All he had to do is shoot ft's and 15ft jumpers all summer. When ur under sized like that, u have to work on ur game. Its the reason haslem is in the league and being successful. Its his fault. Sometimes I wonder what these marginal guys think about in the summer. Especially when a team is looking to upgrade ur spot.
Nearly as important (because it keeps him on the floor) is the improvement in not getting the rookie foul calls. He's starting to get the respect of the officials and has made great strides there. What Scola needs to get consistent at is finishing. The guy is terrific at it, but needs to use a little more control. He'll make an amazing play around the basket and then blow an easy bucket. I think he'll improve there like he's improved in the other aspects of his game. I'd say the same thing about his 15 foot jumper, but he hasn't taken enough to deserve criticism for the misses he's had. They really need to design more plays for him. It's frequently hard to remember Luis is a rookie. I still can't believe we stole him from SA.
He will eventually be a throw-in player on a future trade deal............the value of which goes up if the receiving team sucks defensively or is young and also sucks.......
I watched the games. The point is if Chuck was an elite defender than they would have put him on Boozer. That's what you do with elite defenders...stick them on folks who play their position. Someone commented that we need Hayes to stop Boozer, Duncan, etc. We played Boozer last year and did not use him on Boozer even though he was killing us....didn't even try. Hayes is not an "elite" defender.
You think if we had a true "elite defender" (e.g. Kevin Garnett or Rasheed Wallace) that JVG would have put them on Boozer and had Yao guard on the 3-point line? I highly doubt it.
You don't know what you're talking about. We lost the series against Utah because Van Gundy wouldn't adjust and he kept Yao on Boozer, whom Yao couldn't stop and he kept a shorter Hayes on a 7 foot face up shooter, whom Hayes couldn't stop. Boozer abused Yao every game during the playoffs and regular season. Hayes has been the only effective defender against Boozer for the last two years. Go back and watch the videos. Hayes is an elite defender in this league. He consistently goes against the top PFs and their efficiency is consistenly lower playing against him than it is the rest of the league. Hayes worst problem is with the tall lanky PFs who face up to the basket and can drill the jumper, simply because of his size. But he is a ferocious post up defender and a great help defender. He's one of the top 5 defensive power forwards in the NBA.
Okur, who Hayes guarded in the series, started out 8 for 41 or something the first 5 games... Okur had maybe 1 good playoff game, the last one of course. Maybe Hayes is not "elite" in defending or Okur was just off. Those numbers do indicate something good was happening on D. It was the correct decision having Yao in his natural position down low on Boozer. Cuz Yao was NOT holding Okur down on the perimeter.
If you ask Yao to guard the perimeter, you're essentially at the other team's mercy because he can not get out to shooters. If Yao is guarding Boozer closer to the basket it's a tough matchup, but at least he has more control over the situation. I think most coaches, but particularly JVG, value that level of control in their defense.
Agreed. It doesnt matter the player, Yao's not going (or shouldnt go) to the perimeter on anybody. Cuz i'm bored, Okur's shooting in the series: Gm 1: 2 - 14 Gm 2: 2 - 9 Gm 3: 2 - 12 Gm 4: 7 - 13 Gm 5: 3 - 7 Gm 6: 5 - 11 Gm 7: 7 - 13 = .3544 from the field Hayes made him from All Star to Rafer from the field. I'd say thats a good job.
Hayes IS ONE OF THE ELITE DEFENDERS in the league. You're talking about somebody who has 0 offensive skills but started over Juwan Howard. Think for a moment. Hayes' offense skillset is probably the worst in the NBA. For him to be in the starting lineup last year and the first half of this year, he has to bring something elite to the table for him to stay in the NBA. Get it?
Not saying that Hayes is not a great defender. But to use his PT over Juwan doesn't prove anything. JVG values defense much more than offense. If JVG was our coach this year, I doubt that Landry would have been playing in front of Hayes in the rotation like what is happening now. Heck, I doubt that Scola would have been starting right now.
That's why teams were clamouring for him in the off season, right? Please, Hayes was the starting PF on the Rockets because we were absolutely terrible at that position. Remember, Ryan Bowen started at PF for a while for us....
Well you're going to have to ask Daryl Morey that b/c he himself used the word "ELITE" when describing Hayes' defense. But you're right the only reason he was starting b/c no one else was there. That said, we should still keep. He gives the top PFs in the league fits. Too bad he can't do it on the offensive end too.
Can you point to some examples of teams clamoring for role players who were restricted free agents? Not just Morey. Jonathan Feigen has reported that scouts he's spoken with feel the same way about Chuck.
Ask Sideshow Bob.. I mean Andy Varejao about being a restricted free agent. I am sure he could tell you how much people were clamoring for him as well. The question was is he done. The answer is no.
To address multiple posts: Yes, if we had KG or Duncan or Wallace (i.e. elite defenders at the PF position), JVG would have used them more on Boozer, especially since he was killing us that series. This is my opinion. You put elite defenders on guys that are killing you, period (assuming they play the same roles...i.e. you don't put a PF on a SG). Go back and watch the games again. Okur had wide open shots all series, especially threes. The difference is he was missing them early on, and making them in later games. Plenty of articles talking about how the Jazz shooters (especially him and AK) were off and they finally started winning when they started hitting shots. Hayes was not shutting Okur down. Hayes is not an elite defender, or even an elite defender at his position. Duncan, KG, R.Wallace, McDyess, Kurt Thomas (really a PF but Suns were playing him at C), K-Mart (when healthy), Haslem, Brand are all better defensively than him. Elite defenders make all-nba teams. Other teams try to acquire elite defenders even if they are restricted free agents (you don't think some team would contact Bowen if we were restricted..at least attempt to get him...not one team). Yes, Hayes is the best defensive PF that we have...but that isn't saying much. Is Rafer an elite guard now?
When I started this thread I didn't mean was he done as a Rocket...just as far as his role...from starter to sub or 3rd PF in the rotation.
I'm in agreeance with your take on Hayes and Okur. Okur expended so much energy guarding Yao that he didn't have any legs. Hayes benefited from that. Sloan recognized what the matchup with Yao was doing to Okur and changed it up in game 7 and had Boozer guard Yao to start the game. Which is why I don't understand why JVG didn't mix it up and use Yao on Okur in game 3. Okur was missing wide open shots ... We could have been 3-0. Hayes is a good defender and would have affected Boozer since he is mobile enough to stay in front of him. We've seen him affect Boozer. I haven't seen him do anything against Okur though in the post or the perimeter that would make me say he can guard him. I still remember game 6 where Okur posted him up for the first time in the series and had no difficulty scoring.
