As the Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly from 1992-96, Chuck Haytaian had to possess the political skills to keep as many people satisfied as possible. So it’s only fitting he has a grandson who, in a way, needs to be a politician on the basketball court.
As the point guard for the Hopewell Valley Central High School varsity team, it’s David Haytaian’s job to make sure everyone is happy.
“I definitely try to get everybody involved,” he said. “I’d rather not shoot and get other guys shots than for me to shoot a lot. I don’t want to be kind of a ball hog, I’d rather pass the ball to an open teammate.”
Haytaian has done all that and more as he has enjoyed an outstanding senior season since transferring to Hopewell from Notre Dame. As of Valentine’s Day, he was averaging 16 points per game, 4 assists, 1.2 steals and 3 rebounds. He was in the top six in the Colonial Valley Conference with 38 three-pointers while helping Hopewell to a 13-7 record.
With True Alton shooting the ball and Drew and Jeff Wiley providing inside scoring and rebounding, Haytaian set out to mix all of those elements together.
“That’s definitely what I wanted to do, was contribute with all the stats,” he said. “We have certain guys playing certain different roles on the team, but that one guy we really needed from last year, was that one guy to kind of do everything for them. I definitely think I contribute to that.”
And as if his stats aren’t enough, head coach Amir Siddiqu said Haytaian’s contributions on the court that can’t be quantified are tops.
“He handles on-the-ball pressure really well,” he said. “He does everything really well. His shooting is the by-product of him making good decisions. He’s a very good decision maker. I don’t even call them point guards, I call them decision makers.”
Haytaian’s decision to transfer back to his hometown school was one that has both he and his teammates happy. He grew up in Hopewell and began playing at age 7 with the AAU Central Jersey Hornets.
One of his teammates was Tommy Hussong, who now plays for West Windsor-Plainsboro South.
“He was one of my best friends and his dad started that team, so that’s how we got started,” Haytaian said. “We did that for four years and then my dad started an AAU team that was more local. It was more based on having Hopewell kids. The Hornets had kids from Ewing and Hamilton and all around.”
From there he went to the Central Jersey Future All-Stars, coached by former University of Hartford player Keith Jones.
“That team was definitely what elevated my game,” Haytaian said. “My game went to a whole new level. We competed hard at practices all the time, we scrimmaged and I got a lot of great pointers from Keith Jones.”
During that time, Haytaian also played middle school basketball at Timberlane. In fact, Siddiqu was his coach during his eighth grade season.
“He was very similar to how he is now,” Siddiqu said. “He had the same jubilant personality. He was very much a shooter back then. He’s much more confident now, and that comes with age and maturity.”
Unfortunately for Siddiqu, when he landed the high school job, Haytaian was playing at Notre Dame. He earned a starting berth last year, but he wasn’t getting a lot of playing time. He transferred to Hopewell at the start of last February.
“I just saw a great opportunity here at Hopewell,” he said. “I went to middle school here, I knew the guys and coach Siddiqu. I knew with the guys we had that we could do something special at Hopewell this year.”
He was unable to play on last year’s 5-17 squad due to the NJSIAA’s 30-day transfer rule, which also kept him out for the first three games of this season.
“It was definitely hard, all of last year seeing the team struggle a little bit and not being able to help out really hurt,” Haytaian said. “It was the same thing the beginning of this year. We played well but we had a loss to Hunterdon Central that we could have won, and that just motivated me to come out really strong.”
Because he was at practice last year and played with the team over the summer at the Rider Camp, Haytaian had time to learn a new system.
“It was a little challenging coming over to Hopewell, learning the plays and all that,” he said. “Notre Dame was more of a run and gun type offense, where you get out in transition. This year, our coach tried to focus on running sets and get ourselves into plays and pounding the ball inside.”
It didn’t take long for Siddiqu to realize who his point guard would be once Haytaian transferred.
“This summer he really blossomed,” the coach said. “A lot of that comes from AAU and what he does on his own. He really loves the game of basketball and is a student of the game. After the summer, we gave him the keys to the car. The point guard position in high school basketball is probably the most important position unless you have someone who is six-foot-10. But mostly you’re only as good as your guards. Two years ago we had a good shooting guard, but we’ve been absent a point guard and it hurt us.”
Those days are over for now, as a politician’s grandson is doing an excellent job of toeing the Bulldogs’ party line.
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