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Tuesday February 24, 2009 2:09 PM

Don't Forget About Chuck

Rugged Rockets' forward still key to team's success

Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer

Houston - It’s easy to overlook a player who compiles numbers like 1 point and 3.4 rebounds per game; especially when that player is a power forward whose height is generously listed at 6’6” on the team roster. Suffice to say, the traditional box score does Chuck Hayes no favors.

But to focus on numbers is to miss the boat on Hayes entirely; or, more to the point, to focus on those numbers. Fans who have watched the fourth year forward from Kentucky this season – and throughout his career, for that matter – have seen him consistently find a way to slow down many of the NBA’s premier big men, despite the inches he concedes to opponents on a nightly basis.

This season alone, he’s done yeoman’s work against the likes of Amar'e Stoudemire (5-13, 11 points on 11/12), Tim Duncan (6-18 on 11/29), Kevin Garnett (9/19 on 1/7) and Dirk Nowitzki (4-18 on 2/20). Though Hayes obviously was not solely responsible for the poor showings of those superstars, here’s a number that helps explain their sub par performances while simultaneously showing just how much of a defensive weapon he is: Opposing power forwards have an anemic effective field goal percentage of .344 when matched up against Hayes this season. In other words, his physical presence gives players fits.

“I’m a strong guy,” says Hayes when asked to explain his success against bigger players. “I’m low to the ground and it’s also about my footwork; I always keep my feet moving. One thing good about me: I may be smaller than you, but I’m able to move my feet just as quick as you and I’m going to make you take the shot that I want – not the shot that you want to take.”

Hayes figures to get a chance to put those assets to work again tonight with LaMarcus Aldridge and the Portland Trailblazers paying a visit to Toyota Center. The last time these two teams met, Aldridge had 22 points by the mid-way point of the third quarter and looked like he might be on his way to a career night. Desperate to slow down the University of Texas star, Coach Adelman called for the Chuckwagon. The impact was so sudden and so jarring, Aldridge might as well have been wearing an invisibility cloak from that point forward. Aldridge tallied just one field goal the rest of the game, so smothering was Hayes’ defense.

“The defense I played on LaMarcus was just me being in-tuned and prepared,” Hayes explains. “I prepared by reading my scouting report and, throughout the course of the game as I was watching him score, I saw stuff and thought, ‘If I get an opportunity, I’m taking that away,’ and I used that to my advantage.

“That’s one thing that’s good about being a reserve: I get to watch the flow of the game and see who’s in rhythm and where they’re getting their rhythm shots. So if I get in there and get an opportunity to guard them, I know what not to give them.”

And though casual observers and box score aficionados may find Hayes’ effectives surprising, teammates like Yao Ming have seen it so often, they expect nothing less at this point.

“I think he’s a master on the defensive side,” says Yao. “It’s about a lot of things: The quick feet, hands, body movement and also basketball IQ.

“People don’t focus much on defensive skill, but there’s a lot of skill [to playing defense] and Chuck should write a book.”

If he ever gets around to writing it, Hayes’ tome would be a fascinating look into the life of a pro’s pro; someone to whom words like heart, hustle and determination are always applied. Aspiring shut-down defenders everywhere would benefit from the tricks of the trade sure to fill its pages.

What you probably won’t find, however, are a bunch of numbers. But that’s OK. Numbers never tell the whole story, anyway.

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