Phoenix Suns forward Josh Childress OK with benching

Josh Childress, a training-camp-scrimmage star before the injury, slipped from the Suns rotation this week after playing in the first 23 games with averages of 17.0 minutes, 5.3 points and 3.0 rebounds - all are career lows.

He fractured the fingertip on his shooting hard in an Oct. 19 preseason game but did not sit out, wearing a splint that he has needed to keep on a month longer than he expected. The bone has healed slowly as he continued playing.

"Maybe I should've just sat out," Childress said. "At the time, I wanted to play and didn't worry about the rest of it. On the court, my numbers haven't been great but this also has been great for me getting adjusted back to the league's playing style and speed."

Childress has another week or two before he can play without the splint but there is no guarantee he will regain his rotation spot. Suns coach Alvin Gentry said a 10-man rotation was too difficult to manage with five swingmen.

"At some stage, you've just got to tighten up the rotation to see if it's going to work for us," Gentry said. "I'm not married to this totally but I think we've got to be committed to see if it's what we need to perform better.

"I do think he'll play a lot better once that (splint) is off his finger."

Gentry sat Childress out of an entire half in two games this month before not playing him for the first time this season in Wednesday's win against Minnesota.

"Honestly, I'm fine," said Childress, who signed a five-year, $33 million contract in July. "Coach is tinkering with lineups and trying to figure out what's best for the team. If I have to work my way back in, I'm patient. He let me know he's going to try to get away from playing guys six or seven minutes. If he plays, he wants them to play 18 to 20 minutes to get a rhythm. At some point, that's going to be me.