I think COACH made a good move to rest Hayes. It's unexpected and it's a move no one would thought of but I trust Adelman will make the right next move also.
I would like all those who have been vilifying Adelman to remember this game. There is a reason Adelman has an outstanding won-loss record... he can coach. I think the players have been slower to pick up his offense than Adelman or anyone else in the organization expected. Part of that might be the injuries and a big part, obviously, is three new players who are rookies. Coach Rick is been figuring out who can give him what on the court. In many ways he is the opposite of Van Gundy in that he doesn't hesitate to try different combinations to see what works and to give minutes to players he thinks just need a bit more time to be able to contribute. Look at how he's played our rookies. I still can't believe it. I love what he's doing, but it is so different from what we were used to seeing from a Rockets coach (JVG) that it boggles the mind. And it's worked. Growing pains? Sure, but I have faith in Adelman and always have. What we need is patience. The players need to continue to adjust to his system and do what he asks of them, starting with McGrady.
About damn time. Hayes is a complete offensive liability. To be that bad at offense, he needs to be a superior rebounder and defender, which he is not. A contending team should not be starting Chuck Hayes....or Rafer Alston.
Uhhh...Morey is on crack if he really believes that. Off the top of my head: Duncan KG Camby Chandler R. Wallace McDyess B. Wallace Need I go on....
Morey said Chuck was a top 5 defensive PF, I believe. Not post defender. And I believe his strength defensively is his versatility, not so much the post defense (which is still good, but not elite in my opinion). More and more, post defense is becoming less of an issue for PFs anyways. Who are 5 better defensive PFs, in your opinion?
First of all if he is top 5 why no teaam picked him up in the Summer when he was a free agent. Second,, a lot of people is overating Hayes defense. He is above average and Scola plays as hard if not more hustlle than Hayes. Also people is saying he stopped Boozer when Scola actually played same amount of time as Hayes.
I completely agree. Hayes we can fix. Alston is another matter. Compared with other PGs in the West, he is at or near the bottom; however, we're hard pressed to find a better PG on our squad (possibly AB ... possibly not).
Today's game needs players to produce at both end of the court. Hayes starting or not playing doesnt concern me. Adelman will play him when there is a match-up or need for defense but his minutes will be limited.
For those of you who said it was a one game adjustment .... http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/5497330.html Was it one-game experiment or something more? After the game, Adelman said he isn't sure.
Defense is so underappreciated. In recent games, I can remember Hayes held Al Jefferson to 2/10, Boozeer to 4/14, a key block on Duran to prevent overtime. Rocket's consistent 4th quarter collapses are not because of offense, it's mainly because of defense, and Hayes rarely plays in 4th quarter. For example, last night with Novak and Yao on the court together, a 14 point lead was gone in just several minutes. Rockets gave up 37 points in one quarter. I just don't believe that would happen if Adelman put Hayes on the floor with Yao instead of Novak.
The Rockets have had 4th quarter collapses for the past few years whether Chuck is on the floor or not. In fact, I believe Morey stated that we are (statistically) the worst team at holding on to leads this year and last. I think the issue runs deeper than whether Hayes plays or not. Yes, defense is underappreciated; however, Hayes is not an outstanding defender. He's probably an above average one though.
To add to this, Chuck seems to be off the floor down the stretch more often than not. Last season, JVG put Juwan Howard in there in these situations more than I think he should have. This year, it's Scola or even Bonzi Wells instead of Chuck. Would have done better with Chuck in some of these games, too.. The recent Orlando game come to mind. They won, but Lewis started to score once Chuck got off the floor.
let's make this simple chuck plays because he's a good defender chuck doesn't play because he can't score Chuck Hayes comes in to play where there is a crucial defensive stop needed
As of NOW: Chuck is the best defender at the power forward spot on this team. There's no question about that. The issue is whether he is beneficial to us, considering he has offensive limitations. He's useful against teams like Minnesota whose only real threat is at the power forward position, therefore, stopping Al Jefferson alone = blowout win. In the NEAR FUTURE (maybe next game): Scola and Hayes will probably alternate in and out of the starting lineup due to matchups. This is just my guess, but for sure Scola should take over the primary duties at power forward. It makes sense considering Adelman's attention to offense. This has not happened sooner because Scola's defense has been adjusting to the NBA's, and now its becoming good enough that he can be effective when he's on the floor. For NEXT SEASON: Scola (maybe Landry) will be the definite starter. Hayes could still stay on this team and bring us quality depth off the bench. He's a great energy type player you'll give you rebounds, second chances on offense, and can be a specialty defender. Even is he's third string, he's someone who knows his role and he can still be a great motivator in practice.
I don't know about that because last a few times when Rockets lost big lead in 4th quarter, I didn't see Hayes on the floor a lot. Last night certainly not. I do agree to take Hayes out if Rockets are trailing with not much time left, but not the other way around.
I tend to agree with you. Not that there weren't some game where a better defensive player like Chuck would have made a difference down the stretch. But to underscore your point, in "clutch" situations (end of games, neither team ahead by more than 5 points) the Rockets were 8-12 with Chuck on the floor last season. And they were 12-16 with Juwan on the floor. I think, more generally, a stagnant offense has been the bigger issue for us in fourth quarters. It's why we've rarely ever overcome deficits heading into the final quarter. That's usually more a characteristic of bad offensive teams, not bad defensive teams.
We can't depend on Landry to defend or stay in the game for that matter, so having Hayes is a Luxury. I think in this situation, it would be fine to have three power forwards in the rotation. Both Hayes and Scola can play center. I just don't understand having Novak take Hayes spot in the rotation like that. For those of you who thinks Hayes should be taken out of the rotation completely have obviously forgotten about Novak. As bad as Hayes is on offense, Novak is TEN times worse on defense and rebounding.
I hate to say this on this board because I'll get flamed, but I think the inability to hold on to leads largely stems from Yao. At the end of games, Utah, Portland, etc. play PnR to get Yao to guard the best penetrator. Either the penetrator gets to the rim (Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Kobe Bryant, etc.) or finds the open man for a jumper or a three (Carlos Boozer, Al Harrington, even Kurt Thomas). Our inability to guard the PnR kills us at the end of games and is the bread and butter of the ways teams attack us. They put in their best shooters, their best penetrator and a big man and go to work. That being said, I was very happy to see Adleman sub Yao out after a timeout when we needed a big defensive stop (last night or Seattle). On the offensive end, we boneheadedly try too often to feed the ball into Yao where we have a turn over (NO, Philly come to mind) instead of taking advantage of the fact that Yao is double teamed and playing 4 on 3 basketball. Of course, there are many other factors as well, but these are the biggest two IMHO.
No..............because you'd have to start really stretching it. Chuck Hayes is the best post defender on this team..........by far. And giving you all of the above, he is, at the very worst, a top 15 defensive PF in the entire NBA.
