Grant Hill, who will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, appears to be making a case for both his return and that of interim coach Alvin Gentry in Phoenix.

"I'd love to play for Alvin," admitted Hill.

"It seems like in four years I've had four different coaches, so I'd love to play for Alvin next year but it's a coaching situation. I'm not making ultimatums. But I think he's shown he's going to be the coach next year," he continued.

"It's like, what are they going to do with the personnel? Are they going to blow it up and start over, or what are they going to do? I don't think the team or management knows at this point. He's more than capable and qualified."

If the Bulls make a move for a big man this summer, they reportedly rate Chris Bosh over Amare Stoudemire.

Rumor around the league is that Chicago prefers Bosh's personality, and believes that he is a better teammate than Stoudemire.

At this point in the season, it appears more likely that the Raptors will shop Bosh, but changes could be coming for the Suns as well.

A feud is brewing between Denver's Nene and Phoenix's Louis Amundson after an on-court altercation last week and a number of insults in the press.

Amundson called Nene a "dirty player" after he accused the Nuggets forward of headbutting him in a game last week.

"You learn that you don't let a stupid dude take you out of the game because he's nobody," Nene fired back. "He doesn't have much (game). He just goes over there and tries to get a contract.

"That was no head-butt. That is nothing. . . . If I do a head-butt, I break all of his face."

Suns point guard Steve Nash had a hard time swallowing the team's 126-118 loss to the Kings on Sunday night.

The loss leaves Phoenix 3 1/2 games behind Dallas for the eighth seed in the Western Conference with just eight games left in their regular season.

"I don't know what to say," said Nash. "We just laid an egg. That's very frustrating. I know it's difficult, we're tired, but we have to fight through it."

Compounding the loss was the fact that the Suns lost to a Kings team that hasn't even won 20 games this season.

"No offense to that young team over there, but we weren't playing the Lakers or the Celtics," Nash said.

Suns forward Louis Amundson called Nuggets big man Nene a "dirty player" after an altercation between the two on Monday night.

Nene threw a head butt at Amundson during the fourth quarter of Denver's 118-115 loss to Phoenix, which led Amundson to call Nene a "dirty player" and a "fake, tough guy."

After the head butt, Nene earned an ejection for elbowing Amundson.

"He's from Brazil, so I'm sure he knows about soccer tactics like the head butt," said Amundson.

Suns center Shaquille O'Neal posted a note on his Twitter feed during halftime of Saturday's game against Washington, and coach Alvin Gentry could care less.

"Shhhhhhh," Shaq's message read.

Last Sunday, Milwaukee's Charlie Villanueva got in trouble with coach Scott Skiles for 'tweeting' during halftime of a game against Boston.

"As long as he gets 25 [points] and 11 [rebounds], he can do whatever he wants. He can Twitter, Facebook, MySpace," said Gentry, who also has a Twitter account.

O'Neal was hoping to get the Twitter post by Gentry, so he could brag about no getting in trouble.

"I stirred something up," Villanueva said Saturday night. "I'm a trend setter, I guess."

Amar? Stoudemire, fresh off surgery to repair a detached retina, says that he plans to wear goggles for the remainder of his NBA career.

"I'm wearing goggles from here on out," Stoudemire said. "It's funny I talked to my trainer when I was about to put those Oakley goggles down. I said, 'What are the odds of me getting poked in the eye again if I didn't wear these goggles?' "

Stoudemire, who had been poked in the eye numerous times over the last year, could have actually lost some sight had he not acted on the injury when he did.

"When I got hit by Boris Diaw in training camp, I couldn't see at all for the first three minutes," Stoudemire said. "I was more afraid then. With the retina, you can't quite tell until someone sees it. I caught it at a great time to where I saved my eyesight, and I've got a chance to get back here 200 percent soon.

"As long as I've got eye protection, I should be OK. Still play aggressive, explosive and active. That shouldn't change anything."

Shaquille O'Neal moved up to fifth on the NBA's all-time scoring list on Saturday night.

O'Neal scored 13 points in Phoenix's win over Washington, pushing him past Moses Malone for fifth place. He began the season in 11th place, and now has 27,411 points for his career.

Phoenix guard Leandro Barbosa will miss one to three weeks after suffering a bone contusion in his left knee during Wednesday's game against Philadelphia.

An MRI on Thursday confirmed the contusion, according to the team's athletic trainer.

"Anything that will cause the bone to get more action could cause more pain," trainer Aaron Nelson said. "We've got to let that calm down."

He could return as soon as next Thursday against Portland, but if he misses three weeks he'll return with just a few games left in the regular season.

Leandro Barbosa injured his left knee Wednesday night during the first quarter of the Suns' game against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Associated Press is reporting.

Barbosa left the game with 26.3 seconds to go in the opening period because of what was diagnosed as a hyper-extended left knee. He was injured on a drive to the basket.