<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>This was not what Rick Adelman had planned, not anything he would have predicted. But it fits. He has long preferred to come up with a group of starters and a rotation, usually not a deep one, and then stick with them. Through the first half of his first season coaching the Rockets, he went with that formula. In the four games since, he has changed his rotation on the fly, finishing with different groups in each game and making his first change to starters not forced by injury. With that, he came up with a different formula, in which the only constant will be change. "It's just something you have to do," Adelman said of his suddenly adjustable rotation. "The way the league is now, you have to (adjust). Some teams play conventional. Some teams, like (Tuesday) night (against Golden State) and the team we're going to see on Friday (Indiana), you have to play small. You have to have active people on the floor because they have shooters everywhere. I just think it's something we have to adjust to night in, night out. Fortunately, we do have some flexibility there." Most of the changes are at power forward where Luis Scola replaced Chuck Hayes in the starting lineup. Adelman has not decided on Friday's starters, but with the Pacers' low-post power forward Jermaine O'Neal out, he was "leaning" toward keeping Scola as a starter. Go with the flow Even beyond that switch, he has used Carl Landry and Scola as backup centers and Landry as a power forward. And in the past two games, he mixed in Steve Novak. In the backcourt, he has used Bonzi Wells and Luther Head as starters when Tracy McGrady has been out. Wells did not play at all in the fourth quarter Sunday, but he played on several possessions in the final minutes Tuesday. "I never expected not to play Chuck (Tuesday) night, but Luis got off to a nice start and Carl came in and played well, and they went completely small so I was more comfortable playing smaller people," Adelman said. "I think the guys we have, we're pretty flexible, especially with Luis getting more comfortable being out on the floor, guarding people. I think we can do it, depending on the game." For the Rockets' power forwards especially, the rotating rotation requires they be ready and adaptable. Though he started Tuesday, Scola played his customary 25 minutes. In the past five games, his playing time has ranged from 40 minutes (in Sunday's game when Yao Ming was out) to 22 minutes against San Antonio. Hayes' playing time has ranged from 24 minutes to not at all. Hayes, Novak, Landry and Scola all have finished games. "You have to be ready," Scola said. "Teams are different. So many games, so many teams, you have to be ready for everything. Sometimes you need some kind of player, other times you need some other kind of players. There are games that are good for you, other games that are good for some other players. You just have to be mentally ready for every game and every moment of the game. "We have power forwards that are very different. Everyone can give something the other guys can't. We can use Steve when we need a really good shooter. We can use Carl when we need the five, or Chuck when we play a really good power forward for him to stop. That's a really good thing. If you have the versatility on your roster, I think it's good." Hayes the stopper The defensive responsibilities seem to be the top indicator of who will play. With Scola no longer as foul-prone on the perimeter as he was early in the season, he has played against the shooting power forwards. When teams have high-scoring fours, such as Utah's Carlos Boozer on Sunday or Seattle's Kevin Durant on the final possession last week, Hayes has been the choice. That gives Hayes the unenviable task of playing only in the most difficult of circumstances, but he said anything that earns playing time is fine with him. "As a competitor, you want to play, period, no matter who is out there," Hayes said. "We play according to personnel, who they've got and how they play. Coach (Adelman) tries to match up. If he feels this five matches up best with that five, he's going to play them. "I just have to be ready." These days, a long list of teammates feel the same way.</div> Source: Houston Chronicle
