http://blogs.chron.com/jeromesolomon/2010/08/chuck_hayes.html [rquoter] ... You knew Yao would look pretty good, otherwise he wouldn't have been out there. Hayes, on the other hand, has a bit of a new look. Not only was he draining jumpers like a small forward, he is rock-solid these days, as opposed to his somewhat paunchy build the last couple of seasons. Hayes said he didn't do anything special to slim down, and probably weighs about the same. He just made sure to stay active all offseason. "I just did something everyday," Hayes said. "I didn't sit around. Some days I'd play tennis, one day I'd walk around and golf with no cart. Or one day play racquetball. "I sweated everyday. Cut down on body fat, chiseled down." It looks like Hayes has done something to his jumper as well. Yao noted that he used to just stay in the paint when guarding Hayes, but now has to step out to check him. "He has really improved his shooting," Yao said. But Hayes swears there is nothing new to his jumper, other than a willingness to take it. "It's just confidence, trusting my shot, trusting the release," he said. "You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take." While I wished he saved his hot streak until the season (see: Trevor Ariza, playoffs 2009) instead of wasting it during the hot summer, Hayes is one of my favorites because nothing fazes him. You can't have more of a team guy than Hayes. ... [/rquoter]
He did look good in the video with Yao. Patterson will have a hard time breaking the rotation if he can do that in games.
People can sometimes underestimate how good NBA (and even college players) are. I think it's because so many of us play, or have played basketball at some level, so we don't always realize that these guys are in a completely different stratosphere than your average pick-up ball star. I go to a mid-major DI basketball school, and my freshman year the team was AWFUL. One of the reserve centers in particular shot like, 35% from the FT line and was a complete liability offensively. By DI basketball standards he certainly couldn't shoot. But I'm telling you, he would beat 95% of average pickup basketball players in a three point shooting contest. By normal standards, I have no doubt that Chuck Hayes has a great shot. By NBA standards, let's just say I doubt he's really improved all that much this summer. But I'll be happy to eat my words if I'm wrong.
If Chuck has such work ethic, why was he fat last couple seasons? Also, cheap shot by Soloman at Battier in an artcle not even about Battier.
You can tell that he is shooting better. If Chuck can become a double digit scorer, that would be perfect.
WTF? Chuck is scoring in practice...ALL players do stuff in practice that is better than games because the defensive urgency isn't there. Once again a knee jerk idea by solo-dumbass. Chuck is who he is...he isn't going to drastically change his game, especially after 1 off season...if he could he would've done it a long time ago.
Ive seen Chuck Hayes make 11 straight 15 footers in a row before a Rockets game when looking through a screen in to the practice court. He makes his shots, its just that he chooses not to shoot. As ugly as it is, it goes in at a high rate.
Completely agree with this. I go to a D3 school and play pickup with the team.. anyone of the starters would be by far the best at your typical pickup game. Now multiply that by x1000 and you have the NBA. Just because the guy can't shoot effectively at the highest level in insanely complex offenses does not mean he can't shoot by traditional standards. Its been reported before that Chuck Hayes is wet in practice from the FT line.. the game of course is another story.
At the beginning of every season Chuck Hayes has a more confident and diverse offensive game but as the season wears on he appears to lose confidence and reverts back to defense only frame of mind.
with our cast, it's not chuck can make the jumper, but he shouldn't with all the options we have on the court
