Suns rookie point guard Kendall Marshall is nearing the end of his assignment with the Bakersfield Jam of the NBA Development League. He'll play two more games (Wednesday, Thursday) before re-joining the Suns this weekend in Portland.

Thus far, in seven games, Marshall is averaging 9.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists in 32.1 minutes.

Suns player development coordinator Lindsey Hunter joined Marshall for the first few games.

Hunter has since returned to Phoenix, allowing us the chance to discuss Marshall's progress.

Here is part of that conversation:

"Overall, he's made some pretty good progress," Hunter said. "You can see the things that you need to work on, clearly, when you're put in pressure situations and game situations, which is the biggest reason that he's there is just to be put kind of in the pressure cooker and kind of figure out points of emphasis of what you need to work on.

"I'm really pleased with his progress. I'm going to continue to push him out of his comfort zone. He's such a bright, smart kid on the court. He can figure out how to stay comfortable so the objective is to get him out of that and to push himself to do different things on the floor that he probably has never done in certain situations.

"It's working out great for him. He'll come away with a lot more than he would have just staying here not getting to play. This is much better for him."

Marshall's assists per game is fourth-best in the D-League. He did go through a three-game stretch in which he had more turnovers (15) than assists (14). However, since then he's handed out a combined 18 assists with only four turnovers in his last two games.

"A lot of his turnovers aren't his fault. The kid is such an amazing passer and I think it catches a lot of people off guard so some of his turnovers are actually passes that hit people and they're not ready or thought they had it. It's amazing to watch so that really doesn't concern me at all.

"Most of your elite playmakers are high turnover guys," Hunter said before citing Jason Kidd, Steve Nash and Mark Jackson as examples. "All those guys because they take risks. They take bigger risks making a pass. For Kendall the point of emphasis with him is he recognizes right away when a teammate has a shot, that's second nature. But when he has a shot, he doesn't recognize it. Making the transition from college to being a pro is recognizing all situations and doing what the game tells you to do. If the game tells you to take the 10-foot jumper, then you have to. If you don't, then as an offensive unit, we're messed up. Those are the small things that we're really kind of pushing him to get and to understand."

Marshall has struggled with his shooting: 32.9 percent from the field (26-of-79), including 16.7 percent (3-of-18) from three-point range. He has yet to have a game where he hits 40 percent of his shots.

"It's just repetition," Hunter said. "There's some things this summer we'll do with him, but for the most part it's just repetition. (His) shot's not broken It would be different if he came in here and he had a three-piece shot but he doesn't. It's just minor things that he'll have to keep working on. He'll get better at it."

Head coach Alvin Gentry through the first eight weeks of the season has moved his players around as if they were pieces of a puzzle: What combination would fit together the best?

He appears to have settled on one as the Suns have victories in back-to-back games for the first time since late November.

"I'm comfortable right now and this is what we're going to do for awhile because I think it's worked for us," he said of playing Jared Dudley at small forward and bringing Michael Beasley off the bench as a power forward. "We've had some success so we've got to play that way and we'll see where it takes us."

Gentry has made three changes to his starting lineup since opening night. (A fourth was necessitated by an illness to Goran Dragic.)

"I like it because I think it's really helped JD," Gentry explained in moving Dudley from shooting guard where he started the season. "That's where he had his most success last year and the last couple of years here as a 3-man. To have him be able play there and play for extended minutes, I think it's helped him."

The numbers would suggest that's true.

Dudley is averaging 15 points while shooting 58 percent (25-of-43), including 40 percent (6-of-15) from three-point range in four games since returning to the starting lineup. He's scored 60 points, including a season-high 22 against Utah, over what is his best stretch of the season.

"You usually when you're playing the two (guard) you're one of the quicker guys and you're exerting more energy so the three-position is more natural (for me)," Dudley said.

The decision by Gentry to play Beasley at power forward has netted more subtle results.

"I think Michael has played pretty good at 4. He's done some things," Gentry said. "We've been able to put him in situations where I think he can be successful."

Beasley appears more comfortable and more engaged as a 4, where he's able to take advantage of his athleticism against bigger guys.

"I just feel good because I told myself to play good, whether I'm playing the 3 or the 4," he said. "It doesn't really matter to me. I just enjoy playing the game."

