No doubt, he was a stud, if Chuck had Wes Unseld or Charles Barkley's abilities, he would have a contract from the Rockets already. But he is a 6'6" undrafted, defensive, role player - and while he is elite defensively on the post, he is replaceable overall by a player who has a more well rounded game and has legitimate height and athleticism. DD
Championship caliber players can be all sorts. They can, for example, be absolutely crap like Jordan Farmer. Or they be 3pt specialists like Kenny Smith or Steve Kerr. They could be headcases like Rasheed Wallace and Ron Artest. They could be someone invisible so that Charles Barkley played against but still didn't know like Chucky Brown. The question is what role can a player be on a championship team. Chuck Hayes can start at center on a championship team with KG/Pierce/Allen/Rondo at the other positions. He can start at PF on a championship team with Yao/T-Mac/Artest/Lowry(at or near their best with the Rockets). But on the current team, he's the difference between .500 and .520.
Sure, but we don't have one of those readily available. And those who are out there on the market are likely quite expensive. Remember, Chuck didn't just defend the post: He put up around 8 pts, 8 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1 stl and 0.7 blks while playing 28 mpg. This level of production does not grow on trees and combination of skills (in particular: a big guy who knows how to pass the ball) do not grow on trees. Many teams will spend more money on the free agent market this year than whatever Chuck ends up earning and end up with a worse player. If the signing of a legitmately good center like Nene will cost the Rockets the salary space necessary to sign Chuck, then fine. I can understand. Otherwise, you don't let Chuck go for nothing.
Looks like the Lakers will never win a championship again. The Lakers will rue the day they stopped treating players like human beings.
Exactly, Shane Battier never won any titles, but apparenlty Pat Riley found him to be "championship caliber" enough for the Heat.
Complete agreement, and I believe that is exactly what Morey is doing, before making an offer. This whole lockout thing has compressed everything into a week or so, remember Morey's history, just look at Landry, Lowry and Scola, they dragged out a while and he let others set the market price. He is just doing what he always does, I don't know why it is so surprising to folks. DD
I was looking for news about what's going on with Chuck and frowned a little when I saw Adelman's been trying to persuade him... But then I started freaking out A LOT when I came across someone on Sac's Real GM board saying Hayes to Sacramento is a done deal! http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=1140072&start=30 I hope it's not really true.
Funny because most of the poster over there look as disappointment as you. They don't want to pay Chuck for 3 years either.
I'm pretty certain that we are not letting Hayes go without a decent contingency plan in place. Have faith.
Phoenix blogger may be privy to the secret, but these fans are obviously not. They will know soon enough.
Chuck is 28, so I think he's going to sign with the team that offers him the most money. Just like Shane, I wish him the best, and just like Shane, I don't think his departure is going to make a significant difference in how our season plays out.
Sac doesn't have Rick... Rick is in Minnesota... Sac has Paul Westphal. If the rumors are true then at least I won't have to pick up another team to watch... I was already watching the Kings because of DeMarcus last season.
Noooooooo! Chuck needs to stay and be a player, not go be a baby sitter in Sac. That would be a woman's work and beneath Chuck!
How quick people forget what Hayes has done for us, especially last year. Everybody loved him and just because many in here, including me, think tanking is the way to go we do not want to bring him back. He could definitely be of use this year and next year. If we do not bring back Hayes, how do you think scores will look vs. Celtics / Mavs / Spurs. Nobody can guard their PFs besides Chuck. Remember this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL8JIVrWUEA Without Chuck there will be only Lowry & Scola, maybe Patterson to compete and that's going to result in a lot of embarrasing losses.
