Everyone struggles defending a player of Dirk's caliber. Chuck's no worse than your average PF at defending jump shooters. He's certainly not any worse than Scola/Miller/Hill.
problem is, his performance on griffin and also stat, esp if new york does become a stat, carmelo + paul or someone team that someone might look at ufa chuck hayes and think "well this guy can shut down stoudemire, we don't really need offense although he's a decent free throw shooter these days, i wonder if he could be useful to us in a series..."
dirk's a special case, but he struggles against tall with a high release and finesse, i was simply using dirk as an example of players who rely more on a mid range game than getting their ass to the bucket.
I think he's a better defensive option on such players than the majority of PF/C in the league, so I wouldn't use the word "struggles". IMO, the further away from the basket a player is, the less relevant height becomes.
24 points on 20 shots, you can live with that. An extra point came on a rare Griffin 3 pointer. Though even if there were a lot of missed shots, 18 rebounds is impressive.
off topic: what is Hayes contract situation do we have a team option on him? or he is free agent next year? i wish morey would not let him go he been a Fixture guy in our bench would love to see him for years to come..
Watching Griffin isolated on Hayes was excellent. Total domination. Especially fun to watch because you can see Griffin thinks he can take Hayes. Wrong, wrong and wrong. and wrong again.
He's an unrestricted free agent, I believe. Honestly, I would be surprised if Daryl doesn't pick him up for cheap. He and Yao have the same agent, so they will be in constant conversation this off-season I would imagine.
I never understand people saying we should salary dump Chuck Hayes or not resign him. Having the capability to totally shut down almost every post player in the NBA is worth a roster slot and a few million per year.
Most folks in the NBA can't guard Dirk because he shoots the ball at 7'2'' if I remember correctly. Not many people will be able to block that shot. Anywho, Hayes is a special defender. He has shown this time and time again.
