Amare Stoudemire was on ESPN Radio in New York on Friday and lobbied for the Knicks to sign him instead of Chris Bosh.  Stoudemire expressed a desire to play for Mike D'Antoni in 2010.

"No doubt about it, I'm better than Chris Bosh," said Stoudemire when posted with the question.

"How serious will you consider the Knicks in 2010," asked Brandon Tierney.

"I will be totally serious about that, I spent a lot of my childhood there, I have a connection with the state, and I also love the entire coaching staff."

"I think Coach D'Antoni's doing a phenomenal job with the Knicks, NY's a great city, I follow them closely."

The Suns and 76ers will play a preseason game in Monterrey, Mexico this October, according to the Associated Press.

The contest will be the NBA's 18th in Mexico, and the second held in Monterrey.

Suns star Amare Stoudemire is recovering from a detached retina in his right eye.

"It's happening slowly but it's headed in the right direction," Dr. Pravin Dugel said of the resorbing and regenerating of Stoudemire's retina. "The process is not just to let the retina be flat but the idea is to make it flat and resume his career. That bar is extremely high."

Dugel sees Stoudemire every two weeks and has cautioned about the severity of the injury.

"It's important for people to understand the severity of this when you have a retinal detachment that happens in a young person and one that happens this severely, it's about as serious of a condition as I can think of," Dugel said.

Phoenix general manager Steve Kerr expects Stoudemire to be ready for training camp in October.

Steve Nash and his agent, Bill Duffy, have let the Suns know that they will wait to see how the club's roster is altered before getting serious about negotiating a two-year contract extension.

"This is kind of a perplexing time because he (Nash) absolutely wants to win and he loves the (Phoenix) market but all the pieces have to line up properly," Duffy said. "We just want to wait and see what their game plan is so we can sign off on it. We respect their willingness to extend his contract but we also are very cognizant of the team dynamic to make sure it will work in terms of Steve's goals, which are to win a championship."

Steve Kerr approached Nash about an extension during the season.

"Before he signs off on any type of extension, he would like to see tangibly what their plans are and, if not, I think that we should probably talk about alternatives, which may include him not being there," Duffy said.

The Suns are expected to make Amare Stoudemire and Shaquille O'Neal available in trades this offseason, just as they did ahead of the February trade deadline.

Sources say the Suns will listen to pitches for Steve Nash, even though they aren't motivated to deal him.

Portland, Golden State, Toronto, New York and Houston are five teams that are either readying or contemplating bids for Nash.

"I have no interest in trading him," Kerr said Monday. "I've said many times that our interest is re-signing him. Steve is the face of our franchise. I think everybody knows that we would love to be able to extend his contract so that he retires a Sun."

Suns center Shaquille O'Neal poked fun at the so-called steroid era in sports during an interview with 790 The Zone earlier this week.

"Like me, like I've told the world before, only thing I had was Frosted Flakes: Super Enhancement Cereal. That's the only thing I've put in my body," Shaq said. "Frosted Flakes Athletic Performance Enhancement Cereal. They ain't even out yet... For all the little kids, the Performance Enhancement Cereal is you take the Frosted Flakes, and you take the Froot Loops, and you mix them together, and then you get some of them sliced bananas and you put them on that thing, and then you get a big old bowl.  

"The kind of bowl if you pull out out your mother say, 'Boy, you better put that bowl back!' And, then you pour that milk... 'You better get a job eating all that milk.'  Mama, we ain't got no milk. 'You better put some water on that boy!"

Suns coach Alvin Gentry told KTAR in Phoenix that the team won't deal Amare Stoudemire solely to save money.

"Obviously you look at the financial situation. The thing that I appreciate about Robin [owner Robert Sarver] is that he's not going to do anything strictly based on finances if it's going to cripple our team and he's already made that clear," Gentry said.

"I don't think he's just looking to dump somebody to be dumping them if it's going to hurt our team."

The Suns just missed the playoffs this season, and general manager Steve Kerr believes that the team will have a number of options in 2010.

"We're in a position where a year from now we can say, 'We've got options,' " Kerr said. "That just means that we'll look at everything out there, and if we have to grind our way through this year, we'll do so."

Phoenix is expected to have significant cap room in the summer of 2010, especially with Shaquille O'Neal's $20 million contract coming off the books.

"The thing about our financial situation is we're one year away from having flexibility," Kerr said. "We're going to make it through this year one way or the other.

"We'll look at every option. We may do something, we may not, but the nice thing is our hands are not tied in the future."

The Suns removed the interim tag from coach Alvin Gentry's title on Saturday, and have now agreed to terms on a two-year deal.

The contract will pay Gentry $3.7 million over the two seasons, and is expected to be finalized on Monday or Tuesday.

It also includes a team option for a third season, according to the Arizona Republic.

"We can focus now on what we need to do to get better and get back to a team that everyone feared and one that made the playoffs," said Gentry.

The Suns have dropped the interim tag from coach Alvin Gentry's title.

Phoenix president Steve Kerr made the announcement on Saturday, calling Gentry "the right man to lead our team into the future."

Gentry took over for Terry Porter, who was fired just four months into his first season, on Feb. 16.