He Means Business
The first step inside the Orlando Magic locker room can be a dangerous one.
Just one small stride puts you in the firing line of Kelvin Cato, who will unleash a verbal assault on anyone at anytime for any reason and show little mercy to his victims.
If you think that guards cringe when driving the lane on the 6-foot-11, 290-pound Magic center, you ought to see the ducking and running when Cato starts spouting at teammates or reporters who walk past the first cubicle inside the locker room door.
"I don't like guys wearing brown so don't you come over here and start asking me questions," Cato snarled at Orlando Sentinel reporter Brian Schmitz, who happened to be wearing a brown suit that night.
Cato had hauled in a season-high 18 rebounds and scored 13 points in a win over Memphis that evening, so Schmitz was obliged to at least seek a comment, if not fully engage Cato in debate.
"Why not?" Schmitz asked, somewhat timidly.
"What has brown done for me lately?" Cato replied and after a second, his snarl turned to a smile and everyone got the joke.
That's the way it is with Kelvin Cato: mean and nasty one minute, nice and funny the next. The man definitely has a personality and so far this season, he isn't just showing it off to his new team, he's imposing it on them.
For quite some time, the Magic have been known around the league as "a bunch of softies" in Cato's cleaned-up vernacular. They don't mind shooting jump shots. They do mind going strong to the basket. They don't mind contesting jump shots. They do mind contesting action in the lane.
That has changed this season. The Magic have led the league in rebounding all season and are among the league leaders in blocked shots, two areas they traditionally can be found at the bottom of the stat sheet. When opponents drive the lane, either they or the ball will get swatted. When someone muscles inside for rebounding position, he can expect the Magic to muscle right back.
And a lot of that has to do with Cato taking over as the starting center. He put some much-needed "mean" in the middle of the Magic lineup and helped the team get off to a 10-3 start before suffering a shoulder injury Dec. 6 at Denver.
He had four straight double-figure rebounding games before getting hurt. He missed 10 games, returned for a game-and-a-half, then went out of the lineup again for two games when he sprained an ankle. His absence coincided with the first slump of the season for the Magic, a stretch in which they lost 10 of 12 games.
"And you could tell almost right away the difference in our team," Magic Coach Johnny Davis said. "We were definitely changing the personality of our team and Kelvin was responsible for a lot of that. He's really anchored us inside and given us an interior presence we lacked. He gives our players the feeling that we can be a very physical team and there's no question when he was out, we noticed it -- and so did our opponents."
"No team I've ever played on has been called soft," Cato said. "That's not because of me, but because of the guys I played with. They taught me how serious this game is and how serious you have to be to compete in it.
"I'm not the kind of guy who's going out there to hold hands with everybody and have a nice time. I'll be your friend when we're off the court, but when I'm out there playing ...man, it's a serious business for me."
The sweet-and-sour disposition follows Cato into the locker room. He is as tough on teammates in there as he is on opponents out on the court. Steve Francis, his teammate for five seasons in Houston, is a favorite target, but hardly the only object of his venomous humor. Just about everyone who's walked in the Magic locker room has felt his needle at one time or another.
"The first time you hear him getting on somebody, you're like, 'Whoa! What's that about?'" said teammate Pat Garrity. "Then after you've heard it for a while, you just shake your head and say, 'That's Kelvin being Kelvin.'
"If you've ever heard the old saying 'You hate him as an opponent, but you'd love him as a teammate' that applies perfectly to Kelvin. I didn't really like him that much when he was in Houston, but I love him now that he's playing for us. He's a great guy with a big heart who really cares about his teammates." "I'd say that's about a perfect description of Kelvin," Magic Coach Johnny Davis said of Garrity's portrayal of the Magic's biggest man. "Kelvin likes to walk around with this rough, tough exterior, but for all the gruff he gives people, deep down, he's really a kind, gentle, sensitive, caring man."
And nothing better defines Cato's career than the fact that everyone around him has a tough time figuring him out.
"Coaches, and even some of my teammates, have always had their ideas of who they wanted me to be and tried to get me to be that person or player," Cato said. "Not too many have looked at what I can do and tried to let me just do it."
