Deveney: Celtics Targeting Chuck Hayes

Posted by Hayes Davenport on Nov 30, 2011 2247919 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2011%2F11%2F30%2Fdeveney-celtics-targeting-chuck-hayes%2FDeveney%3A+Celtics+Targeting+Chuck+Hayes2011-11-30+19%3A53%3A09Hayes+Davenporthttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D22479

By now you’ve possibly heard that Sean Deveney said that sources said that the Celtics said they’re targeting Chuck Hayes as a free agent at center. Pros and cons!

Pros:

• He’s an actual center. He defends centers, he does his scoring at the rim, and he REBOUNDS. He rebounds very well. His defensive rebound rate was pretty much identical to Nene’s last year, and comparable to Perkins’ from 2007 to 2009.
• Very strong impressionist (0:48 in this video).
• Extremely good dude, fun to root for.
• Not injury prone: played at least 70 games each year he’s been in the league.
• Buds with Rondo: they played together in college, probably know each other’s tendencies on the court and in Halo 2 deathmatch.
• Will give Rondo confidence in his free throw shooting.

Neutral:

• His height. He’s listed at 6’6″, which is probably about the same as Glen Davis. It’s had virtually zero influence on his defense or rebounding, but makes scoring inside an ordeal (see next bullet).

Cons:

• Not going to take much of the scoring load because a) he can’t shoot and b) he gets blocked with great frequency. 15 percent of the shots he took last season had their trajectory redirected by the hands of his opponents. Of centers who played at least 70 games, only Omer Asik had more. But he doesn’t take a lot of shots, so his efficiency is still decent.
• He has apparently gotten a little chubbers in the offseason.
• Money. Hayes only made about $2 million last season, but the Celtics aren’t going to be the only ones interested in his services. Basically every team is going to look at Hayes as a potential value buy, which is going to naturally raise his price beyond the value buy range. If the Celtics ever want to make a play at a certain smiley center down the line, they’d need to give Hayes a reasonable contract that would leave them sufficient cap room or be easy to unload on another team in a trade. With all the other names looking at Hayes, that might not be easy.

Do you want Chuck Hayes? How much would you pay him for how long?