Suns sign Amundson to complete bench

Suns general manager Steve Kerr was never comfortable with the names or games on the Phoenix bench last season. But between the contracts of Marcus Banks and Eric Piatkowski and the reluctance of the coaching staff to use Brian Skinner and Sean Marks, the makeover would have to wait.

Now, after drafting Robin Lopez and Goran Dragic — whom the Suns still hope to have in uniform this season — and signing big man Louis Amundson to a two-year deal on Thursday, Kerr has the kind of aggressive energy and defensive tone that will give new coach Terry Porter plenty of options.

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“We needed a different kind of bench, one with guys who can change the flow and course of a game with an effective five minutes here and there,” Kerr said. “We had some scorers last year, but when those shots didn’t go in we had a hard time. The guys we’ve added this season will bring the kind of energy that will be there every night and make us a more complete unit.”

The 25-year-old Amundson, who was a first-team selection in the NBA Developmental League two years ago, got into 16 games with Philadelphia last year. The Suns have liked him every since he came out of UNLV three years ago, and Porter liked what he saw when Admundson put up eight points, 11 rebounds and four blocks against Detroit in the 2006-07 season finale.

Amundson will make just more than $717,000 this year and there is a club option for 2009-10.

“I know they want me to come in and play defense and run the floor and I love doing both,” said Amundson, who further impressed the Suns while playing for Golden State in the Vegas Summer League. “I figured I was going to (wind up in) Golden State or Phoenix and when you look at the Suns roster, I can’t wait to start playing with those guys. Look at the roster — Steve Nash, Shaq (O’Neal), Grant Hill, Amaré (Stoudemire) and it just goes on and on.”

Amundson was in the Valley and working out with some of his new teammates Thursday.

Kerr said the Suns went with the Amundson over Marks to continue a trend toward getting younger and more athletic on both ends of the floor.

“We thought about bringing back Sean or Brian Skinner (who signed with the Clippers last month), but we wanted to continue that up-tick with energy,’ he said. “We have people who can handle the scoring. We want to add people who bring toughness and other dimensions.”