Nah, Chuck + Landry for trade. Landry isnt good on D, Pops can do what Landry does...Dorsey can just replace Chuck. How come Landry is an "emerging" player, but Chuck who's just 3 months older is already maxed out? Cant Chuck still improve a little?
With the way the Rockets have played on the defensive end this preseason, I expect Chuck to see a lot of playing time.
So, my question is simply this. And it's the same question I posed last year and the year before. Why hasn't he always started Chuck Hayes? Scola doesn't play defense. We know this. Chuck Hayes is not going to score. We know this. The 1rst and the 3rd are very important parts of the game. FIRST, because you don't want a Tim Duncan or a Kevin Garnett to get going early and light your ass up the whole game. THIRD, because you want to keep the pressure on going into the 2nd half. If Chuck is the only guy who can stop the best big men in the league, why is he playing against the 2nd unit? Again, what is more important, getting Scola going early or shutting down Tim Duncan early? Does it matter if Scola scores his 12ppg off the bench or starting? Starting Scola over Hayes makes no logical sense when you have your Post Threat already with Yao. You want Yao to drop 8-12 pts in the first while Duncan gets shut down by Chuck, not negate each other with Scola letting him have a field day. It's called basketball...
Scola is not a terrible defender. He is not great but he is okay. When we had Yao, we had enough inside defense not to start Chuck.
Perhaps the most underrated aspect of Chuck's defense is the way he handles pick and rolls. That being said: http://blogs.chron.com/nba/2009/10/pacers_119_rockets_104_pickand_1.html [rquoter] ... Pick-and-roll defense, however, is like going to the dentist. The best part is when the guy says, "Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" And even though it was, his feeble attempt at small talk means you can leave. Coaches don't even offer that, but they do drill. And they do it because they have to. It is the part of the game that is never mastered, and must constantly be addressed. The Rockets were not great at it, but they have tended to get better throughout each season, making allowances for Yao Ming's lack of quickness but using his size and smarts and his communication to make it work well enough to become one of the league's top defensive teams. ... They were pretty feeble defensively this week. Actually, for most of Friday's 119-104 loss to the Pacers, their defense was closer to pathetic than feeble. Much of that comes from the preseason determination to change the frontcourt mix, giving the many contenders for playing time a fair chance. In the past two games, it comes from not playing Chuck Hayes enough. For now, the Rockets don't play solid pick-and-roll defense unless he is a part of it. They also know they probably should not rely on him this much, given his limitations. He'll have his handful with the center-loaded teams the Rockets see early in the season and will have a tough enough time with those matchups and avoiding foul trouble. ... [/rquoter]
Yes, Chuck is one of the few rare guys who can defend the post well and can also come out to the perimeter to defend the pnr. But the MOST underrated aspect of his game is his offense. Many people just assume that we play 4 on 5 on offense when Chuck is there. That is far from the truth. He is an excellent high post passer. He is a good offensive rebounder. And he knows exactly when to dive to the basket for an open layup. (Too bad, TMac is the only guy we have who can consistently make that pass to Chuck.)
Yes he is (see Lamarcus Aldridge), no he isn't (see guard penetration), and no we didn't (see losses to Spurs, Lakers, etc)... Thanks
We did win 22 straight games with Scola starting and getting major minutes. He isn't in Chuck's class as a defender, but he does play hard, he'll get a good number of deflections and drawn charges, and he's a very solid defensive rebounder. On the whole, I'd say "average" is about right.
What's the point? Aldridge is one of the better offensive PFs. Few big men could stop his shooting. At least show me an average guys who could abuse Scola and you might have a point. Did I miss something? Last I checked, guard penetration was about perimeter, not interior, defense. Again, what's your point? The Spurs and the Lakers were two of the better offensive teams in the league. Few teams could stop them. Show me a mediocre team that could abuse our interior defense with Yao and Scola. You are welcome.
I love Chuck Hayes but i don't know if you guys notice, but when he gets playing time he gets some dumb fouls really quick, if he is expected to play 30+ he will have to either hold back (which means less effective) or he will be sitting when we need him. Just look at his number on mins played vs PF. 06-07 3.6 fouls in 22 minutes 07-08 2.7 fouls in 19 minutes 08-09 1.9 fouls in 12 minutes He basically picks up a foul every 6-7 minutes played. If he played 33 minutes it would = 5.5 fouls if he follows the trend. So either he is going to be less aggressive or magically improve his ability to not pick up cheap fouls.
How long is that 22 game win streak going to be his claim to fame with the fans? Seriously, I would be willing to say he was an important piece in the first 13 games of that streak, but the reason it went to 22 was because of Mutombo replacing Yao, which proves my point that you need good defenders to match up with good offensive players.
That was just one name. The easier question is, name all of the players who Scola actually CAN play tough defense against... Only the fundamentals of basketball defense. There is a new invention they came up with about 80 years ago called The Pick & Roll. Guard penetration occurs when your guards can't get the necessary help defense from the front court players. Blazers, Knicks, Suns, Warriors, Nuggets...
If I were Rick Adelman, I wouldn't put too much creidence in Chuck Hayes guarding Bosh. Of the big men out there, Bosh can be easily taken out his game. He is a finesse player. The same way Bill Hansilk use to take Ralph Sampson out of his game, but when he faced other legit bigs, they took Hansilk to school. I'm beginning to think this is going to be a loooooooooong, looooooooooooooong year.
Your comparison is pretty damned stupid considering Chuck Hayes has been able to slow down or shut down Duncan, Garnett, Gasol, Aldridge, Nowitzki, Okur, Bosh, the list goes on. You are talking about varying types of players from your "finesse," to perimeter bigs, to dominant post players.
as i said on my other post, we should trade macgrady and yao to spurs to contain manoo ginoboly and mat boner. i think boner if given minutes can be a superstar. and the two spur do not get hurt like macgrady and yao
Did I read this right? We trade Yao and Tracy for a gina and a boner? That boner is going have to go to great lengths to become a superstar. But I digress.
The Rockets were a top 5 defensive team all season long with Yao and Scola starting. They beat the Blazers quite convincingly in the playoffs with Yao and Scola starting. My original point was that the Yao-Scola tandem was good enough defensively they did not have to use Hayes's defense a lot. Are you disputing this? Are you trying to argue that we would have been a better team with Hayes as the starting PF instead of Scola? If you believe that, show us some evidence to back it up. Let's put aside smartass comments and talk fundamentals straight. Help defense is needed when one of your teammate cannot stay in front of his man. It is not the big man's fault when your guards cannot stay in front of the opposing guards. Ironic to your argument, Scola is actually a better help defender than on the ball defender. Pick and roll defense is a totally different concept. When executed well, it is one of the hardest play to defend. Some teams try to switch. Some teams try to trap. Some teams try to "show" the big man and then back off. Some teams let the perimeter defender fight through the pick. Some teams ask the guard to go under the pick. None of them are fool proof and which one they use depends on match up. Like I mentioned earlier, very few players can be good at both interior defense and pnr defense. Yao is a very good interior defender. But he is a poor pnr defender for obvious reasons. Interior defense requires strength. pnr defense requires speed. Chuck and Dream are among the few who can do both well.