His opportunities have also increased according to Beasley. He just has not been able to take advantage of those opportunities.

Beasley admitted his shooting is at an "all-time low," which is accurate. His 37 percent field goal percentage is the worst of his five NBA seasons. He made three of his first four shots against Utah but then missed his last five attempts.

"My (left pinkie) finger is still kind of messed up but I'm tired of using that as an excuse," he said. "I'm going to just keep shooting. They're going to drop eventually."

Beasley's shooting, or lack thereof, is limiting his court time (three straight games playing fewer than 20 minutes) for the moment.

"He's smarter than us all," he said of Gentry. "Whoever he plays is definitely the right choice, for however long and at whatever position. All I can say is just be ready. When your name is called, be ready. Even if you only play five, ten games, just be ready because he's definitely got a plan.

"As long as it equals a ‘W'," Beasley added, "I'm definitely fine with it."

The place the Suns call home---US Airways Center, has hardly provided the home court advantage many teams, or at least many of the good teams, have in the NBA.

There was the one possession loss on opening night versus Golden State, the overtime defeat at the hands of Chicago and the valiant comeback attempt against Dallas: three losses by a combined 11 points.

And now a season-long five-game home stand has started with a 98-90 defeat to an Orlando team that was on the final game of a weeklong west coast trip.

"There's an opportunity here for us," head coach Alvin Gentry said of being at home for an extended period. "We've got to seize the moment if we're going to stay in this thing and be a factor as far as the race for a playoff spot."

The Suns could do themselves a huge favor moving in that direction with an improved effort defensively. In each of their last two games, they allowed their opponent to shoot better than 60-percent in the fourth quarter.

"It's tough to win these kind of games if the opponent is having open shots and keep knocking those shots (down)," Goran Dragic said.

On the season, the Suns find themselves 27th in points allowed, 28th in field goal defense and 29th in defending 3-pointers.

"We went through a tough time last year," Gentry said. "We kept plugging away at it and we found a way to get it turned around. We'll do the same thing this year."

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If nothing else, the Suns should be healthier by their next game, Wednesday against Memphis.

Dragic was back at practice, albeit on a limited basis, following a bout with the flu.

"I still feel weak," he said.

Dragic missed the Magic game after struggling the day before in L.A. against the Clippers. He said he's gained one pound from the six pounds he lost since Saturday.

The news is better on PJ Tucker, who has not played in the last two games after suffering a knee sprain almost a week ago against Dallas.

He returned Tuesday, going through his first full practice.

"I felt good. My knee feels good. I look good," Tucker said with a smile. "My wind is back. I've been riding the bike and getting my conditioning in so I'm ready for (Wednesday)."

Even before this new collection of players gathered for the first time back in September, the head coach made it clear this season was not going to be about him.

Yes, Alvin Gentry is in the final year of his contract. But no, it's not something he is concerning himself with on a daily basis.

What's foremost on his mind these days is how to dig his club out of its current hole. The Suns currently own the second-worst record in the Western Conference.

It's that 7-15 mark and season-high seven-game losing streak (longest such slide since 2003-04, the season before the return of Steve Nash) that has national pundits talking and asking questions of ownership.

Suns managing partner Robert Sarver recently told USA Today that Gentry "is not an issue for us this year. We're not looking to make a (coaching) change."

Sarver's support -- while on some level appreciated, is not anything Gentry needed to hear. In other words, it's not going to affect how he attacks his job, which is trying to lead the Suns to the playoffs, a destination they have not reached in either of the last two seasons.

"I don't really worry about that," he said Tuesday when asked about Sarver's comments. "I come to work. I do the best I can. I do everything that I can to prepare the team. That's out of my hands. That's not my decision so I don't spend time worry about it. I really don't.

"I try to get the team in the position for us to play," Gentry continued. "No one really likes to lose. No one likes to be in the situation that we're in. Me, the players, the assistant coaches, management or the ownership, no one likes to be in that situation. I'm not going to spend my time worry about that because I don't have any control over that. I have control over what goes on out here (on the court) and how hard we work and how we prepare and that's all that I'll ever do."

Typically, the Suns do not practice after back-to-back games.

However, there the team was Monday on the practice floor at US Airways Center for more than two hours, including a film session.

