Dan Majerle sat by the Heat bench 90 minutes before Saturday's game at America West Arena and laughed.

The veteran forward said he found it amusing he had to spend the past week defending Pat Riley, his coach with the Heat the previous five years.

Too tough, too rigid, too domineering were the criticisms.

"It's something where he asks you to come to work and work hard every day, and maybe that's not for all these players," Majerle said of denigrations offered in recent months from former Heat teammates such as Tim Hardaway, Anthony Mason and Ricky Davis. "That's another reason why I'm thinking about maybe getting out of it.

"A lot of players in today's game don't want to work. They want a lot of things handed to them."

Majerle's intent on signing with the Suns in the offseason was a return to his NBA roots, not a slide into retirement.

But at 36, he finds himself not so much at odds with those who have criticized Riley, but rather with the nature of today's player.

He said players should respect Riley's demands.

"It's just like the Marines," he said, "just fall into line and do what everybody else does and get used to it."

Riley said he disagreed with Majerle's retirement talk.

"I think Dan has a lot of hoops left," Riley said. "I think he can still play and help teams."

Majerle said he is most disappointed about the portrayal of last season's Heat locker room as a team in turmoil.

"I think we had good camaraderie," he said. "But in a long season, on any team, you're going to have fights within the locker room, miscommunications between coaches and players. But that's just part of this league."

Majerle, who has played erratic minutes this season, has been held out of the rotation altogether in three games.

"It's disappointing and it's hard," he said. "You definitely want to play. It makes it hard when you don't have a set rotation ... You have to be a pro and when your number is called, be ready." ...

His job rumored to be in jeopardy, Suns coach Scott Skiles said he is paying no heed to speculation. "I'm committed to getting the job done right," he said. "Failure never even crosses my mind. At any moment the phone could ring. You know that going into the job."