Five teams are still involved in free agency discussions with Chuck Hayes, his agent said on Thursday. The Boston Celtics are not one of those five teams. (Fox Houston)

Free agent forward Chuck Hayes has five teams expressing strong interest in him and his agent told FOX 26 Sports Hayes could be ready to make a decision by the weekend.

“The teams that are involved with Chuck Hayes are the Portland Trailblazers, the Toronto Raptors, the Houston Rockets, the Sacramento Kings and the Minnesota Timberwolves,” Calvin Andrews said.

Sayonara, Chuck. It would have been nice to know ya.

(h/t Red’s Army)

Shane Battier, Carl Landry, Chuck Hayes — no report yet on whether Danny Ainge has called to coax Yao Ming, Dikembe Mutombo and Steve Francis out of retirement to officially revive the 2007-08 Houston Rockets.

Chuck Hayes is reportedly on the Boston Celtics’ free agent radar. Among other reasons, adding Hayes makes sense because A) the Celtics currently have one center on their roster, and B) that center is Jermaine O’Neal, whose body could come unscrewed at any time. Also, Chuck Hayes is pretty good.

Hayes stands only 6-6, but he’s a plus defender whose low center of gravity, strong and quick hands, and habit of putting himself in the right spot allow him to (somehow) play center against men who could use the top of his head as a stool. Hayes is limited offensively, to be kind, but he’s solid and doesn’t hurt on that end of the floor. Perhaps most importantly, he’s in his 20s (even if he seems old enough to grandfather dozens of children) and has played at least 70 games in each of the past five seasons.

As a detractor, it’s always weird to have a center who may or may not be able to dunk.