Reddit reviews Experts Pick Basketball's Best 50 Players in the Last 50 Years: Updated Through the 1997 Season

From this book:

• "he was selfish and hard to coach"
  
  
• "Bob Ryan said 'he is one of the most boring players and worst human beings that ever lived'."
  
  
• "Others mumbled things about how difficult Hayes could be."
  
  From this book:
  
  
• "a toublesome player to coach"
  
  
• (his 1st 2 coaches) "neither of whom had good things to say about the Big E"
  
  
• on not wanting to play for a certain HOF coach's system: "The Big E insisted it would hurt his offensive stats"
  
  
• Peter Vescey's nickname for him in the clutch: "The Silent E"
  
  From this book:
  
  
• quotes Sports Illustrated piece in Feb '74: "During his 4 years with the Rockets, Hayes was variously considered a ball hog, a rotten apple, a dumbbell, and a guaranteed loser."
  
  
• "I wonder if the other players respected him that much. I'm guessing no."
  
  
• quoting a Sports Illustrated feature during the '78 Finals: 1) "Individualism overcame Elvin in yet another big contest", 2) "Hayes once more disappeared in the moments of crisis", 3) "It's imperative for the Bullets that their only real 'name' player justify his status by not dissolving at the end of the 7th game" (spoiler alert: he fouled out at the start of the 4th quarter of a tight Game 7 on the road, and they rallied & won without him)
  
  
• quoting Rockets coach Bill Fitch telling young Ralph Sampson, who an end-of-career Hayes said he was going to mentor: "You stay away from that no-good fucking prick."