Truly spoken like a stat nerd that didn't play basketball! If someone is getting an easy lay-up, someone better give him a hard foul and make him shoot 2. Most basic tenant of basketball: No easy baskets! It's not the blocks themselves that are productive, but the shots changed at the rim. Other teams have to change their entire game plan when their 6'2 guard can't just waltz in and shoot a lay-up. That being said I think charges are more important than blocks, but you shouldn't undervalue blocks because of that. However dont even get me started on flopping...
My fantasy team is doing just fine with him at C/PF. :grin: R A S B Pts Total 1/29 @SA 7 1 3 0 10 18 1/27 @Dal 8 1 2 0 16 23 1/26 LAC 11 2 3 2 5 17 1/24 @Min 8 7 1 1 9 23 1/22 Orl 7 4 1 1 10 19 1/21 @Mem7 4 0 1 10 16 1/19 NY 12 4 3 2 8 26 1/17 Mil 7 4 0 2 6 16 1/15 @Atl 8 2 2 1 12 21 1/14 Nor 7 2 1 0 9 13
Not as long as both he and Battier play major minutes together. We've seen this PF/SF combination for years under 2 good coaches with multiple "stars" (ie. Yao, Grady, Artest). The results were a bit underwhelming. The Rockets need more 2-way players. And won't advance until they figure it out.
Pretty sure if kept civil and the space was sufficient that every woman in Houston would be knocking at Chuck's door asking him if he would be generous enough to lay with them and give them a child. And Chuck would oblige because thats the type of man Chuck Hayes is.
Hayes is easily my favorite player on the current roster. That said , he's a Forward who's been forced to play Center for the past two seasons because of the orginizations inability to fill the position adequately. The biggest problem defensively for this team is that he isnt coupled with a player who compliments his defensive ability by grabbing the rebounds , blocking shots and generally playing above the rim. Hayes is Glen Davis without KG.
+1. a 6'6 starting center that plays hardly any offense, not a shot blocker, mediocre rebounder and can't protect the paint is the team's MVP.
After seeing the numbers, it’s obvious to me that the Rockets need to trade for Chuck Hayes if they want to contend.
Well, if we had a good two-way center, the Hayes/Battier combo would do just fine. We need a better primary scorer than Scola and a better defender than Scola. Hayes/Granger or Hayes/Iguodala or Hayes/Wallace or Hayes/Melo (obvious) would be better than Scola/Battier. And honestly, we never saw the Hayes/Battier combo for any length of time playing alongside two superstars or even two star type players. One or both of Yao/Tracy was always hurt. One reason why I'm interested in a move for Chris Kaman. Jared and Hill for Kaman. Let Kaman play alongside Hayes and move Scola and change for a major upgrade at SF or PG.
Guilty of a little selective perception are we? * McGrady and Yao both played 280 playoff minutes vs the Jazz in 2007. They went down 4-3 with HCA. Battier and Hayes both stunk... http://www.82games.com/0607/playoffs/0607HOU.HTM Before the last fan had left the TC after Game 7, I posted this. "If any 2 of 3 of Hayes, Battier and Alston are starting, they are a 1st Round exit". It was true then and it's truer now. Kaman-strayman, Granger-stranger. I don't think Olajuwon in his prime could have carried that much dead weight out of the first round.
I dont think Hayes and Battier are dynamic enough to co-exist as starters. They are far too much the same player at different positions and do not offer enough offensively. I do believe that they can co-exist on the same roster and be successful pending they are not forced to see significant time on the court together. As good as they are at what they do , they do not compliment one another as both lack explosiveness on either end of the court.
Shane and Chuck were not the problem. Both of those guys played very well that series. The problem was Rafer.....and Juwan. Utah knew our weakest link and they funneled the ball to Rafer, who shot a ton of three pointers................and missed. Replace Rafer with the Brooks of last season on that 2007 team and we walk away from the Jazz in that series. The bottom line was Van Gundy kept going to Rafer as the third option. He never adjusted that series or that season because they won 50+ games. But you could see the series loss coming when Rafer was taking and missing so many shots. We needed a better third option. Once again, Hayes and Battier were not the problem.
Battier was supposed be the 3rd star per CD,who would propel us deep into the playoffs. I'm paraphrasing CD's words,from the Rockets website. He played well in some games,but the Jazz weren't particularly troubled by him. They knew all they had to do was take Yao or T-Mac out. Rafer was junk but Shane came up short when needed,because he was required on both ends. Chuck was only a defensive player. You are right about Juwan being a failure though.
Hayes plays very well offensively within the system and within himself but he is far from good enough offensively to share the court with Battier. Both leave a lot to be desired on that end of the court and when they share the court it allows teams to double off of them clamping down on the other three players. Both are good players , they just dont compliment each other on the offensive end.
IIRC, Rockets were leading by double figures in the final 5 minutes of game 7 in that series. And they blew it, not because they couldn't score, but because they couldn't get defensive stops. Like you said, the Rockets got horrendous offensive performances from a number of players. Not saying Rafer-Battier-Chuck is championship material, but was it possible to get out of the first round with them starting? Sure.
Chucky has indeed been very impressive this season. You gotta love the guy... And that doesn't really mean the Rockets season has been bad. Yeah, we've underperformed, but that's not because Chuck is an important player. Has more to do with lack of a true low post/defensive presence and inability to close games. Yeah, I guess if we had those things, Chuck might move down the list of priorities a bit, but even when we were a contender, Chuck was an important piece, and he's better than ever this year.
