Anyone who can make his game work with Yao's like this will have a nice career as long as Yao is healthy. It's like the way dogs worked well with humans. They're still around and flourishing after all these thousands of years because they fit with a winner.
when there are 4 shooters out on the perimeter, and only one man such as yao to rebound, rebounds are going to be hard to come by. no team is going to shoot 50% from the arc, one and done is not fun to watch. on other teams where there is an incredible rebounder and 4 other great shooters, it might work, but yao gets boxed out in the box consistently. great thoughts, especially on how hayes actually helps yao to get rebounds!
Actually, I see no reason why McGrady wouldn't guard either Kobe or Odom. He is our best perimeter defender, and he isn't exactly our primary scoring option so I don't think we lose much by giving him a tougher defensive assignment. The problem is that if Odom is playing PF and Bynum is at center, Chuck will have to defend Odom on the perimeter...but with good team defense it shouldn't be so much of a liability.
The fact Hayes can make teams pay for leaving him alone is the key for him on offense. If he keeps that up and stays out of foul trouble, he deserves every minute he gets out there. Too bad for Snyder and Bonzi (when he gets into shape). I said a couple of years ago Horace Grant would be a great PF next to Yao, and Haslem is a "poor man's" Grant. If Hayes ever develops a soft 15 footer like Grant and Haslem, watch out. To answer the question: Against the Lakers, I think you put Hayes on Luke Walton, Shane on Kobe and Tracy on Odom. Against Garnett, I think it's obvious we try Shane first and go with a small lineup. However, giving Chuck a shot doesn't seem out of the question. A huge concern with Garnett is keeping him off the boards, which Chuck does well. But I doubt he can successfully guard him on defense.
Hayes guarding Odom is not a problem because he will have help - the best Odom defender is Kobe. With Kobe, Odom is a 14 ppg scorer. Garnett likes to shoot midrange J's and he is not quicker than Hayes. As has been posted, right now I am not concerned about Hayes defending anyone...unless he gets into foul trouble. He seems to be getting a bit better with that regard, though.
I don't think we need to worry about KG or Odom. We have Mike James and Kobe Bryant to do it for us. +/- numbers for those guys with each other are horrible. According to Lenovo: Odom and Bryant is -1. KG and James is +8. Compare that with our two team combo, Hayes and Alston +71, Hayes and McGrady +61, Rafer and Yao +61, Hayes and Yao +58. Boy am I glad we missed out on James.
Boy, that's the truth. Odom was going off before Kobe came back and wala, now he's back to garbage. mogrod, I agree with you. Post up players don't bother me. To me, Chuck has proven he can more than hold his own, even if they have 4 to 6 inches on him. He is very strong and because of his short legs his center of gravity is extremely low. I'm more worried about the fast, long, gazzelle type players like Garnett and Odom. That is where I see Hayes lower body being a detriment to him. He cannot stride with those guys. Hey, if Garnett and Odom want to tangle with him in the post, I think they are playing into our hands. I'm just saying if I was the opposing coach, I would be looking to exploit his lack of height and length. And to me, the best way to do it would be to isolate him on the perimeter with a much taller, multi talented player that can shoot the 3 and finish off the dribble drive. And I just don't see JVG going with McGrady on Odom. I thought the idea of bringing in Battier was to take away defensive pressure from McGrady. And the whole idea of having Hayes on the floor is to bring defense and rebounding. Why would you have Hayes defend Luke Walton and make McGrady work on Odom? If we are going to do that, then would it not make more sense to get in a shooter like Novak/Padgett to guard Walton and help us spread the floor on the other end??? Or at the very least, bring in Snyder to chase and body up on Kobe and let Shane go after Odom with McGrady working on Walton and helping out the others defensively. Now, I am convinced that McGrady's length gives Kobe problem defensively. But I think JVG likes to reserve that for clutch time and then throw McGrady on Kobe unexpectantly and force Kobe into a contested jumper. Garnett looks like a similar scenario. They're playing him and Blount and the 4/5 along with a defensive player at the 3, Davis at the 2, and MJ. Boy, it's going to be interesting to see how we match up with them and if JVG stays with starting Chuck then. That just looks like a total physical talent mismatch, Garnett vs. Hayes, if Garnett played it smart and approached the defense from outside in off the dribble. Like I say, if I was coaching against the Rockets, I would be looking for ways to isolate Hayes defensively on the perimeter. That's what I would like to see some teams do against us and see how Hayes handles it. To me, if he handles that one on one type pressure against big tall offensively talented players, then I say give him a multiyear contract and let him have his minutes and not look back. He hasn't totally proven himself to me yet. But I sure like the way he plays the game.
I think we need to put Shane on Kobe. He's the only player with a real chance to impede him some. As has been pointed out, Odom turns into a pumpkin when Kobe's on the court, which is why I'd put Tracy on him. Of the three Laker's swingmen, the only one Chuck could possibly hang with is Walton. I thought you were asking how we would match up with them if Chuck was in the lineup. If you take him out and put Snyder in, either Shane or Snyder could guard Kobe until their fouls piled up and Tracy could guard Walton instead of Odom. What I'm looking forward to is seeing how the Lakers guard Yao. You better believe PJ will have a definite strategy for stopping Yao unlike the careless Zeke. Then I want to see how we counteract it.
that is like asking for shaq to shoot ft's payton to hit a 3 point shot. hayes and everyone else can be better, he's doing fine now, his style of play is fits really well, give yao the 15 footers
Why do that? Just send him out to the 3 point line and let him learn to drill 3s. However, if you have seen his FT stroke, I don't know how he's going to be able to do it. For a guy that is so fundamentally sound, his shooting stroke is flat abysmal, with a big old jerk right in the middle of it. Have no idea how he even makes it. He just seems to muscle bound up to get a good stroke going.
Did a rewatch and also isolated on Chuck Hayes. To reiterate on what is true; On defense, he's very active in jumping back and forth from double teaming and back to his own guy, always challenging their shots. He boxed out his guy every time and either get the rebound or allow another Rocket to get it.
So true, Hayes shot reminds me of Charles Barkleys golf swing, Barkley will never be a good golfer and Hayes will never be good jump shooter. Most I want from Hayes is for him to make 70%+ of his FTs and he does seem improved this year. Jopatmc, do you think Yao can consistently clean up on the boards with CH playing, Yao had a great game RB wise against the Knicks but his first five games was about par for him.
I think Hayes' style of play helps Yao get an extra 2-3 boards a game. Hayes just takes his man clear out of the play, and that leaves space, which is what Yao needs to be effective. He's looked super out there so far. Can he sustain it against Wallace boys, Dwight Howard and the like? Hey, I can't wait to find out. I've been talking about his defense and being able to defend offensive players from the perimeter but I'm also going to be watching him against those big rebounder types. If I was Van Gundy, I would try letting him check those guys defensively to see if he can handle them and then body them out of the paint when the shot goes up.
