Whether Epiphany is a common English word in the general population is questionable at best, none the less I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Implying that you some how have greater intelligence than some one else for knowing the meaning of this (very common) word shows great ignorance in your part. I'm sure that there are a great many non-medical, non-scientifc words that you do not know the meaning of,having said that would you consider yourself dumb? Getting back to the thread: It's only one game but Hayes looked very promising for us last night, I just hope he continues to impress! .............GO ROCKETS!............
his offense is still not there yet.... in fact, worse this season.... but I won't say that a person averaging 20 mins with 6.2 RPG and 2.46BPG is call stinking up on the court.....
I saw a bit of Chuck Hayes in pre-season or open-practice. He had great energy and a nose for the ball. He also had a funky hitch in his jump shot, so he probably won't score like Juwan from outside. I liked him better than Lonny Baxter. As for Eddie Griffin, all you had to do was watch him play. He didn't care. He always conceded the low-post position, never made his man fight for it. He'd just wait around and go for the block. He couldn't dribble or drive. He had no post moves. He fell in love with the 3. And I see he is shooting 36% from the field (18% from 3 point land) this season. AS A POWER FORWARD.
Looks like Hayes can be a cross between a Malik Rose and a Reggie Evans. Espn player profile claims he runs the 40 yard dash in 4.8 seconds, that is very impressive for someone his size.
Is Hayes quick enough to play SF full-time? David Lee of the Knicks was supposed to play PF, but Larry Brown's got him playing SF almost exclusively. And he's rebounding like a beast at that position. Hopefully, Hayes can be a version of Ryan Bowen that actually puts numbers on the board.
i like this idea. make him tmac's reliever instead of bowen. he may not have the same hustle and extra possession nose as bowen, but i think hell do a much better job.
Hayes has nowhere near the lateral speed to play SF, especially on defense, which we know matters more than anything else to JVG. I like Hayes a lot, good energy, rebounds well, and looked pretty smart out there with his plays. That block on Hinrich with the immediate timeout was the play of the game in my book. TMac is going to be TMac, but it's nice to see someone else make big plays along with him.
I want Hayes to take all of Ryan Bowen's minutes. Hayes appears quick enough to guard most small forwards. There is no need to see Bowen anymore unless it is garbage time.
At this point, if we do not figure in the Artest discussion, I'd trade Stromile for Reggie Evans straight up. I'm beginning to be convinced that Stro will never be consistent enough or nearly aggressive enough. Evans leaves it all on the floor every night and would thrive under Van Gundy because of his banging style of play. Hayes is a smaller version of him.
I didn't mean to imply that I was smarter than anyone. I just meant to refute tiger0330's assumption that anyone who uses the word ephiphany is trying to 'show up' this BBS. Like you're supposed to expect dumb people on a 'basketball BBS' or something. Anyway, I didn't mean to derail this thread. So I will say that I have my fingers crossed but don't hope for too much at this point from Hayes. Nothing will matter at this point if our two studs don't come back and stay healthy.
chandler only played 6 minutes because of an injury but haye's numbers are good. if he can backup this performance then it's time for baxter to say goodbye. baxter's only play 7 games at 10 mins or over. however the numbers in those games aren't bad. travis diener is behind francis, nelson, and dooling over at the magic. this guy is bob sura light. perhaps baxter for diener? it could be one of those situations where a team trades a player to give him an opportunity. rafer, diener, moochie, (sura) wesley, head, (barry), (anderson) tracy, rybo jho, (swift), hayes (yao), deke
How about Stromile for Evans and Flip Murray? Apparently Evans is being shopped but is tough to move because he only makes 1.1M on his 1 year deal since his play outweights his contract. I havent totally given up on Stromile, but seeing the production of someone like Hayes being physical and getting those extra shots and those extra shots turning into game changing plays.....makes me really wish our PF would BE more physical inside. I love Stomile's athleticism, but that cant totally make up for not wanting to get physical and do dirty work.
I'm totally cut ties with SWift. I'd rather see a couple of hard workers like Hayes and Baxter get those backup mins instead and I'm glad they are getting a chance finally. Those 2 guys along with Mutombo and Howard should keep us in the rebounding game and give us a chance to beat detriot if Tmac,Howard and WEsley can score. I got a good feeling and I think we win today. Go Rockets!!!
It is only one game, but Scott Skiles' comments are interesting. From the Chronicle: Hayes praise Rockets forward Chuck Hayes, just three days into his NBA career, looked like an All-Star on Friday, Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. That might have come as a surprise to the Bulls or even most Rockets. Juwan Howard, however, said he's seen enough to believe Hayes could play as he did. Hayes had 12 points and 13 rebounds in his second game. "That was a great performance, but with his rebounding ability it doesn't surprise me," Howard said. "I noticed he has a great tenacity to get the basketball in training camp. I knew he had a high basketball IQ." Hayes was thrilled but indicated he was not satisfied. He cited missing a late coverage assignment and allowing an uncontested dunk. "I'm just soaking up this moment right now, just reflecting on what happened, and playing the game over in my head, thinking about what I could have done better defensively," Hayes said. "When coach ( Jeff) Van Gundy brought me in, he told me my main job is to defend and rebound. That's my mindset." Link: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/3603605.html
after last year's exit from the playoffs, everyone cited a need for us to get younger and more athletic. wesley, moochie, DA, and barry will all either be traded or will simply come off the books after this year. and we also drafted LH. but i also think the silver lining to all of these injuries is that we brought in some youth and HAD to give them considerable playing time experience. barring any injuries this year, van gundy woulda stuck to his guns and relied strictly on the veterans, giving luther MAYBE some spot minutes, although i'd like to give van gundy the benefit of the doubt. regardless, there would've been this loooong-drawn-out transition/process by which we slowly let go of old-timers and brought in youngbloodz, only to sit them on the bench for a considerable amount of time. these injuries forced Gumby's hand, and now all of these youngsters are getting incredible on-the-job training, being thrown into the fire. i sincerely doubt that we don't keep luther, rubber chucky, and lucas to replace barry, DA, and wesley. at least, i HOPE we keep them... hmm.. PG :: Rafer, Lucas SG :: LH, Sura SF :: TMac, Chucky, Bowen PF :: Howard, Baxter, Stro C :: Yao, Mt. Deke i'm hoping that Wesley, Stromile, Moochie, DA, Bowen, and V-Span materialize into Ron Artest or Harrington or some powerhouse PF somehow. sura hopefully comes back, and JBarry gets to ride off into the sunset peacefully.
I wouldn't give up on Stro yet. He should be tried for the rest of the year unless the Pacers and the Hawks agree on a 3 way with Harrington going to Indiana,Artest to Houston and Stro to the Hawks which seems quite unlikely to me. I wouldn't do a straight up trade for Harrington and Stro because Al is a UFA next year.
I doubt that Luther, and I really like this kid, would start ahead of Sura; however, I will be shocked if Sura even returns. I am expecting a retirement. Howard has been a surprise, but the Rockets still (several years now) need an aggressive, very physical PF, I don't know where Stro fits in, seems like a headcase. Mutombo is gone after next year I believe. Surely Wesley, Moochie, and Barry won't be here next year. I don't want to see Bowen again, but he is probably back. I hope Hayes is a keeper. Still need more talent. Maybe the Greek guy will be signed. One more mystery player.