There are moments in a game when he seems good enough to be a commanding defensive presence in the lane and a more-than-adequate contributor at the offensive end. There also are moments when he is disinterested, commits careless fouls or ends up jawing with the referees so much that he becomes more of a distraction than attraction to his own team.
It explains why so many coaches have the love-him, hate-him feeling about Cato that Garrity mentioned earlier.
"When he puts his mind to it and concentrates on the game, he is as good as most anybody playing center in the NBA today," said Magic assistant coach Clifford Ray, who is responsible for teaching and developing the team's big men. "But some nights, he elects to be what he likes to be and that isn't always what we want him to be."
The uncertainty surrounding Cato goes all the way back to draft night in 1997 when the center-starved Dallas Mavericks selected him with the 15th pick in the first round. About 10 minutes later, they traded him to Portland for the legendary Australian Chris Anstey.
The Trail Blazers seemed to like him his rookie year when he played in 74 games as a backup for Arvydas Sabonis, but that changed in a hurry. He played in only 43 games his next year and was sent to Houston as part of the package that brought Scottie Pippen to Portland.
The rumor mill started churning out reports that Cato was not a hard worker, didn't accept coaching and would never reach his potential in the NBA. Cato says the rumors might have been true.
"I didn't listen to anybody my first few years in the league," he said. "I look at Dwight [Howard] and how hard he works and how well he listens when you try to give him some advice and I say to myself, 'Man, I wish I had done that when I was young.'"
Cato isn't exactly old. He turned 30 last summer, which would be considered the prime of your career for most big men. He almost certainly will set career highs in rebounding and shot blocking this season and will be close to a career-high in scoring.
"There's no question we knew he wasn't there," Ray said. "I had heard all that stuff about Kelvin before he came and I sort of had my own opinion on him, but the first thing I'll say about Kelvin Cato is: he's tough and he's very coachable. He listens and responds to everything I ask him to do. If you can get a veteran player in this league to do that, you've won the battle."
Cato thinks he's winning the battle, too.
"This is the most fun I've had playing basketball my whole career," he said. "I really like the people on this team, I like the coaches, I like the whole situation we have going in Orlando.
"The other places I've been, the people liked me for a while, then disliked me. I'd like to think they like me in Orlando now and will for the rest of my career."
Just one small stride puts you in the firing line of Kelvin Cato, who will unleash a verbal assault on anyone at anytime for any reason and show little mercy to his victims.
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"I don't like guys wearing brown so don't you come over here and start asking me questions," Cato snarled at Orlando Sentinel reporter Brian Schmitz, who happened to be wearing a brown suit that night.
Cato had hauled in a season-high 18 rebounds and scored 13 points in a win over Memphis that evening, so Schmitz was obliged to at least seek a comment, if not fully engage Cato in debate.
"Why not?" Schmitz asked, somewhat timidly.
"What has brown done for me lately?" Cato replied and after a second, his snarl turned to a smile and everyone got the joke.
That's the way it is with Kelvin Cato: mean and nasty one minute, nice and funny the next. The man definitely has a personality and so far this season, he isn't just showing it off to his new team, he's imposing it on them.
For quite some time, the Magic have been known around the league as "a bunch of softies" in Cato's cleaned-up vernacular. They don't mind shooting jump shots. They do mind going strong to the basket. They don't mind contesting jump shots. They do mind contesting action in the lane.
That has changed this season. The Magic have led the league in rebounding all season and are among the league leaders in blocked shots, two areas they traditionally can be found at the bottom of the stat sheet. When opponents drive the lane, either they or the ball will get swatted. When someone muscles inside for rebounding position, he can expect the Magic to muscle right back.
And a lot of that has to do with Cato taking over as the starting center. He put some much-needed "mean" in the middle of the Magic lineup and helped the team get off to a 10-3 start before suffering a shoulder injury Dec. 6 at Denver.
He had four straight double-figure rebounding games before getting hurt. He missed 10 games, returned for a game-and-a-half, then went out of the lineup again for two games when he sprained an ankle. His absence coincided with the first slump of the season for the Magic, a stretch in which they lost 10 of 12 games.