"We just needed to work," said head coach Alvin Gentry, who the night prior following the 98-90 loss to the Magic changed his mind and canceled the day off for his players.

"It wasn't really a punishment or anything. It's just that I just felt that we needed to come in and we needed to get the work done."

The Suns have lost seven straight games. It's their longest such slide since 2003-04, the season before Steve Nash returned.

"It's disturbing," Gentry said, "when Orlando is on the last game of a five-game trip…and they end up playing with a little more sense of urgency than we did."

The problem -- or at least one of them, according to Gentry is turnovers. Not so much how many they are committing (Suns are seventh-best at protecting the basketball), but when and what happens after they turn the ball over.

"We're giving up six lay-ups a game, or 5.4, off of our turnovers. That's ten points a game where they go dead to the basket and lay it in.

"We've got to play smarter basketball," Gentry continued. "We got to make easy plays and then we've got to complete plays. We're in a hole here and the only way we're going to get out is we got to dig ourselves out."

Jermaine O'Neal, now in his 17th season, has been here before. He was on an Indiana Pacers team that lost seven straight in 2001, and eight straight in 2007.

"It's easy to judge and pick and try to dissect what's wrong and why it's not going right from the outside looking in," he said, "but it's very difficult to win in this league.

"You try to keep your spirit up because the fact of the matter is that nobody is going to feel sorry for you."

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The Suns have started three different lineups in the last three games. A fourth different lineup is being considered with the club now eight games under .500.

"There can always be guys put back in the lineup or additional guys taken out," Gentry said. "Until we feel real comfortable with everything that is going on there's always going to be a chance that we can do that."

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Goran Dragic (sick), Sebastian Telfair (thigh bruise) and P.J. Tucker (knee sprain) all missed practice Monday.

That meant assistant coach Dan Majerle and player development coach Corey Gaines had to step in at times so the team could work 5-on-5.

"The frightening thing," Gentry said with a smile, "is that they were two of our better defenders."

Darnell Dockett is sorry.

He is sorry for what happened between him and teammate Kerry Rhodes.

"Me and Kerry had a very heated argument at a very heatful time in the game," he said following practice Wednesday. "Some things (happened) between me and him. I apologized to Kerry. Kerry forgave me; and that's it. I look at Kerry as one of my brothers. I respect him. I've got no issues with Kerry."

Dockett though did have an issue with what was being asked of him at the time, which led to the argument.

"It was a situation that we totally didn't agree on," he said.

Dockett would not go into specifics but it's clear from listening to the nine-year veteran, he did not agree with the strategy to let the Jets score on purpose in order for the Cardinals to get the ball back.

"It was something I don't believe in, something I didn't understand. It was frustrating at the time," he said. "At the end of the day I am never, never going to lay down and quit. I've been playing football for over 20 years. I've given this organization, I've given Florida State, I've given my high school everything I've got. I love the game. I play with passion. I will never quit. I love what I do."

The question now is whether Dockett faces any discipline.

"I don't know," he said. "I can't control that. Any time I get on the field I'm going to play my ass off. Whatever decision is whatever. It's out of my hands."

"That's an in-house matter," head coach Ken Whisenhunt said. "We've handled it in-house and we're going to move forward."

No one would fault the Arizona Cardinals defense if there was some anger or resentment towards their counterparts on the other side of the football.

The defense has done its job, for the most part. The offense -- 95 total points (11.8 avg.) during the eight-game losing streak, has not.

Yet, you won't find any finger pointing in the Cardinals' locker room. They remain one solid unit.

"I think it's what you do," Kerry Rhodes said. "We're in this together as a team."

But it can't be easy, especially as of late.

The defense has forced 11 turnovers in the last three games. The offense, however, has shown very little from that good fortune. Only a field goal was scored off of four turnovers at the Jets Sunday.

"We've invested so much in this year to do what we can do and try to be the best we can," Rhodes said. "We know the offense is doing that. We're doing that as well. We're not perfect on the defensive side of the ball either. Until we have a perfect game and we shut somebody out and they have zero yards, then we can't say anything."

Dan Williams, coming off one of his better games as a pro, agreed.

"As a defense," he said, "we know our job is to keep the other team from scoring. No matter what, we have to keep those guys out of the end zone or from getting field goals; just try to keep the score at zero if we can."

