Naw. Because I don't hate Juwan. I hate the Juwan/Yao tandem. And Yao is too valuable to bench in favor of Juwan. I do like Chuck Hayes a lot though. And I think some of you are going to be surprised how much money he is earning himself this season.
You obviously don't know much about Chuck. The kid plays TO WIN. That's it. He worked hard to get here and he loves to play ball. A good contract is a bonus.
Right now, I don't hate the Juwan/Yao tandem. Chuck should remain the starter, but when Juwan drills his jumper while Yao & Tracy are in the game, our offense is unstoppable. It more than makes up for the defense.
Consider the defense. The opponent will blow by Howard and Yao get a foul, 2 times and Yao on the bench for the next 10 minutes... Now the offense is stoppable.
Juwan is not a good defender, but some of you go way over the top. You act like he's Steve Novak. It's weird how some things here are just blown way out of proportion. If Juwan was as bad as you say he wouldn't get court time with JVG as coach. And don't give me this garbage about their "special relationship" because JVG put Juwan in the freezer to start the season and Juwan didn't like it.
I remember last year there was a debate over Chuck Hayes on whether it made sense to look at his per-minute stats to assess his level of productivity. Per 40 minutes, he was getting the following: Code: mpg pts/40 reb/40 ast/40 stl/40 blk/40 to/40 pf/40 TS% 13.4 11.0 13.4 1.0 1.9 1.0 0.9 5.7 58.9% That looks great, but he was doing it in limited minutes. Some of us argued that it was still a useful way of assessing his performance; others thought it was worthless. Well, this is what he's doing per 40 minutes this season, playing around 20 MPG: Code: mpg pts/40 reb/40 ast/40 stl/40 blk/40 to/40 pf/40 TS% 21.1 10.5 12.1 1.1 1.6 0.4 1.5 6.7 58.0% That's not bad, but there's been a clear dropoff. Perhaps we should have expected this, because he's generally playing against better competition. His turnovers and fouls are up, most noticeably. However, he's also had to play a lot of games primarily at center (out of position for him), rather than his natural PF spot. This would include the first game of the season, and all of the games in which Yao was injured. If we remove these games, this is what his per minute numbers look like: Code: mpg pts/40 reb/40 ast/40 stl/40 blk/40 to/40 pf/40 TS% 23.2 11.5 13.1 1.1 1.6 0.3 1.5 6.5 59.4% That's a little closer to last year, but the fouls and turnovers are still higher. Again, probably should be expected because he's playing against tougher competition. Now, let's look at what he's done as a starter when Yao and T-Mac have played: Code: mpg pts/40 reb/40 ast/40 stl/40 blk/40 to/40 pf/40 TS% 23.4 12.9 13.6 1.3 1.9 0.3 1.3 6.7 59.7% Numbers are better, pretty much across the board. And, finally, here's a what he did 2006 (November, early December) versus what he's been doing recently: Code: (2006 starting with Yao and T-Mac) mpg pts/40 reb/40 ast/40 stl/40 blk/40 to/40 pf/40 TS% 22.5 10.2 13.4 1.1 1.3 0.5 1.9 6.9 53.5% (2007 starting with Yao and T-Mac) mpg pts/40 reb/40 ast/40 stl/40 blk/40 to/40 pf/40 TS% 25.1 17.5 13.9 1.6 2.8 0.0 0.4 6.4 67.3% Early in the year he was rebounding very well, but you can see the fouls and particularly the turnovers were very high for him. This can probably be attributed, in part, to him adjusting to the new role and tougher competition. The last 8 games for Chuck have been the best stretch of his short career so far. Yes, the fouls are still way too high, but everything else is rolling for him. From all this, it appears that the per-minute numbers from last season were a good indication of what he could give us with more minutes. Obviously, he's not going to be playing 40 MPG any time soon, because of the foul problems, but he doesn't seem to be losing much energy playing 25 MPG versus the 13 MPG he played last year. I will also add that for those who thought his On/Off +/- stats last season were a total fluke (+12.9, leading the team), this year he's again leading the team with +10.4. He's a difference maker! Of course, getting to play a large chunk of your minutes alongside T-Mac and Yao will do that for you.
