Chuck Hayes is the most remarkable player on the NBA's most remarkable team.
Don't believe me? Let's check in at Toyota Center and run it past some people who should know.
“It's pretty amazing what he does,” Battier said. “He's a huge reason we've been one of the best defensive teams in the league the last few years.”
This is what Carl Landry has do say, “He's the perfect player,” Landry said. “He rebounds, plays defense, takes charges, gets steals. He does the dirty work.”
What does Luis Scola think of him?
“It's a pleasure to play with him,” Scola said. “He plays hard. He does everything a basketball player should do. He's a great teammate.”
He shows you size doesn't matter. He's an NBA center. He's also 6-6, 238 pounds.
Almost every night, he's assigned to guard a guy at least 6 inches taller and 30 to 40 pounds heavier. He does it because of his heart, drive and smarts.
Hayes is averaging 8.8 points and 7.8 rebounds. He's out there because of what he gives the Rockets defensively. His 65-percent shooting percentage is the NBA's fifth-best. He's seventh in the league with 2.4 steals a game.
He does not fly like Kobe Bryant. He does not have Dwight Howard's size. He doesn't have Tim Duncan's slick moves.
All Hayes proves is that guys who care and work hard can still do special things.
“He's a competitor,” Rockets assistant coach Elston Turner said. “It's the way he competes every night. It's the way he's coachable and knowledgeable. Those are things we love. When you can compete, sometimes it doesn't matter if you're undersized. Sometimes winning and losing is just a matter of who plays the hardest.”
The Rockets might be the NBA's smallest team. They have zero All-Stars. They're just a bunch of guys who exemplify how much can be accomplished with teamwork and unselfishness.
General manager Daryl Morey has said that playing hard is a skill, too. He meant that plenty can be accomplished by teams that outwork the other guys.
