I love chuck Hayes. but if he is the MVP of the team, this team is going nowhere. having said that I really don't want the rockets trade him
As long as they play within the system, they don't need be great offensive players. We are a high-powered offense. Thats the least of our worries.
A "yes" to the Rockets getting out of the 1st round with both Hayes and Battier starting has what basis? Seriously...other than some complex logarithmic regression complete with graphs...what would be the basis of this statement? And no...POR in 2009 doesn't count. Scola started and Hayes was a non-factor. And the 2009 2nd Round against the Lakers proves nothing. Hayes started Games 4 thru 7. The teams split home wins and the Lakers never looked threatened. Had the "we took the Lakers to 7 Games" been an accurate talent assessment, we wouldn't be seeing the Lottery trends we have seen since. Utah in 2007 when they both started under the defensive genius of JVG... The Rockets were not "leading by double digits in the final 5 minutes of game 7". Here are the facts. The score was 75-69 Utah at the start of Q4. The game was tied at 80 at the 8:06 mark. Yao Ming hit 4 FT's and Boozer a layup until 6:54. At that point, Hayes replaced Yao. From 6:54 until 5:07, the largest lead the Rockets had was 88-83. There was a timeout at 5:07 with the score tied at 88. Coming out of the timeout, Hayes was guarding Boozer and fouled him for a 3 point play at 4:14. Jazz were up 91-88 when Yao re-entered for Howard. The Rockets largest lead was 5 and the Rockets NEVER lead after the 4:26 mark. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playbyplay?gameId=270505010&period=4 We are all entitled to our opinions. Mine is that if someone cloned Hakeem Olajuwon, the Rockets couldn't get out of the 1st Round with Hayes at PF and Battier at SF. Not earlier when Hayes was a 48/% FT shooting offensive liability and not now when Battier is well past his prime. The Yao Ming era is over and it's time to clean house. NO exceptions. .
If Morey was smart, he would trade Chuck Hayes right now, because unless Chuck has the worst agent in the NBA, he is not coming back to Houston. From day one they have preached how much they like Chuck, all the while going behind his back trying to find somebody to replace him. It started with Morey taking over full GM reigns in 2007 after The Rockets get edged out by UTAH in 7 games where Chuck contained Okur and Juwon Howard can't chase down a loose ball. First, he comes out and says, "We would love Chuck Hayes to come back and be our backup Power Forward." This should have been the first sign for Chuck's agent to get the hell out of Dodge. Then, he trades for Luis Scola. Now he is the backup and they go and draft Carl Landry. Now you have Pattrick Patterson. Chuck should know by now that he will never get the respect that he deserves from the fans in Houston or the organization. The fans will never respect his game because this franchise won't win. No matter how good he is at doing all the little things, this team is at least 4 years away from contending. If he is playing for San Antonio, LA, Boston, or Chicago, there would be little doubt that he makes the ALL DEFENSIVE TEAM. In Houston, he won't even get a vote. So, I propose this trade... Chuck Hayes, Shane Battier, and Aaron Brooks for Andrew Bynum. It makes sense for both teams. Houston will never find a better center than Bynum on the free agent market. The Lakers clearly need a change and this saves them loads of cash next season. They would re-sign Hayes for around 4-5 Million and Battier for about the same. If Brooks pans out, he mentors under Derek Fisher until it's time to take over the starting job, otherwise, they let him walk and save the 5-6 Million his agent will be asking for. For The Lakers, it makes sense because of who they will wind up playing in The Finals and Western Conference Finals. San Antonio, Miami, Boston, where Chuck will be called upon to check Duncan, Bosh, Garnett and Battier/Artest gives you 12 fouls and who knows how many All Defensive Teams to slow down Pierce, Allen, Lebron, Wade.
Drawing the game winning charge on Brandon Roy was a "non-factor...?" And The Rockets beat Utah if Juwon Howard can chase down that loose rebound.
First, let us compare the two statements: You are saying: "The Rockets COULD NOT win a playoff series with two of Rafer/Shane/Chuck starting." I am saying: "The Rockets COULD HAVE won a playoff series with two of Rafer/Shane/Chuck starting." What is the basis for your statement? One playoff series, in which it went to a closely contested game 7 and we got horrible performances from multiple players not named Rafer/Shane/Chuck, and moreover had pretty shallow depth that year. That's ALL you're going off of, because the following year we didn't even have Yao. That's not enough for any person to claim the Rockets weren't capable of winning a playoff series with those 3, let alone 2 out of the 3. If Yao didn't go down with injury the following year, could they have beaten the Jazz? I say "sure" (not "yes, they would have" but "sure, they could have"). Or maybe they win more games, get a higher seed, and get out of the first round facing an easier matchup. There's lot of ways it could have went down. I recalled incorrectly. Thanks for correcting. Still, the Rockets lost because of an inability to get defensive stops, after leading by 5 with 6 minutes to go in game 7, without any help offensively from anyone other than Yao and McGrady. I don't know how you could conclude that winning a playoff series with Shane&Chuck starting isn't possible just off that.
That is a VERY BOLD opinion. We lost by 4 points in game 7 and you don't think a cloned Hakeem in place of Yao Ming could have won the series? Really? I don't know if that's an insult to Hayes and Battier or to Hakeem.
The Rockets do indeed need a long athletic defensive minded center to pair him alongside Hayes. Trading Hayes would not get us anyone that would make as big of impact as Hayes. Do remember, not many GMs in the league truly appreciate Hayes as much as Houston because we watch him nightly. By trading him, we're not going to get much in return. So its better to keep him and use him for defensive purposes than trading him and not get much in return.
