I'm a little confused by how many people seem to think center is our position of greatest need. I think we have a great starting center in Chuck Hayes. We know how strong he's always been on defense and the offensive game he's brought this year has been incredible. We know no one works harder. He's one of the best defensive 5's in the league. He's sturdy, stays healthy and gets better every year. Why would we want to give up value in a trade for the opportunity to reduce Chuck's minutes? And with Scola, Patterson and Hill in the 4/5 rotation (and Miller for one more year too), I'm not even convinced we need a backup center. ****, the way things have been going since the trades, maybe Thabeet will even turn out to be a baller.
Yes. We absolutely need a true center who can rebound and defend. Our biggest weakness is on the interior.
I'm sorry Batman but we need a big man. The Playoffs are about matchups for a best of 7. We need a Legit Center.
Chuck is great at parts of the game, but there are days where you just need some huge guy under the basket making the opponent think about tossing the shot up higher in order to avoid the outreached arms of the giant. There's a reason why the Rockets defensive rating for the season is not as good as it was back when Yao Ming was their fulltime starter. Chuck's done a respectable job filling in at C, but he's really much better as a PF with a big C around the basket to help Chuck out.
That's because Patterson has been addressing our shotblocking needs with Scola out. But what happens when Scola comes in? Trouble.
If you're talking about contending, what we need is another really, really good player. Because this team was basically built around Yao Ming (offensively and defensively), it would make sense for that player to be a center. Unfortunately, really, really good centers are few and far between
As much as Chuck has improved on offense and even defense...we are 10th in the West. We need a legit center, Hayes can backup at the PF and Center spots but we need a legit 7 footer who can play. The Spurs game is a clear example, once PPat left the game the lane opened up and the Spurs went straight to the bucket every time down.
Chuck is fantastic,but he is a 4 and should be a backup center. Miller needs to be moved,and even Luis in a package for a center. Don't forget the absence of Yao Ming is the main reason why we are fighting to make it into the playoffs. In order to be a contender,we need a man in the middle who block and alter shots,rebound and get 10-12 points a night.
If this team can get a legitimate Center and start Patterson... they just might turn into a top defensive team again.
Chuck is not a center. As good as he can be imitating one, he's better as a 4. He only seems like he'd make it there because there's so many small or bad centers in the league, but a lot of the better centers are on the top teams. To reach the ultimate goal this team needs a true center.
Why is this even a question? The Rockets defense gets abused over and over by penetration and big lineups. All you have to do is look at the Clippers/Suns losses just a while back to see how badly we need a center. The Rockets do best against jumpshooting teams who play a finesse style. Portland is a good example, so's the Celtics. Even notice that we played Miami pretty closely, because they are a perimeter team for the most part. But inside presence is a must. Even Morey, who might be the biggest Chuck Hayes fan in the world, has desperately been searching for a legit center through trades, ala Tyson Chandler and Marcus Camby.
For once I'd love for Chuck to play his natural position - PF. All things being equal, we do need a center with height and shotblocking abilities. Chuck will still get his minutes, can't keep a good player like him down.
We don't need another PF. But we need another center. Scola/Chuck/Hill/Pattersen are all PFs who sometimes have to play center.
