Hayes incredible post defense! Hayes is a good defender but he is not incredible against the likes of Boozer and Duncan, he is in fact undersized. Hayes will be needed for his defense, but don't be surprised if Scola maintains the starting role. We will know for sure over the next three games.
Hayes is not defensive enough to the point that we play 6-5 on defense, but he is un-offensive enough to force us to play 4-5 on offense. Hayes is a situational player who started as a stop gap measure. He overperformed a bit in his contract year, now he's back down to earth. Morey knew Hayes has never been the answer - which is why they low balled him in the offseason.
Hayes works alright against starters if he's also on the floor with T-Mac and Yao. They can mask his lack of scoring, and the rest of the stuff he does can make him a solid contributor overall. Against a team like Golden State, when you're already missing one of your big two, that's just not a good matchup for him.
I disagree. He makes our team much less efficient on offense. The lane gets clogged because his man sags off of him so that team can front Yao easily and / or not allow dribble penetration. That is often too much to pay for better post defense.
The more scorers you have on the floor the harder you are to guard that is just commen sense. This is why Scola starts because he makes up for the defense with another scorer on the floor.
Playing with an offensive liablitiy does more harm than good. Hayes exposes Yao's weaknesses on offense, make it easier for players to double Yao and swipe the ball away. He also exposes T-Mac's weaknesses, with him clogging up the lane T-Mac is encouraged to throw up lazy long jumpers.
There are ways for the Rockets to get Hayes's man out of the lane (Chuck sets a screen for T-Mac). I think that's been overstated a bit. And I think Hayes brings you more positives than just his post defense. I wouldn't even say his post defense is his best attribute.
It all depends on match ups. Warriors like to shoot 3 pointers, so Hayes is not a big help. But for some other teams Hayes is very useful. How quickly people forget Chuck just held Boozer to 4/14 shooting and Al Jefferson to 2/10 shooting.
Okay, let's not jump to conclusions here. First, Chuck has proved time and time again that he's the best post defender and best rebounder we got. Basically we just have to find his role and insert him at the right time to make the best out of his skills. He has a very reasonable contract and if coming off the bench makes him more effective, then so be it.
Often, with Hayes in the game, we end up playing ugly ball. It's true in some situations, that's our best chance to win. With Landry or Scola in instead, the game is more open and in many (I would argue most) cases, the Rockets have a better chance of winning.
Hayes helps Yao and Tmac cover their weakness on defense too. Did you see Battier took several quick fouls for Yao today? That's what Hayes often does. When both Yao and Tmac are on the floor and Rockets have enough fire power, play Hayes is not a bad idea at all. It makes the offense defense more balanced.
Hayes will definitely be back the way our bigs get in foul trouble. hayes knows this has been done because of his offense. he will have to work hard to fix it!
Post defender. Yes, depending on the skills of the post player. Rebounder, no. (I excluded Mutumbo because he doesn't play much anymore) Rebounds per 48 minutes. Landry 18.3 Yao 13.8 Hayes 13.6 Scola 12.0
i think this was nothing more then a better matchup for the other 2 and some people are a little too quick to write off the chuck-wagon. he possibly has lost his starters job but if i was betting i'd say he's starting in indiana.
Good point ^^ Have people noticed how easier it is for Yao to score when Scola is on the floor ?? Look at tonight, Yao's numbers went way up because Hayes is not their to clog the paint up. This makes it much easier for Yao to get in position because Scola creates space for Yao. Yao was way above his average due to Scola starting. Keep in mind this is even without Tracy, once he comes back watch out.
I think Adleman attempted to out-gun the GSW tonight and he succeed in doing so. There is not much anyone can do trying to defend against GSW if GSW is dropping their shots. We just have to outgun and outscore them. Tonight we did just that.
