Reserve power forward Chuck Hayes has seen his minutes reduced this season but he is still giving a great effort when he’s on the court. Hayes has played in 33 games this season for the Rockets and he is averaging 22.6 minutes, 3.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He is also shooting 54.1% from the floor but that shouldn’t surprise anyone as most of his shots come from close range. One area he needs to improve on is his free throw shooting as he has only made 3 of 11 so far this season.

Bonzi Wells has been outstanding in December for the Rockets. He has played in 5 games this month and he’s averaging 28.4 minutes, 14.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 2.0 steals per game. He’s also shooting a incredible 54.5% from the floor this month. It appears that head coach Rick Adelman has inspired his old friend from Sacramento and they need Wells to keep up the good work.

The Rockets would probably like Yao to get a little more selfish on offense to help boost the Rockets scoring but he has played well so far this season. Yao has played in 16 games this season and he has averaged 22.4 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.1 blocked shots per game. Look for Yao’s scoring to go up in the near future and that will help the Rockets win-loss record.

At the beginning of the 2006 season head coach Jeff Van Gundy implored Yao Ming to get more selfish on offense and the result was a breakout season.  Yao only played in 48 games in the regular season because of a broken leg, but he averaged 33.8 minutes, 25.0 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game.  Yao also had a good season shooting the basketball as he hit 51.6% from the floor and 86.2% from the free throw line.  Look for Yao to improve on those numbers in 2007 as long as he can stay healthy.

Almost all of Yao’s career numbers spiked upward due to his great season.  In 439 games, Yao has averaged 31.8 minutes, 18.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.8 blocks per game.  Yao has hit 52.3% of his shots from the floor for his career and 82.2% from the free throw line.  Look for his numbers to continue to improve as the Rockets should score a lot more points with new head coach Rick Adelman running the show.

Chuck Hayes has started 6 of the last 7 games for the Rockets and he’s been giving them quality minutes.  Over those 7 games, Hayes has averaged 6.9 points, 10.0 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 1.9 steals per game.  Hayes shot also shot 59% from the floor over those 7 games.  If Hayes stays in the starting lineup and continues to rebound and play good defense the Rockets are going to be hard for teams to deal with come playoff time.