ROCKETS ADDICTS

I've really laid the Chuck on thick lately, but I can't resist:

This is from Jason Friedman's article and interview with Sam Hinkie, Houston Rockets Vice President of Basketball Operations

"Chuck Hayes, to me, falls into that category as a 6’ 5’’ big who doesn’t block many shots or play above the rim, but uses his lateral quickness in a way to be a tremendous help defender. He’s already an excellent individual one-on-one defender, but he’s also proven to be a tremendous help defender for his teammates in that, when you get beat on pick-and-rolls – and everyone does – and when you get beat off the dribble by these great players in our game with tremendous speed – and everyone does – to have a guy who can physically get there to defend or take a charge is huge."

One more note on the Mavericks game. The big 3 that Artest knocks down at the top of the key to close out the game (3 minutes left in the game, puts the lead over 10) - the execution of the stagger screen was flawless. And guess who had to make the critical second pick? Chuck Hayes. Josh Howard went under the first screen thinking he could cut back to close out on Artest's shot, but then Chuck finds the right position to send Howard deeper inside so that Artest had, as Fratello would say, "plenty of space." Watch it on ClutchFans at like 7:30 in the clip.