Chuck will be pretty much useless on any other team besides the HEat he is only useful because there is a dominant center with a scoring mentality that attracts double teams (Yao) who can defer to him for an open layup and a player who can get him the ball in the right place at the right time (Tmac) since the HEat already got Haslem, they wouldnt need chucky so chuck is here to stay
no respect for chuck on nba.com in lenovo stat, he is called charles hayes and "his photo" seems to be anyone else is he chuck?
OT: What's the word out of Lexington? Is Tubby Smith going to be fired? Is UK going after Gillisspie?
chuck is just a great guy to cheer for and have on your team. I just cant say enough about how well he's been playing. He was a great find by the rockets and a great call to start him with yao. Seems like the obvious decision now, but at first glance it looked a little ridiculous
Hijacking the thread okay by me. The latest word was that there would be changes, but Mitch Barnhardt (AD) said that he and Tubby would make them together. The main problem is not Tubby's coaching. He's a fantastic coach, but he hates recruiting. He needs someone to do the hardest part of that for him and then let him follow up to close the deal. I am one of the fans that thinks Tubby has done a good job. There is no one I would rather have at UK at this point. None of the "up and coming" coaches are anything like Tubby at coaching defense (which is something I like to watch done successfully) and as far as offensively, the only complaint about Tubby that I have is his last second out of bounds plays. In all honesty, there are a lot of pyscho UK fans. I have been watching UK since birth and attended UK when Rick Pitino (96) and Tubby (98) each won a championship. I have seen every UK game since I could hold my eyes open through the whole game on my dad's lap... cried when Duke beat UK with that 2.1 second shot, was frustrated the entire season of "Team Turmoil" and was disappointed that Tayshaun lost in his senior year to Maryland, felt physically sick when Chuck lost to MSU in 2OT keeping him from ever reaching the final four, but I would NEVER, EVER be as disrespectful as some of the fans and alumni have been in the last two years to Tubby Smith. There is just some people that cross the psycho line when it comes to UK basketball, and Mitch and Tubby have heard from all of those crazies recently. Wow.. did I go off or what. The short answer.. no news yet. I doubt we will hear anything until after Randolph Morris decides if he will stay or go.
Speaking of KY media photo, I have an idea for a nickanme for Chuck: If Shane is the glue guy to the team, Chuck is the lubricant to make keep the team running smoothly. Since he play college ball in KY, how about having him known as "KY Jelly"? Chuck can be a useful player for a number of teams. His minutes are very much quality minutes, but his limitations means, for now and perhaps for the rest of his career, he is best used for 20-25 minutes of high energy play. He can probably reduce his fouls and last longer if he plays less aggressively, but he really has to be ultra aggressive to be effective. I'd say 4 million a year or so would be market price for Chuck, judging by salaries paid to other similar players-- Najera, R.Evans, etc. Haslem got paid more, but he's got the championship, can play more minutes, and has a jumper.
Those were the dark days of the Rox. Giving a scrub like Mooch a 6 year 23 million dollar contract. As much as people like Stevie, Cat and Rudy, I'm glad that Stevie era of the Rox is over. No more Cato, no more MoT. Those guys made me loathe being a Rox fan, I was a Rox fan in spite of those clowns. And alot of guys wonder why Rudy "stepped down", it's because he built a team with those fools and tried to make people believe that we could actually win a title with them. If by chance that Stevie ever comes back, I want JVG and TMac to lay the verbal smackdown on him as to whose team this is. I want JVG to have a short leash on him and and psychologically make him into an obedient puppy that fetches TMac's scraps. All those Rox years Stevie really thought he was an untouchable icon here when he really was setting us back while our state counterparts were passing us. rant over
