The Phoenix Suns' continuing struggles have spurred speculation about coach Scott Skiles, who has said he is not "disheartened." And club chairman Jerry Colangelo has said he would exercise patience.

Could it become a distraction? "I'm not going to make any comment on that," Hardaway said of Skiles' situation. "I have to play as hard as I can for Scott Skiles as long as he's the coach. I don't want to get into that at all."

Tom Gugliotta's saga of misfortune with the Suns took another turn Tuesday when the club placed him on the injured list with tendinitis in his left quadriceps muscle - above the knee on which he had reconstructive surgery in the spring of 2000.

The move was made to make room on the active roster for center Jake Tsakalidis, who was activated in time for a game against the Jazz at the Delta Center. Rodney Rogers replaced Gugliotta in the starting lineup at power forward.

"We just thought it was better to rest him," Suns coach Scott Skiles said of Gugliotta. "We have five games in a short amount of time, and he is going to try to put it behind him."