Going into the season the Phoenix Suns thought Robin Lopez might be the second most important player on the team. They were depending on him for the athletic skills at center that he showed last season.

"That's probably been the biggest mystery for our team," coach Alvin Gentry said when asked why Lopez's progression has stopped.

"I'm not real sure if it's the injury or what, but he hasn't been able to give us the consistent play that we thought we'd be able to get from him.

"We could use it. It's something that has hurt us a bit. We haven't really had much inside play. Gortat gives us some. Other than that, we've been pretty much resigned to the fact that we're a perimeter team.

"It's not the type of year he anticipated or we anticipated."