Rondo, UK alums play another lockout exhibition

As much fun as these exhibition games are, Chuck Hayes is ready to get back to work in the NBA.

The former Kentucky forward was one of 19 players who played in an exhibition Monday night between a team of former Wildcats and a team made up of alumni of Kentucky's rivals.

Hayes' contract with the Rockets expired after the 2010-11 season, and he's an unrestricted free agent.

"A lot of these guys know where they're going and know where to show up whenever the lockout ends. I don't," Hayes said. "I have no idea. That's the only frustrating thing to me. Besides that, I'm just waiting like everybody else."

Because of the lockout, the Big Blue All-Stars - featuring Hayes, Rajon Rondo, Jodie Meeks and Keith Bogans - were able to complete a nine-stop barnstorming tour at various small gyms against college teams across Kentucky.

The tour concluded Monday at Rupp Arena where The Villains won, 152-149.

Meeks, of the Philadelphia 76ers, was hoping he didn't have to come back even though exhibitions like these are his only chance to play in anything resembling a real game during the lockout. Monday's game was scheduled before a round of negotiations between the NBA owners and the National Basketball Players Association. If the lockout had ended then, event organizers said Monday's game would have been cancelled.

"We felt like it was a realistic possibility to miss games before, but it does feel a little different now that it's right here," Meeks said. "But we have to wait for the right deal. We can't afford not to. I really have no control over it, I'm just trying to stay optimistic."

""I mean, nobody's ever going to complain about extended vacation," Hayes said. "But you would like to have some kind of income. You would like to be able to do what you love."