After two close losses the Suns feel they should have won, and after being outrebounded by 44 in the last two games, Mike D?Antoni is ready to experiment with bench players Boris Diaw and Leandro Barbosa as he seeks better overall chemistry from his 10-man rotation.

He will start the process Thursday, inserting Diaw as a starter for James Jones against the Detroit Pistons and moving Shawn Marion back to the small forward spot. Diaw played a key role (14 points, six rebounds in 27 minutes) in Saturday?s win in Utah and came up a rebound short of a triple-double (11 points, nine rebounds, 11 assists) in Sunday?s 118-117 heartbreaking loss at the hands of Sacramento.

The move will give the Suns a bigger lineup against the physical Pistons and free up Marion to guard Tayshaun Prince on the perimeter. But it is also designed to give the Suns a better start.

"It?s not what James Jones didn?t do, and if we try LB (Barbosa) as a starter it won?t be what Raja Bell didn?t do," D?Antoni said. "It won?t change their roles or minutes . . . the first unit has just been a little stagnant for whatever reason. It might just be that they?ve only had four games together, but we?re going to try some things. If we come back to it, we come back. No big deal."