"In his first three seasons with the Rockets and his first 62 games this season, Shane Battier started all but three of the games in which he played. With the Rockets back at full strength (excluding Yao Ming), he was switched to coming off the bench, an experiment he told coach Rick Adelman he was willing to try.

"Shane, No. 1, has no problem with it," Adelman said. "He's told me forever he'll come off the bench, and I told him I'll try it, but I don't know if that's the best thing for our team. What that means is it changes Trevor (Ariza's) role somewhat because now he's got to guard the toughest guy out there who starts the game. The other thing with Shane is he gives me a lot of flexibility. It's something we're going to keep looking at."

Battier said he was not sure how the change will work long-term.

"It might be good. It might be bad," Battier said. "I think I can handle it. I haven't done it in a while. It may be a good career move. It may be a bad career move. I don't know. Time will tell.""