As I type this, The Rockets are the 7th seed with Phoenix and Utah nipping at their heels. My view hasn't changed. You start your best defenders and set the tone early. Chuck Hayes is not going to score, get over it. The Rockets don't have the personnel to play an uptempo game with their starters. I mean, lets be honest here, neither Yao nor McGrady can play in an uptempo game. Establish the defense early, wear down the first team by making it harder for them to score, then let your Scola's and Wafers and Landry's goto work against their 2nd unit. Mark my words, it won't happen overnight, but the hustle and the defense will become infectious.
I see where you're coming from, but I dunno man, that still doesn't seem like a very good idea to me. That would be a pretty offensively challenged starting lineup with Battier (especially the way he's playing this year), Alston, and Chuck. Neither McGrady or Yao are exactly having career years, either, although their numbers would likely improve in that lineup. Anyways, both Scola and Landry play with a lot of hustle and energy, also. It's just that they're not as strong and don't have as high of a defensive bball IQ.
And I see where you are coming from, though I still don't get the logic. You take Scola out, those touches goto Yao. Someone on another thread was talking about NBA League Pass and how announcers from other teams always marvel at how little Yao touches the ball. Van Gundy had the right idea. Yao is not an aggressive player, so force feed him the ball. The first 5-7 minutes of the game should be all about establishing Yao Ming as the primary option. Once you do that, the other team has to adjust. Adelman has this ridiculous philosophy about having 5 guys all running around and taking shots, but it won't work here. Scola is not Peja Stojakovic, Yao Ming can't pass the ball like Vlade Divac, and McGrady is not a good enough shooter to sit back and hoist 3's.
I love Chuck defensively (BTW a great pic of him there)! But as a starter again? Nah, we can just bring him in when we need him and when the other team really doesn't want him out there.
Where's the vote for "No! No! and Hell No!? Where's the vote for "Hayes for !2th Man" who plays only when the first seven have fouled out?
Maybe when he learns how to make layups and free throws. If you want Yao to take more shots, you probably don't want to start a guy alongside him who allows opponents to constantly double team Yao and make him give up the rock.
Absolutely he should start! For my YMCA team. As for the Rockets I don't think he should even be in the Rotation.
I don't think Chuck Hayes should start but he should definitely get some minutes playing against Memphis last night. We were exposed by their P&R, Chuck Hayes should be playing to get some stops there.
no, he is not an offensive threat, if he is on the court, the other team always plays off him and crowd yao, we don't want that. but we can bring out chuck in stretches to stop the other team's big man who is torching us... prime example: RA brought out chuck to stop KG in that boston game, and he cooled KG off and changed the momentum.
I am actually surprised there are as many votes for this as there are. Adelman has no patience for Chuck. He obviously makes a difference on the defensive side of the ball, but if Chuck misses his first shot, Adelman pulls him out. Prime example was in the Bulls game the other night. He helps get two really good stops against Tyrus Thomas, but misses a close in shot. Before they even run back down the court to defense after Yao's put back dunk Adelman had Scola on his way to the scorers table. I don't know if Hayes was also sick against the Griz like Yao and Aaron, but obviously Adelman wanted to try the rotation without Chuck getting his 6 minutes in the second quarter. When you are already down one man in your regular rotation and your 7'6" center is throwing up the minute he gets off the court.... that doesn't make a whole heck of a lot of sense. I voted yes, just to be supportive, but I really do think Chuck is fine coming off the bench.. he makes up for Carl's lack of team defense. Honestly, I think Chuck will be traded because Adelman doesn't really want to use him. Morey said tweaks... I figure Chuck is going to be one of them. Which will really tick me off because that means I won't get to see him on the team at the end of February against the Bulls.
Actually Chuck is a better player at transition offense in Rockets. He moves very well and passes very well. It makes sense to set tune early. There is one positive thing yesterday game that if they work hard as they did at the end of the game, they can stop people. They just need intensity.
If they traded him, their stupidity would go to new level. No, they will not trade him. He's a very valuable asset. Rockets don't need to trade. they need to play hard every minutes.
We saw 2 years of evidence that it doesn't work. Since he isn't a scoring threat at all the other team completely ignores him. It is bad enough teams ignore Rafer and sag off Battier. Hayes is a good team defender and a good position defender, but he wouldn't change the defense to the extreme that you are talking about. Teams use their center to run the pick-n-roll because everyone has learned that Yao won't come out of the paint and he has slow lateral movement. The guard either gets a open mid-range jumper or if they are quick enough they can get to the basket before the help defense rotates. How would Hayes help solve that problem? So now you have the same defensive issue and you have hindered an already struggling offense. That isn't the answer.
What good is an asset that the coach only trusts for one defensive stop at the end of a game... and he won't even play him then if he hasn't played in the first half of the game. I don't know... I have had this feeling since training camp and through the first half of the season. It just depends on if anyone sees the value in him and has something to trade in return. There are only a few teams/coaches who I think could/would use him and most of those have no trade chips that we would want in return. So it would have to be a combo deal imho.
