I was worried the time off with the injury would hurt him when he returns, but it seems to have refreshed him a bit. He's been playing great since returning. With all the minutes he'll likely get against the upcoming teams with huge, talented frontlines, he might start to wear down though.
Two things. First, he deserves the praise. We don't need to wait and see how he plays against anyone at this point. Haven't you read this thread? He is capable of taking any big that relies on mobility out of a game. And if that big is the fulcrum of our opponent's offense, all the better. Sure, that big might score as many points as he averages, but how many turnovers and missed shots more does it take him to get them going up against the Wagon? That shatters an offense. Amare and Griffin are great examples of this. Secondly, I am beginning to think that Chuck is not the kind of player that you trade away, or lose in free agency. Ever. It took both of our last two coaches a lot more time than it should have to realize Chuck's value to this team. My guess is that no other GM in the league values Chuck as much as we do. He means entirely too much to this team. Even when we find his PF/C replacement in the starting lineup, you keep him for situational defense. He's one of the top 3 smartest basketball players we have. You don't trade a star breaker.
There's no good reason to trade Chuck Hayes when he's so undervalued by other teams. The only thing I can think of is that the coaches like him too much and won't play younger players with more upside (but not as good right now) enough minutes because of that. So you trade Chuck to force the coach to play younger.
Hey Chuckwagon, enjoy all the love now because, sooner or later, the posters here will be asking for your head. Anyway, I really appreciate your big heart and very very smart game. Here's hoping you enjoy many more productive years in the NBA.
Honestly I would want an entire team filled with Chuck Hayes type players. No nonsense all out effort night in and night out. It just amazes how much this guy does defensively on players much more physically gifted than him. Its just pure hard work that got him to where he is today. And not just defensively, offensively he has grown so much from his first season with the Rockets. I mean he still isnt an amazing free throw shooter but he is respectable now shooting 74.% at the line for the season thats not too bad up a lot from a career 60% Thats remarkable and a sign of hard work he put in. Plenty of NBA players try to improve or say that they are but you never see it in the results, with Chuck you do see it in the results. Before if you got 4 points out of him it would be a huge surprise, now its sort of expected that he'll give you around 6-8 points a game. Its just remarkable what he has done and its sad how little appreciation he gets outside of Houston. When Coach said that he will campaign to get Chuck on the all-defense team I am all for it. To me rebounding, block shots, steals are all a part of defense of course, but the All-D team tends to be filled with a lot of players who get stats or who are stars that are flashy defenders but are missing a lot of the true great 1-on-1 defenders on the team. Chuck Hayes is a man's man and I for one am proud and happy that he is a member of the Houston Rockets and hope that it stays that way throughout his NBA career.
Kelly Dwyer writes: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...ul-is-domina?urn=nba-313291#remaining-content [rquoter] In case you were wondering, yes. Yes, out there in Houston, off the national TV schedule, Chuck Hayes(notes) is still shutting people down. He's the best possible defender for Blake Griffin(notes), because he'll never leave his side. He'll always have a hip meeting his, with that brilliant defensive footwork matching and overwhelming Griffin's still-rudimentary low post footwork. Blake missed 11 of 16 shots, though he managed 14 points and 11 rebounds, and despite his All-Star work this season and the way he was drafted a good year and a half ago ... you still forget that he is a rookie. And rookies have no chance against Chuck Hayes. That's not a joke. [/rquoter]
http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=hayesch01&p2=randoza01 Randolph has had some very good games against Hayes, but Chuck's Rockets are 13-3 against Zach's teams when they went h2h, including 3-1 last season.
Chuck even said that his hardest assignment was guarding Zbo and Zbo even said he hated going against Chuck the most. Every player has that Kryptonite.
Man, if people can't see how much Chuck helped us the last few years the should realize last year with him and without Sam we went 3-1 against the Grizzlies, the one loss being very very close and the wins were dominant. Chuck will be severely missed the whole year, you guys just watch. PFs and Centers he severely limited are going to be eating our lunch all year long.
We miss you Chuck. Never have we been so dominated by Andrew Bynum, and we have Blake Griffin tomorrow. Crap...
what are we appreciating this undersized underachiever for- his free throws or his scoring prowess. Good riddance
