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[Chron] Hayes "living in the moment" / Jazz want another shot at Rocks

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Rox_fan_here, May 2, 2007.

  1. Rox_fan_here

    Rox_fan_here Contributing Member

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    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4767094.html


    Hayes 'living in the moment'
    For a player once relegated to the D-League after going undrafted in 2005, postseason heroics in Games 2 and 5 are pretty heady stuff


    By JONATHAN FEIGEN
    Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle


    "All last night, a lot of text messages," Hayes said Tuesday. " 'Good game. Way to put your body in front. Huge charge. Way to play.' Just a bunch of little stuff."

    Not long ago, the NBA had lost Hayes' number. He went undrafted. He was cut in the Rockets' training camp. He was unwanted as his first season out of Kentucky began.

    When the Rockets brought him back from the NBA Development League, he failed his physical and began to doubt he would have an NBA career.

    Yet here he is, between such luminaries as Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. And there he was, a star in Monday night's playoff games, right up there with Robert Horry, LeBron James and Tracy McGrady.

    Hayes stepped in front of Derek Fisher's drive to draw the charge that sealed the Rockets' 96-92 Game 5 victory over the Utah Jazz.

    The 6-6 power forward with a jump shot, plucked from the D-League to play with two of the league's most celebrated name brands, had made the difference.

    "I try not to think about it too much, but it's one heck of a story," Hayes said. "As much as my mind wanders and I think so much, I can't believe where I came from. But I'm not complaining. I'm enjoying it. I'm loving it. And I'm living in the moment."


    • • •

    The night of the 2005 NBA draft, Hayes sat alone. The house was full, but he banished himself to the bedroom in his parents' home in Modesto, Calif.

    "I sat in my room . . . sitting, watching it by myself," Hayes said. "That's where I wanted to be: by myself. I didn't hear my name called. I had to go to summer camp. I think about the process I had to go through to get here. So many times I could have given up. My family would not allow it.

    "I had a lot of doubts. 'What more do I have to prove? What more do I have to do? Don't my credentials speak loud enough for me?' I doubted everything I had done at that point."

    Hayes had started all four years at Kentucky, but he was ready to believe he would never make it in the NBA. The Rockets were ready to sign him out of the D-League in December 2005, only to back off when he arrived in Houston with a sprained ankle.

    "I have great support, as far as my parents and the people who have been there," Hayes said. "They kept me in their prayers, and when the opportunity came, I took advantage of it.

    "When they called me and I failed the physical, that one really hurt. That was the first time I thought maybe it's not for me. You keep striving; you keep pushing. And when you get that opportunity, when you see that daylight of a chance, you hit it and hit it hard."

    By the second game of this season, Hayes, 23, was starting, with coach Jeff Van Gundy deciding that despite his lack of a perimeter shooting touch, Hayes' defensive quickness, intelligence and tenacity made him a good complement to Yao.

    "Chuck is a really special player," McGrady said. "To be 6-6 and coming from being in the D-League ... to being on a franchise, a first-class organization, and playing with two great players and a bunch of individuals that are really great, and to come in here and get in the starting lineup and contribute the way he did this year, it just shows you how much having confidence and hard work pays off.

    "If Chuck goes out on the basketball court and plays all out with his energy and rebounding, playing great defense, running the floor, for him to be 6-6, he's one of the best. He has great hands. He has a great basketball IQ. He just has a great feel for the game. He can be a really special player and last in this league a long time."

    There was a time, however, when Hayes thought his career might be over after 10 days.

    Last season, when he was summoned to Van Gundy's office for an 8 a.m. meeting, Hayes assumed he would be released. Instead, he was signed for the remainder of the season.

    "That's when I knew, I can play this game," Hayes said. "I can survive in this league. The night before, we played in Minnesota. I was at the end of my 10 days and John Lucas was at the end of his second 10-day. (Van Gundy) said, 'the media is going to want to talk about 10-day contracts. I don't want you to even think about it.' But it was all I could think about.

    "That night, I played well. I got a call from Keith (Jones) saying coach wants to talk to you at 8 in the morning. I was nervous. I was freaking out. When I was released, it was in a meeting at 8 in the morning. When he told me, I called my mom, dad, everybody."

    More than a year later, he already has been around long enough to be used as the example of the way the Portsmouth Invitational (the pre-draft camp where Hayes was MVP) and the NBA Development League can launch a career.

    "It's pretty neat. It's cool," Hayes said of becoming a role model. "When I was in the D-League, they were using Rafer (Alston) and Bobby Simmons as the poster children of the D-League. 'If they can make it, you can make it.' Well, I guess I go on that list as guys that go from the D-League to the next level.

    "It's a competition. That's what this game is. As a competitor, I pride myself on outworking my man. It's a competition, and I hate to lose. It's in me. It's always been in me."


