Because Bowen is quick and tall enough to defend most small forwards. Chuck isn't. Besides, Bowen hardly gets more PT than Chuck these days anyway. we have been too starved of offense.
Chuck Hayes makes a decent 12th man on the bench. He comes cheap and brings energy. Yes, I say we bring him back.
Man let's be real! Chuck Hayes does not have a future. He will be cut along with the other half dozen scrubs off this dismall ROX roster!
Chuck Hayes is our best PF. He's by far the best defender. I don't give a rat's ass about his height, he defends the post as well as anyone on our team. And he's more effective guarding face up players (like Nowitzki) compared to Howard and Swift as well. As a rookie, and despite his height, he is one of the best rebounders in the game in terms of rebound rate (% of rebounds grabbed while on the court). He's proven to be an exceptional rebounder in limited and extended minutes since he's been with the Rockets. Offensively, he isn't nearly the liability many of you are calling him. He has good hands, and when T-Mac's playing he has the ability to get numerous catches in low, and he finishes pretty well. More importantly, he crashes the offensive glass and he draws fouls at a high rate. Plus, he doesn't turnover the ball a lot even relative to the touches he gets, which is uncommon amongst rookie "big" men. Obviously he needs to work on his jumper, but he's NBA-ready. He deserves 20 minutes a game, but unfortunately JVG needs to keep playing Stro to keep his trade value up, and Juwan is too "professional" to drop behind Hayes. I can't believe how quickly some of you guys are forgetting what Chuck was doing for this team on a consistent basis when he was getting minutes earlier in the season. Or maybe you're only looking at the boxscores and win-loss record. For whatever reason, JVG hasn't played Chuck more than a minute or two for a while, and obviously it's not possible to guage his effectiveness with such limited minutes. But he proved earlier in the season that he's a solid player. The biggest frustration for me concerning Van Gundy's coaching this season has been his handling of the PF situation. If Hayes was getting 30 minutes a night like Juwan, I believe he'd be getting us 10+ rebounds a game and solid defense. I don't believe it's an exaggeration to say he's our best defensive player (yes, better even than Mutombo, because of his versatility and energy). And the numbers show that our offense has been just fine with him on the court (in fact, better on average than it has been with Juwan over the course of the season).
Larry Smith was 6-9 and could intimidate the opposition. He earned his playing time by bullying people on the court,snatching boards and putting up 10-12 points a game. Until Chuck Hayes becomes an intimidating force to make up for his lack of skills,he will be a bench player. but he is a solid 2nd string and I hope hes wearing a rox uniform next year. I say we bring back Eddie Griff as a backup next year! Rebounding and Shotblocking off the bench. Eddie and Yao played great toghether early on. Imagine that interior Defense. When Yao played Shaq for the first time I remember Yao and Eddie blocking his first 3 or 4 shots.
I can't agree you more, Chuck is the best player in the defensive end in Houston Rocket, and his efficiency of rebounds lead in the league. I can't understand why JVG only gives him so little time to play in the court. His jump shoot is not so good, but he has his own way to get points. No one in the league is perfect!
He's still an offensive liability. What he does, he does very well - there's no question about that. I'm as much of a Chuck Hayes fan as anyone here, but let's be objective about this. Chuck's entire offensive repertoire consists of garbage baskets and the occasional trip to the foul line. He doesn't have any post game, and he doesn't have a jump shot. These are the two critical requirements of a power forward. Not saying he shouldn't be getting minutes -- Surely there are rotational combinations where he can be quite effective (personally I'd like to see him together with Stro sometime while Yao's on the bench), but you can't discount his offensive limitations altogether. Especially when you're a team as desperate for buckets as we are. It doesn't help that he isn't quick enough to guard small forwards either. Perhaps next season when we have a stronger shooting lineup and T-Mac back on the court, he might be getting more PT since what he brings to the table becomes even more useful.
What does it mean to be an offensive liability? The only thing that matters is how the Rockets play as a team, on the offensive end, when he's on the court. Some players can make positive contributions on the offensive end despite not being gifted scorers. What's more valuable to our offense -- Juwan Howard's shaky jumper, or Chuck Hayes's ability to grab offensive boards and draw fouls? That's the important question. Also, Chuck takes advantage of being considered a "liability" by moving well without the ball and getting open under the basket. This was very evident earlier this season when he was getting significant minutes and McGrady was in the game. In his 363 minutes of court time, the Rockets as a team have scored 106.7 points/100 possessions. (+4.0 relative to when he's off the court). They get more offensive rebounds and turn the ball over less. Juwan Howard's presence yields 100.6 points/100 possessions (-7.0 relative to when he's not on the court). He's had only one stretch the whole season in which he's played well offensively (in January), but as a team we were horrible offensively at that time. The facts don't show that we struggle on offense with Hayes in the game, and in fact support the contention that we're a better offensive team with him. And, of course, the evidence is overwhelming that we're a stifling defensive team with him so even IF he was the "offensive liability" some of you claim, his defensive prowess would more than make up for it. We give up 9.3 less points per 100 possessions with Hayes in there. That's no fluke, and you'd have a tough time finding players who've played as many minutes as him this season who have had that kind of impact on the defensive end. I've said from the very beginning, Hayes should be starting or at the least should be getting significant playing time. The Rockets are making a huge mistake if they just let him go. What he brings is exactly what we've needed for the last 4 or 5 years (a PF who can hustles, defends, and rebounds).
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/smithla01.html http://www.knickerblogger.net/stats/2006/jh_Rockets.htm Here's a comparison between Chuck Hayes this season and Larry Smith's career numbers (significantly better than his numbers with the Rockets, btw). Comparison Code: pts TS% RbR stl blk AsR ToR Hayes 11.1 55.6 20.0 1.8 1.0 8.3 8.3 Smith 10.3 54.1 19.3 1.2 0.8 12.3 16.7 Pts, Stl, and Blk are per 40 minutes (in Smith's favor due to faster paced game in the 80s) . TS% measures scoring efficiency, RbR is % of available rebounds grabbed, and AsR and ToR measures frequency of assists and turnovers (respectively), relative to used offensive possessions. The only area in which Larry Smith was clearly better over the course of his career was in his Assist Rate. The notion that he was a better scorer only holds true in a few of his years with Golden State. And he didn't block any more shots. They are comparable as rebounders.
defends with energy and hustles but if rocks draft a pf with their 1st pick i won't complain if they let him go.
I personally like Hayes' game a lot. He reminds of of a new age Chucky Brown. I would think there is a spot on this roster for him once he gets into a summer program designed by Coach JVG that is... And I really like the John Lucas idea... Get him to re-learn the fundamentals The truth is we need players like him to fill our 10-12 roster spots...
