[Stardust]

The Houston Rockets have gone from boasting the league's tallest starting center to having its shortest, ever, but it hasn't affected their winning ways.

With 7-foot-6 Yao Ming injured for the season, and his 7-foot-2 former back-up Dikembe Mutombo retired, Houston turned to 6-foot-6 Kentucky alum Chuck Hayes to start at center, and notwithstanding his lack of stature, the Rockets are off to a 20-14 start. With Yao lost, and Tracy McGrady out indefinitely to start the season, pundits wrote off Houston's chances of returning to the playoffs, but Hayes and his teammates are not surprised by their success.

"Were other people's expectations low?" Hayes asked. "Because ours weren't. We knew what we could do. Even though we had injuries, our expectations never changed. We're doing good, we're responding (to the adversity) well, and we are where we are right now."

The Rockets, have achieved that success with a historically undersized starter up front. Hayes is the shortest regular starting center in the league's 63-year history. His value to the Rockets is not lost on teammates like Shane Battier.

"(Hayes) brings toughness, he brings smarts, he just knows how to play the game," Battier said. "He combines great intelligence with superior technique. He has great technique, and that allows him to get away with his size at his position."

Unlike some of the league's other undersized bigs, Hayes does not balance his lack of height with excess girth. He is not in the 6-foot-7, 260 plus pound mold of a DeJuan Blair or Jason Maxiell, but plays at a lean 238 pounds, working out with 20-pound kettle bells and doing band work for muscle strength, as opposed to lifting heavy weights to add bulk. It is that preparation, as well as years of practice, that allows Hayes to succeed against the league's behemoths.

"I just use my strength, which is my quickness, my footwork, and my agility," Hayes said. "I've been undersized my whole life so nothing's changed. It's not like I'm not used to it, I'm used to it now."

Being undersized did cost Hayes earlier in his career. Despite a stellar four years in Lexington, and an MVP performance at the Portsmouth pre-draft camp, he was not selected in the 2005 NBA draft. Signed to a 10-day contract midway through the 2005-06 season after a stint in the NBDL, Hayes impressed then-coach Jeff VanGundy enough to stick with the Rockets. He played out the remainder of the season and he has been with them since, the last three seasons under coach Rick Adelman, and this year as a team captain. And although Hayes is finally earning some acclaim outside of Houston, including generating some buzz as a potential all-defensive team honoree, his coach is just seeing more of what Rockets brass and teammates have already come to expect.

"He's one of the better defenders in the league, whether or not people recognize that," Adelman said. "He's a big man who isn't very big, but he's got quick feet, he's strong, and he's a very smart defender. He's been doing it his whole career, he's just getting more attention now."
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