The Phoenix Suns continued to bolster its bench by acquiring veteran forward Walter McCarty and an undisclosed amount of cash from the Boston Celtics today in exchange for the 2005 conditional second-round pick the Suns acquired last month from Golden State in a trade for forward Zarko Cabarkapa.

The versatile 6-10, 230-pound forward, who spent the last seven-and-a half seasons with Boston after playing his rookie season with the New York Knicks in 1996-97, owns career averages of 5.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 529 games (107 starts). He has a career three-point field goal percentage of .349 and has 421 three-point field goals and 1,208 three-point field goals attempted.

?In Walter McCarty we are adding another versatile and experienced veteran player that has developed a reputation as a great teammate,? said Suns President and General Manager Bryan Colangelo.  ?Walter is long and active, and should provide a real spark off the bench.?

In 30 career postseason games (12 starts), McCarty has averaged 5.8 points and 3.3 rebounds on .478 shooting from the field. In the 2003 Playoffs, he averaged a career-best 9.9 points and 4.3 rebounds in 35.2 minutes and made starts in eight of the Celtics? 10 playoff games.