    • • •

    This was already going to be a spring Hayes would never forget, no matter what happened on the court. The day of his Game 2 breakthrough, when he had 12 points and 12 rebounds and was called the key to the Rockets' win, his girlfriend, Nicole Anderson, delivered their first child, Dorian Titus Hayes, hours before the game.

    As much as Hayes' success has drawn attention, he lights up at the mention of his son.

    "This fatherly thing is new to me, but I'm learning," Hayes said. "I'm trying to take everything my father (Charles Sr.) taught me to my son's life. I'm just trying to be there, to talk to him, to let him know my touch, just be there promising I'm going to be there."

    So after the locker room cleared Monday night, after Hayes had done his national television interview for TNT and met with wave after wave of media and teasing teammates, he finally returned from the shower and leaned far back in his chair.

    "Now I can go home," he said, "and my baby will be waiting up for me."

    There were dozens of congratulatory messages there, too, but they waited until morning.

    jonathan.feigen@chron.com
     
    #1 Rox_fan_here, May 2, 2007
    Last edited: May 2, 2007
  2. Rox_fan_here

    Rox_fan_here Contributing Member

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    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4767290.html

    Houston becomes Jazz's dream destination
    Utah wants one last shot at Rockets here, but present focus is on Game 6


    By FRAN BLINEBURY
    Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

    SALT LAKE CITY — If they were in a classic comic strip, they'd be poor old Charlie Brown running to kick the football and having Lucy pull it away every time.

    If they were a classic cartoon character, they'd be Elmer Fudd with smoke rings around the eyes after a shotgun blew up in his face once more. Wascally Wockets — they did it again.

    In real life, the Utah Jazz are trying to figure out how to close the deal on a win in Houston after squandering three opportunities so far in their first-round playoff series with the Rockets.

    "You only get so many chances," said Jazz forward Matt Harpring, shaking his head as if trying to shake loose the memory of Monday night's 96-92 loss. "And we've had our chances there."

    The Jazz held third-quarter leads in Games 1 and 2 at Toyota Center, then took a four-point advantage into the fourth quarter of Game 5.


    Latest loss most frustrating
    "Really, this last one is more frustrating," Harpring said. "I thought we got back to being ourselves and played well in Games 3 and 4 at our place. Then we came back out and didn't play well at all. I'm sick of making excuses, honestly.

    "It's not one thing; it's everything. We came out at the start of the game and built a 10-point lead and gave it up. All of a sudden, they had a 10-point lead, and we had to come back.

    "All of a sudden, we're not making the right plays. We're not doing the right things. Maybe that's inexperience. Maybe that's the home-court advantage. But the bottom line is they've won three home games in a row, and now we've got to do the same thing and then hope that something changes when we get one more chance in Game 7."

    After building a 10-point lead in the second quarter and putting the Rockets against the ropes, the Jazz could never deliver the knockout punch. Utah might have gotten ahead of itself, tried to do too much too soon. There were hurried shots and turnovers.

    "It's just like the first two games," said guard Derek Fisher. "It's a couple of two-, three-minute stretches here or there that are hurting us. Not that you ever play perfect. But on the road you have to be a little sharper. You have to keep your turnovers down. We had a few more turnovers than we would like to have had, and we had a few empty possessions right after we had a chance to take control of the game.

    "When we have a team down 10 points and in a situation where we can really grasp control of the game, we have to figure out a way to do it."

    Second-year point guard Deron Williams, who was so splendidly efficient in Game 4 on his home court, made just four of 16 shots in Game 5 and handed out only six assists. He is getting into the lane but not converting. The open jumpers he made Saturday did not find their target Monday.


    No lack of confidence
    "We've still got confidence, and we still feel like we can win this series," Williams said. "We've just got to break through in one game here. Of course, first we've got to win at home.

    "It's definitely discouraging and disappointing to lose that game. It's disappointing to lose any game in the playoffs. Period. Now we've made it a lot more difficult on ourselves. Now we've got to win two in a row."

    What the Jazz cannot do is spend so much time thinking about what is possible in Game 7 that they overlook Game 6.

    "That's first," said center Mehmet Okur. "We have to do what they did and take care of our business at home. They're up again, and I'm sure they'll be looking to come into our place and end it."

    For the first time, the Jazz will be playing with a real sense of desperation, now that their margin for error is gone.

    "I think elimination games are tough games, no matter where you play them," Fisher said. "Just because one team understands that if they lose, they go home. Now, we're that team.

    "We've just got to come out and play hard and not try for a herculean effort. This is still a series."

    fran.blinebury@chron.com
     
  3. tiger0330

    tiger0330 Contributing Member

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    Love the Chuck Hayes story. Hope the Rox can re-sign him, a lot of teams would love to have him.
     
  4. barryxzz

    barryxzz Contributing Member

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    great story about chuck. but I prefer to read this type of story at the end of summer, not still in the series when it's not over yet. Remember the "Germanator"? I hope Chuck is not too pleased with himself. He deserves to be happy, but I just hope he will stay focus and hungry the whole time.
     