"And you could tell almost right away the difference in our team," Magic Coach Johnny Davis said. "We were definitely changing the personality of our team and Kelvin was responsible for a lot of that. He's really anchored us inside and given us an interior presence we lacked. He gives our players the feeling that we can be a very physical team and there's no question when he was out, we noticed it -- and so did our opponents."
"No team I've ever played on has been called soft," Cato said. "That's not because of me, but because of the guys I played with. They taught me how serious this game is and how serious you have to be to compete in it.
"I'm not the kind of guy who's going out there to hold hands with everybody and have a nice time. I'll be your friend when we're off the court, but when I'm out there playing ...man, it's a serious business for me."
The sweet-and-sour disposition follows Cato into the locker room. He is as tough on teammates in there as he is on opponents out on the court. Steve Francis, his teammate for five seasons in Houston, is a favorite target, but hardly the only object of his venomous humor. Just about everyone who's walked in the Magic locker room has felt his needle at one time or another.
"The first time you hear him getting on somebody, you're like, 'Whoa! What's that about?'" said teammate Pat Garrity. "Then after you've heard it for a while, you just shake your head and say, 'That's Kelvin being Kelvin.'
"If you've ever heard the old saying 'You hate him as an opponent, but you'd love him as a teammate' that applies perfectly to Kelvin. I didn't really like him that much when he was in Houston, but I love him now that he's playing for us. He's a great guy with a big heart who really cares about his teammates." "I'd say that's about a perfect description of Kelvin," Magic Coach Johnny Davis said of Garrity's portrayal of the Magic's biggest man. "Kelvin likes to walk around with this rough, tough exterior, but for all the gruff he gives people, deep down, he's really a kind, gentle, sensitive, caring man."
And nothing better defines Cato's career than the fact that everyone around him has a tough time figuring him out.
"Coaches, and even some of my teammates, have always had their ideas of who they wanted me to be and tried to get me to be that person or player," Cato said. "Not too many have looked at what I can do and tried to let me just do it."
There are moments in a game when he seems good enough to be a commanding defensive presence in the lane and a more-than-adequate contributor at the offensive end. There also are moments when he is disinterested, commits careless fouls or ends up jawing with the referees so much that he becomes more of a distraction than attraction to his own team.
It explains why so many coaches have the love-him, hate-him feeling about Cato that Garrity mentioned earlier.
"When he puts his mind to it and concentrates on the game, he is as good as most anybody playing center in the NBA today," said Magic assistant coach Clifford Ray, who is responsible for teaching and developing the team's big men. "But some nights, he elects to be what he likes to be and that isn't always what we want him to be."
The uncertainty surrounding Cato goes all the way back to draft night in 1997 when the center-starved Dallas Mavericks selected him with the 15th pick in the first round. About 10 minutes later, they traded him to Portland for the legendary Australian Chris Anstey.
The Trail Blazers seemed to like him his rookie year when he played in 74 games as a backup for Arvydas Sabonis, but that changed in a hurry. He played in only 43 games his next year and was sent to Houston as part of the package that brought Scottie Pippen to Portland.
The rumor mill started churning out reports that Cato was not a hard worker, didn't accept coaching and would never reach his potential in the NBA. Cato says the rumors might have been true.
"I didn't listen to anybody my first few years in the league," he said. "I look at Dwight [Howard] and how hard he works and how well he listens when you try to give him some advice and I say to myself, 'Man, I wish I had done that when I was young.'"
Cato isn't exactly old. He turned 30 last summer, which would be considered the prime of your career for most big men. He almost certainly will set career highs in rebounding and shot blocking this season and will be close to a career-high in scoring.
"There's no question we knew he wasn't there," Ray said. "I had heard all that stuff about Kelvin before he came and I sort of had my own opinion on him, but the first thing I'll say about Kelvin Cato is: he's tough and he's very coachable. He listens and responds to everything I ask him to do. If you can get a veteran player in this league to do that, you've won the battle."
Cato thinks he's winning the battle, too.
"This is the most fun I've had playing basketball my whole career," he said. "I really like the people on this team, I like the coaches, I like the whole situation we have going in Orlando.
"The other places I've been, the people liked me for a while, then disliked me. I'd like to think they like me in Orlando now and will for the rest of my career."