It started Week 1, and it's continued each week thereafter: NFL head coaches praising the Cardinals defense when speaking to the local media on the weekly conference call.

"They're really a problem," Seattle's Pete Carroll said.

"They're impressive," Miami's Joe Philbin said.

"They will hit you," Buffalo's Chan Gailey said.

"They create havoc," Minnesota's Leslie Frazier said.

Call it coachspeak if you want -- Bill Belichick rattled off nine different Cardinals defenders during his chat with reporters, but the message is always the same: praise and respect for one of the top defenses in the league.

"You see one of the best units in the National Football League is what you see (on film)," Andy Reid said before the Eagles visited University of Phoenix Stadium. "It's hard to find weaknesses in them."

The Cardinals defense has been one of the few bright spots in a season growing dim with each passing Sunday.

This week the unit was again a hot topic when Jets head coach Rex Ryan held his conference call:

"I look at the Arizona Cardinals, you look at that defense, and it's one of the best defenses in the National Football League and an extremely talented group," he said unsolicited. "To me, you have four or five Pro-Bowl players on that defense. There are two big guys up front with (Darnell) Dockett and (Calais) Campbell, and then you have Patrick Peterson, that might be one of the rarest athletes I think I've ever seen."

It's this kind of talk -- from his peers, that has defensive coordinator Ray Horton among the top names on the list of future head coach candidates.

Rich Ohrnberger was the center of attention Wednesday, both literally and figuratively.

The three-year veteran has played in all 11 games this season. This week, though, he slides into the starting center position after the season-ending knee injury to Lyle Sendlein.

"I'm just going out there," Ohrnberger said, "trying to keep things the way they've been and do as best a job as I can."

Sunday will be his first-ever start at center and only his third start overall.

In contrast, Sendlein's 75 consecutive regular season starts were the third-most among centers in the NFL behind Baltimore's Matt Birk (107) and Houston's Chris Myers (91).

"At least Rich has been getting some reps in practice with the second team," head coach Ken Whisenhunt said. "So hopefully, and he's played some this year, the transition will be smooth enough."

Ohrnberger believes it will be.

"It's really no difference," he said. "Right guard (his natural position) you have your right hand on the ground. Center you have your right hand on the ball."

Admittedly, Ohrnberger will have more responsibility. It's typically the center's job to call out the blocking assignments before each snap.

Add to that,having a rookie quarterback making just his second career start, and doing so on the road in a hostile environment

"(Ryan Lindley) has shown great poise all season long, even when he was just in a reserve role," Ohrnberger said. "His confidence is unwavered. I have a lot of respect for Ryan. We're comfortable with each other so it's good."

Comfortable enough to have his hands between your legs?

"Always have been," Ohrnberger said with a smile. "I accept all comers really when it comes to that."

Fifty-seven days have passed since the Cardinals last won a ballgame.

Fifty-seven days.

"I am pretty much lost for words now after seven weeks of saying the same thing."

That was Larry Fitzgerald Sunday.

Monday, head coach Ken Whisenhunt acknowledged the mounting frustration, especially coming from outside the locker-room.

"Well, listen, we are disappointed," he said, "and I understand the fans' frustration and disappointment. We've set the bar high by having had the success that we have had, and we aren't living up to that right now."

This is the Cardinals' second seven-game losing streak in three seasons -- sandwiched around a six-game losing streak in 2011.

The team is three years removed from its last playoff appearance and four years removed from the Super Bowl run in 2008.

"It's part of the job," Whisenhunt said after being asked about his own job security for a second straight day. "There's a lot of speculation about everything and I think you have to have thick skin."

Whisenhunt is 14-24 over his last 38 games.

A lot of the team's recent struggles can be directly attributed to the revolving door at quarterback. The Cardinals have played at least three quarterbacks in each of the past three seasons.

"I think that whenever you have change at any position there's always something that you lose, and we have had a lot of turnover," Whisenhunt said. "We have had a lot of injuries this year and that's affected us, but nobody cares. They expect you to have success. Our opponents don't care. I'll give our fans credit. They do. They have been very supportive, at least the ones in my interaction with them, but this is about winning. If you don't win games, it's tough."