Hayes Article

[Golgo]

I found an interesting article this week about Hayes going to stay with Steve Blake at his house this summer.

http://www.insidenova.com/isn/sports/local/article/hayes_to_team_up_with_steve_blake/18685/

"Hayes said he told Williams he wants to play the point more next season and Williams agreed with that."

I wonder if that is in a starting or in a back-up role.

[Hallas]

I found an interesting article this week about Hayes going to stay with Steve Blake at his house this summer.

http://www.insidenova.com/isn/sports/local/article/hayes_to_team_up_with_steve_blake/18685/

"Hayes said he told Williams he wants to play the point more next season and Williams agreed with that."

I wonder if that is in a starting or in a back-up role.

Reading the article... though it's easy to draw comparison to the last successful, skinny white PG that played at UMD, I don't think the two are as similar as the article would have us believe.

I don't think Hayes has the same level of athleticism that Blake does, Blake's problem wasn't quickness in my opinion. Maybe he wasn't quick like Chris Paul, but he still had plenty of it. His main problem was lack of size/bulk even in comparison to other point guards.

Blake was an outstanding defender as a result of this quickness. I have yet to see the same qualities in Hayes, though I guess I am willing to be pleasently surprised in this regard.

I have confidence in Hayes' decision-making already, so that's another area that they are similar. But I suppose we'll see. He is a true PG and he needs step up as a true playmaker if MD wants a chance at sniffing the tourney.

[Ruzious]

Reading the article... though it's easy to draw comparison to the last successful, skinny white PG that played at UMD, I don't think the two are as similar as the article would have us believe.

I don't think Hayes has the same level of athleticism that Blake does, Blake's problem wasn't quickness in my opinion. Maybe he wasn't quick like Chris Paul, but he still had plenty of it. His main problem was lack of size/bulk even in comparison to other point guards.

Blake was an outstanding defender as a result of this quickness. I have yet to see the same qualities in Hayes, though I guess I am willing to be pleasently surprised in this regard.

I have confidence in Hayes' decision-making already, so that's another area that they are similar. But I suppose we'll see. He is a true PG and he needs step up as a true playmaker if MD wants a chance at sniffing the tourney.
Boy, I didn't see the quix in Blake that you did. Blake was more aggressive and more confident and decisive, but physically - he was not a great athlete. He was very similar to Hayes.

Kudos to Hayes for being proactive and taking this step.

People seem to forget that Blake's career at MD wasn't all roses and ice cream. He got lots of criticism in his 1st 3 seasons - up until the NCAA championship - a lot of it unfair. People complained about him not being much of a scoring threat, about his decision-making, and about his lack of athleticism. But nobody complained about his competitiveness, and I think that ultimately separated him from other average athletes. He and Dixon were ultimate competitors.

[Hallas]

Boy, I didn't see the quix in Blake that you did. Blake was more aggressive and more confident and decisive, but physically - he was not a great athlete. He was very similar to Hayes.

Kudos to Hayes for being proactive and taking this step.

People seem to forget that Blake's career at MD wasn't all roses and ice cream. He got lots of criticism in his 1st 3 seasons - up until the NCAA championship - a lot of it unfair. People complained about him not being much of a scoring threat, about his decision-making, and about his lack of athleticism. But nobody complained about his competitiveness, and I think that ultimately separated him from other average athletes. He and Dixon were ultimate competitors.

I know that I never criticized him as such. Maybe it's that tenacity that seperates them, but it's still an important distinction. I also remember him playing some solid on-the-ball defense against opposing point guards. Like Jay Williams. And I still believe that Blake is quite a bit quicker than Hayes is

I also completely disagreed with the criticism that he didn't look to score enough. He had so many scorers on his team and his ability to evenly distribute was one of his strengths.

[ccbird]

Blake was much quicker, especially laterally, than Hayes. Blake played very good on ball defense where Hayes can't stay with any ACC PG. Blake was tremendous and still is at pushing the ball and finding guys in transition. Blake had a better handle and broke pressure easily compared to Hayes who struggled with pressure and who had his pocket straight picked on more than one occasion. Blake could create his own shot and shoot off the dribble, Hayes is strictly a spot up shooter. I could go on.


You can throw out all the stats you want but it's pretty easy when you watch, which I know you do Stoner, to see that Blake was a much better player than Hayes. There is no way to sugarcoat it, Blake was a great ACC PG, Hayes doesn't belong in the ACC. Blake is getting 30 min a game in the NBA, Hayes will be lucky to play ball anywhere for a living. So yeah it's not fair at all to compare Steve Blake and Eric Hayes.

[Mackus]

Hayes has no chance of being as good as Blake. None. Blake was more talented, a better athlete, stronger mentally, had much more around him, and did a better job of learning on the job. He's simply better in every facet of the game.

That said, Hayes can still be a very good player. I think he can be a legit starting PG in the ACC, he's just gotta play consistently. When he's going well, he's quite good (his game against Duke this year was great, for example). He just has trouble not losing confidence when things don't go his way. I think he'll be fine this season, and play most of the point with Greivis moving off the ball.

[accinfo]

The main difference between Blake and Hayes has nothing to do with their offensive stats. Blake could defend in the ACC and Hayes can not. It is not really that close.

[accinfo]

Hayes' long-arms were good enough to defend a good quick small guard in Goldwire last year when he was healthy…. He played on an injured leg most of the 2nd half of the ACC schedule…. You don't think that effected his lateral quickness and ability to defend?

No, he has never been quick.

[section18]

I know Hayes is supposed to move the ball and hit the open man as PG but I think he needs to drive the lane more and try to get fouled. He is an excellent foul shooter and it seems like when he goes to the line his shooting improves. Get him some easy points from the foul line early and it seems like he gets into the flow better. Spending the summer with Blake had to have helped him. I'm sure he sharpened his skills and we will see improvement this season.

[Ruzious]

I know Hayes is supposed to move the ball and hit the open man as PG but I think he needs to drive the lane more and try to get fouled. He is an excellent foul shooter and it seems like when he goes to the line his shooting improves. Get him some easy points from the foul line early and it seems like he gets into the flow better. Spending the summer with Blake had to have helped him. I'm sure he sharpened his skills and we will see improvement this season.
That's a big weakness in his game, and it wasn't a strength of Blake's game, either. It's mainly quickness and instincts, so it's not something you can get good at just from hard work.

[Mackus]

That's a big weakness in his game, and it wasn't a strength of Blake's game, either. It's mainly quickness and instincts, so it's not something you can get good at just from hard work.PG penetration isn't a huge part of the flex offense though, so both Hayes and Blake may be a bit better at that skill than we ever give them credit for.