Jumaine Jones, now a free agent after a long, strange, useless season with the Suns, will work out with the for the New Jersey Nets next week, according to the Bergen Record. Desperate for shooting help after losing ex-Suns Eddie House to the Celtics, the Nets are also among the teams that will take in Allen Houston’s workout in New York. Jones, who averaged almost 11 points a game for Charlotte in 2005-06, signed with the Suns in hopes of improving those numbers and setting himself up for a big payday in the summer of 2007. But injuries and other problems left Jones on the end of the Phoenix bench — he played a grand total of 138 minutes in 18 games — and now he’s scrambling just to find a place in the league.

Suns players Steve Nash, Leandro Barbosa and Alando Tucker are heading to China next week as part of a team of NBA stars that will take on Yao Ming and the Chinese National Team at a gala charity basketball event on Sept 14 in Beijing. Suns trainer Aaron Nelson will also make the trip. Denver

As part of what might be a significant overhaul in the way NBA games are officiated in the future, the league

We have our first time change of the season (and with a team like the Suns, expect more to come). The Nov. 30 home game against the Orlando Magic has been kicked back an hour, from 8 p.m. to 7 p.m. It was orginally a late start because of the scheduled Grand Prix Arizona race through the streets of downtown Phoenix. But the Grand Prix was cancelled and the Suns will be able to start their engines at the normal time. The Suns also released their broadcast schedule for this season. All 82 games will be televised again — KUTP (My 45) has 41 games, with 34 of them on the road, while Fox Sports Arizona has 30 games (28 at home). The rest of the games are nationally televised by either ABC, ESPN, TNT or NBA-TV — and in many cases, fans will have their choice of national or local feeds since the Suns are on national TV 33 times. Remember, all 82 games are available in HDTV.

New Sun Grant Hill is a dad for the second time. Hill’s wife, R&B singer Tamia, presented him with a baby girl on Aug. 9 in Orlando. Lael Rose Hill weighed in at eight pounds, six ounces and joins her 5-year-old sister, Myla Grace, who was on hand for Hill’s press conference introducing him as a Sun in July. Hill is already in Phoenix, working out daily with a slew of teammates at US Airways Center. The Suns braintrust is very pleased with the way he’s moving and feel they’ve got an incredible steal for $1.8 million.Our favorite couple-next-door, Tamia and Grant Hill, recently celebrated the birth of Lael Rose Hill, their second child, on August 9 in Orlando, Florida. The newborn, who weighed in at 8 pounds and 6 ounces, joins big sis Myla Grace, 5.

After Brazil lost in the semifinals of the FIBA Tournament of Americas