A day after one Internet site story quoted him saying he wants to be the featured player in Phoenix the way Dwyane Wade is in Miami -- and that he's now not sure if the switch from Mike D'Antoni to Porter was beneficial in that pursuit -- Stoudemire took 10 shots and managed 14 points with four of Phoenix's 19 turnovers in an ugly 107-92 loss to the Heat.

The loss came with Phoenix missing its key ingredient -- point guard Steve Nash was held out after taking a knee to the thigh in a previous game.

Meanwhile, Wade lit up the Suns for 43 points on 15-for-24 shooting from the field and 11-for-12 from the line, leading his team to the easy win.

"I put in a lot of hard work in the offseason to take that next step to really be in the class of D-Wade and LeBron (James) and Dwight (Howard)," he said. "They denied me the ball, they double-teammed me, so it was tough for me out there.

"I'm a little frustrated, but I'm just going to keep working, keep trying to find it and be patient with the offense. Anywhere inside the 3-point line I can score. But it's not an individual game. Some consistency would be great for me, so I could know what to look for and how to attack and not be off-balance or surprised that I have (the ball.)."

Stoudemire also told the Web site that he often thinks about joining James and Chris Bosh in the 2010 free agent pool.

"Absolutely! You have to look at those opportunities because this is a business and you want to explore every option," he said. "I guarantee you every owner will explore their options, especially when a player's contract is up. So it's the same for players. It's definitely the same for me.

"As a player, you should look at the teams you might want to play for. The city you may want to live in. The system you may want to play in. The economy. The cost of living. Everything. It's about what's best for you."

HEAT 107, SUNS 92: From the 19 turnovers that came early and often to the matador defense against Dwyane Wade and his crew, the Suns stunk up US Airways Center -- where they are a pedestrian 4-4 this season -- and there was no use denying it.

"From start to finish it was probably the worst game of the year," Suns coach Terry Porter said of the wire-to-wire loss in which the Suns trailed by double-digits seemingly all night. "The dreaded turnovers came into play and we just made some poor decisions."

And for a team that has spent three months working on defense -- to the detriment of what they used to do better than anyone -- Friday's effort showed that there is still a long way to go on that end.

When Wade wasn't lighting up the futile single-coverage attempts of Raja Bell for 43 points on 15-for-24 shooting, the rest of his teammates were rambling toward the hoop unimpeded.