT and does well it could translate to a decent payday for him and we could get something. I am not sure how many big men will be available in FA, if the number is low we could pull off a S&T, if the market is deep we wil get nothing.

I would bet we get nothing for Cato.

According to leapfish.com, "cato.com" is worth $148,838.00.

Also:

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Word is memphis may be looking to move Eddie Jones for cap space. How great would that be to have for us at the 2-3 what we have now at 4-5 with Dyess? Not to mention a big expiring deal next year (I think he's expiring).

Cato will detirmine his own usefullness. If he signs a fat/short contract we could use him in a S&T. If he wants a few years, he's worthless. If he wants small money (3 mil for example), teams would simply sign him since he wouldn't provide much cap relief anyway. Playing wise, he's not worth much. If we aren't using him on Shaq, who is going to use him? He's worth his contract and emergancy help in case of injury, but that's about it.

Cato will detirmine his own usefullness. If he signs a fat/short contract we could use him in a S&T. If he wants a few years, he's worthless. If he wants small money (3 mil for example), teams would simply sign him since he wouldn't provide much cap relief anyway. Playing wise, he's not worth much. If we aren't using him on Shaq, who is going to use him? He's worth his contract and emergancy help in case of injury, but that's about it.


Help me out here, can we trade Cato's soon to be expiring deal for a contract before the point in time in which that value disappears?

No, not past the trade deadline. he cannot be traded after that, and after the season is over he's a FA and cannot be traded. He'd have to be signed and traded (by himself under the rules of a sign and trade).

No, not past the trade deadline. he cannot be traded after that, and after the season is over he's a FA and cannot be traded. He'd have to be signed and traded (by himself under the rules of a sign and trade).

And no team is going to sign and trade for Kelvin Cato. Come on now. If he signs with any team for over the minimum next summer, I'll be surprised.

He's worth cap space. That's it. His ending contract allows us to sign Ben Wallace to a big money deal without going over the luxury tax.

And no team is going to sign and trade for Kelvin Cato. Come on now. If he signs with any team for over the minimum next summer, I'll be surprised.
He can still play, it would seem. As a big, I suspect he still has 2-3 years left in the tank. There's any number of big-starved teams that might pay a little (or trade a little) to fill their backup / platoon C needs. Depending on his physical and how they feel about his shoulder, I could see 2-3 years at $2-3 million.

No, not past the trade deadline. he cannot be traded after that, and after the season is over he's a FA and cannot be traded. He'd have to be signed and traded (by himself under the rules of a sign and trade).
And no team is going to sign and trade for Kelvin Cato. Come on now. If he signs with any team for over the minimum next summer, I'll be surprised.

He's worth cap space. That's it. His ending contract allows us to sign Ben Wallace to a big money deal without going over the luxury tax.

That's the point. The only reason someone would do it is for money savings. Suppose they have a crappy contract they want to get rid of. Cato could get them out of it faster. That's his only use. Sure, he still has some playing value, but no more than any other scrub big man out there. Unless someone is desperate to unload a contract, he's useless. And even then I doubt we take back a crappy contract unless Ben leaves us.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/basketball/magic/orl-nbainsider04_106jun04,0,149836,print.column?coll=o rl-magic


Cato is a free agent

Veteran center Kelvin Cato was on the Detroit playoff roster, but he was so far out of the picture that his name was spelled wrong (Kato) in the game program Monday and Friday.

He was sitting patiently on the Pistons' bench, just waiting for the season to end. He was bored.

"Detroit is a nice place, the players are nice guys, but I don't think the coaches had any confidence to use me,'' he said. "I'm healthy, but I don't get much work.''

Cato and his expiring contract were obtained from Orlando at midseason for point guard Carlos Arroyo and power forward/center Darko Milicic.

Detroit made the trade to help ease the payroll for next season, hoping it would help make room to re-sign Wallace.

Cato, who was paid $8 million this season, played in only four games for 34 minutes during the regular season. He played in only four playoff games for 15 total minutes this postseason.

"It just didn't work for me here,'' he said before Game 4 in Miami. "They just never really had any confidence to use me.''

Cato, 31, will become a free agent this summer, confident that he still will be in the league somewhere next season.

"There are just so few big guys available now, and a lot of teams are looking for centers,'' he said.

"I can still help someone -- Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, L.A., Seattle, they all need another center. I hope I have a decision to make this summer.''

Bye bitch.