Have any of you guys noticed it? Seriously, what's happened to Chuck Hayes. This isn't even one of "those" threads after a loss. I'm just wondering what's happened to Chuck Hayes? You barely see him anymore. I'm not even talking about his stats (which also have dropped off), the guy's just not having as big an impact anymore. You don't see him getting offensive boards he has no business getting or hustling and diving on the floor for balls as much anymore. Man, it's so depressing, I love that guy too! Is it because he can't catch a break from the whistles? Everytime the other team misses a shot and he's playing you hear the whistle and it's a foul on Chuck Hayes. Loose ball foul, away from the play, in the act of shooting, something! I guess i'm kind of glad those fouls aren't going to Juwan or Mutumbo or McGrady but I feel so bad for Chuck man. He just can't catch a damn break. He always looks so sad too...is he really that bad of a fouler or do the refs just not want to give him a break...? I mean he was always a foul machine but it was never this bad. Is it because of a decrease in his minutes/role since Yao's been out? Ever since Yao's been out, we've needed Juwan Howard in the game more than Chuck because of his offense. Hayes doesn't provide much of that. When he comes in, he's either too small to defend his man, not good enough to defend him, or doesn't have enough offense to make them pay on the other end for doubling McGrady. All he's really doing now is spelling some minutes for Juwan/Mutumbo. I don't mean he's nonexistant, like Novak or V-Span sitting at the end of the bench, but his impact on the games just seemed to have sort of faded away. Not a trade thread, or bash thread, i'm just wondering. IT'S OK HAYES. WE GOT YO BACK. Hopefully he'll come around when Yao returns.
I just said this a minute ago in another thread that I believe he plays his best with Yao in the lineup. He knows where he's suppose to be and how to run his opponent away from Yao to keep him from double teaming. When Yao gets back...Chuck will be back too. MARK MY WORDS!
chuck is basically a back-up center right now because he can't be in the game with deke. he's playing out of position against even bigger opponents than he's used to. he still makes some good plays but with deke playing out of his mind, it's hard to find a spot for two guys with basically zero offense. when yao comes back he'll be right back as a starter and i expect we'll see more of what we did earlier in the year.
It's all about rotation. Yao is out, and we need fire power, so we have to have J.Ho on the court. That leaves Chuck as a backup-center, he plays after Mutombo. Not a very good situation for Chuck, but that's the most logical rotation for the team.
once Yao is back and provides a ton of offense from the center position, I expect Chuck to be back as our starting PF.
You all got to be kidding me! Juwans stock is up baby and i don't really think chuck will be getting a lot of playing time!
Stock or not, Hayes just makes the team click better with Yao, than if you play Juwan next to Yao. When Yao is out, we have no offense on the low-block. Juwan provides at least some of that, even if he has to stall the entire offense to do so. Deke is the backup center, but he has no offensive game. So if you put Hayes and Deke as the bigs close to the basket, you're basically screwed cause on offense, you'd be playing 3 on 5. When Yao's back, Yao by himself takes up an entire block to operate. Hayes is valuable as a starter then because he crashes the glass from the weakside and is able to get easy baskets off tip-ins and cuts when his defender leaves to double Yao. Whereas if you put Juwan next to Yao, you're limiting Juwan's effectiveness because he can't post up on the strong-side and go to work, and he's only limited to hanging around looking for open midrange jumpers. It's all about team dynamics really.
Man, it's so tough for the guy b/c of the ticky tack fouls he gets called on him. I seriously try to look at it objectively, and it find myself saying, "dang...those refs really like to pick on Hayes."
You can't play Chuck with Deke because you limit your offense to 3 other players. Chuck works well when Yao is out there because Yao creates looks for him plus you have a in the paint scoring presence in Yao. Until Yao comes back, you're going to see way less Chuck. But I wouldn't worry about it, Chuck will get playing time when Yao's back and when it counts in the playoffs.
Chuck just needs to improve and expand his game to stay in the league. He is going by with pure hustle, and that's just not enough especially with his size disadvantage and the fact that hustling becomes less effective as your body deteriorates. What I think should be in his agenda for the summer is to develop a mid-range jump game and better handles, offensively, and just needs to learn how to play smarter on defense. Battier should be able to teach him a thing or two about the subtle things you can do to distract your opponent w/o fouling. If he doesn't improve, I really can't see him staying in the league too long as he ages.
You said it. I hope Yao's return is the magical cure for the dumb Chuck that we have right now, but I doubt it. When I saw Josh Howard go over Chuck's back and take a rebound, that shows how disadvantaged a player that he is. If he doesn't get it together before the end of the season, he won't be in the NBA next year. The Rockets are his only hope because no other team in their right mind would want him. #1 on his agenda should be to stop the unnecessary fouls that don't even impact the offensive player. He must learn to make fouls count. But the fact of the matter is players that don't belong in the NBA foul ridiculously just like Chuck to cover up their deficiencies. He also needs to finish layups better. But it's hard when you are short and cannot jump. His missed layups aren't funny anymore.
I wonder sometimes wonder why he can't dunk. I understand its difficult to elevate when you got to make multiple moves, but all he has to do is get under the basket for a wide open shot. At 6'6, i would expect a little more athleticism. If he doesn't improve, I expect us to replace him with someone from the coming draft.
He is doing better with the layup recently. But his free show is still terrible. Also, the way Juwan Howard is playing, I am not sure Chuck will automatically gets his starting job back even after Yao comes back.
He can dunk, he has dunked, but he doesn't like to dunk in a game.. at least that's what I figure. I wouldn't mind seeing him do a power dunk just once though like Luther did. I don't know if he will get his starting spot back when Yao comes back, mainly because Juwan has really earned the starting spot the way that he has stepped up. There will be a lot of transitions to go back to when the big guy returns, but until then Chuck will do the best he can as back up center. He also does his best when he can move around on the court and set multiple screens for his teammates... as center he doesn't get to do that as much.