  5. Cannonball

    Cannonball Contributing Member

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    Chuck Hayes has a jump shot? :eek:


    :D
     
  6. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    JVG wasn't that impressed:

    http://www.sltrib.com/sports/ci_5798554

    It's interesting how JVG will gush about certain players when they make good players (McGrady, Battier, Juwan, Rafer), and for others he's very measured in what he says about them.

    With the young guys, JVG doesn't want them to lose their desire to keep improving. He doesn't want them to be satisfied. Perhaps Chuck being a free agent this summer is also a factor here.
     
  7. KaiSeR SoZe

    KaiSeR SoZe Contributing Member

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    JVG likes to play psychological games
     
  8. Hayesfan

    Hayesfan Contributing Member

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    I think that JVG was probably thinking that the rest of the game, though Chucky played good defense throughout most of the game, he didn't get enough rebounds (off especially) and he was invisible on the offensive end of the court (though I have to say he set a couple of really good screens for Mac to get free in the third).

    JVG seems like a master manipulator, and I mean this in a good way, because we know he has gotten the most out of a roster of "forgettable role players" through the course of this season.

    Plus he wants Chuck to do better in Utah, because he was basically invisible there. You say that this is his job and when he is convinced to do his job day in and day out, you get the subtle dig in to perform in the hostile Utah environment on Thursday.

    Of course that's all speculation on my part, but hey that's the fun of discussing with yall! :)
     
  9. plutoblue11

    plutoblue11 Member

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    Funny thing about Hayes is.....he reminds of that guy with funny colored hair...i think the old timers know who i'm talking about.



    their numbers very similar in their early careers. but we'll have to see if Hayers ever becomes that kind of beast on the boards though.
     
  10. Clutch

    Clutch Administrator
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    That's good to read because that's how I view Rafer too: Poster child for the D-League. :)
     
  11. liujun0768

    liujun0768 Member

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    I love Chuck ;)
     
  12. Guru

    Guru Member

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    I'd have to agree...It seems like Gundy knows what to say to which player.
     
  13. GRENDEL

    GRENDEL Contributing Member

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    You should post JVG entire quote as opposed to just that part about Hayes doing his job, JVG did praise Hayes on the play and his willingness to do what needed to be done.

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4767327.html

    Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said Hayes was doing his job.

    "I wouldn't say it was a hard play; it's more of a courageous play," Van Gundy said. "You just have to have the courage to step in and want to win."
     
  14. MONON

    MONON Member

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    Chuckie probably won't get Rodman rebound numbers with the Rockets. He has Yao beside him and won't play the minutes needed. He is a very good role player. He gets rebounds, sets picks and picks up garbage baskets. This summer he needs to shoot a zillion 10-15 ft jump shots.

    I want the Rockets to win the championship this year so Barkley will have 2 CHUCKIEs with more rings than he has!!! :eek: :D
     
  15. John X

    John X Member

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    Two years ago, no one knew Chuck Hayes. Now he is a starter of a top 5 team in NBA. Besides, he even got endorsement from the biggest Chinese sportswear company. That's definitely a heck of story. Good for you Chuck.

    Anyway, I do think this kind of report in the middle of the playoff is a little bit distracting. And the Rockets are not that mentally strong to be not affected. I want to them to stay focused, and be determined. Get us a decisive win in Utah.
     
  16. Hayesfan

    Hayesfan Contributing Member

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    Hey... I knew who he was ;)

    I knew they were planning an article on him from the video interviews that they had after Game 2 (thanks hilltopper :) ). One of the interviewers (Feigen I now presume) asked everyone the same questions about Chuck.

    I doubt that the Rockets players really care what the media is writing as far as personal "feel good" articles like this. They should be focused enough for it just to be a part of the NBA media beast, imho.
     
  17. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    I don't know if I'd call that praise. He's basically dismissing Chuck's basketball skill while complimenting his mentality. It's like he wants Chuck to believe that he's damn lucky to even be in the NBA, and he isn't here for his basketball ability but rather to hustle his ass off. Maybe it's best if Chuck feels that way, because more than most players he needs to be a high energy player to be effective. But you can be high energy and still mostly ineffective (e.g. Ryan Bowen last year). I think Chuck probably deserves a little more credit for actually being a good basketball player.
     
  18. aaronnguyen

    aaronnguyen Member

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    There is a lot of heroes in this team but Hayes is one of those unsung heroes that I admired. His blue collar work that he puts in night in and night out that help the Rockets win game that really incredible. Keep up a good work.
     
  19. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Contributing Member

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    What I found interesting about that article is this:
    Chuck flopping? :eek:
     
  20. GRENDEL

    GRENDEL Contributing Member

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    Don't know about flopping but maybe just making sure the refs notice
     

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