PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns today signed guard Gordan Giricek (gor-DAHN GEAR-ah-check) for the remainder of the season, the team announced. Giricek became available when he was waived on Feb. 29 by the Philadelphia 76ers, who acquired him from the Utah Jazz on Dec. 29, 2007.

“We are excited to add a player of Gordan’s caliber,” said Suns President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Steve Kerr. “He is an excellent shooter, a solid defender and a proven playoff performer.”

The 6-6, 220-pound Giricek joins his fifth NBA team after playing parts of six seasons with Memphis (2002-03), Orlando (2003-04), Utah (2004-07) and Philadelphia (2007-08). Giricek, who scored a career-high 33 points at US Airways Center against the Suns on March 12, 2004, has established career averages of 9.6 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 23.2 minutes in 362 games.

The 30-year-old guard shot a career-best 42.6 percent from beyond the arc in 2006-07 with the Jazz and owns a 36.7-percent career three-point average. In 24 career postseason games, “Gira” is a 46.3-percent shooter from three-point range after connecting on 53.8 percent (14-of-26) of his long range attempts in the 2007 NBA Playoffs during Utah’s run to the Western Conference Finals.

Born in Zagreb, Croatia, Giricek captained the Croatian National Team in the 2005 European Championships. Giricek played professionally in Croatia from 1989-2001 and in Russia in 2001-02 before coming to the NBA. During that span, he won five-straight championships with Cibona Zagreb (1997-2001) and played in four Croatian League All-Star Games, including All-Star MVP performances in 1999 and 2000. Originally selected by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round of the 1999 NBA Draft (41^st overall), he was traded to San Antonio and then Memphis, where he began his NBA career.

The Suns roster now stands at 14. An updated roster is attached.

The Suns (39-20) sit just 2.5 games out of the top spot in the highly-competitive Western Conference and tonight kick-off their two-game road swing through Portland and Denver by taking on the Trail Blazers (31-29) at the Rose Garden. Slated to tip-off at 8 p.m. Phoenix time, the game can be seen on My45 or heard on Sports 620 KTAR.

GORDAN GIRICEK REGULAR SEASON STATISTICS

SEASON TEAM G MINS FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PTM 3PTA 3PT% OREB DREB TREB R/G AST A/G PF DQ STL BLK PTS AVG

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2002-03 MEM 49 1187 207 478 .433 88 107 .822 46 130 .354 18 90 108 2.2 70 1.4 104 0 22 6 548 11.2

2002-03 ORL 27 961 143 325 .440 62 76 .816 39 119 .328 18 112 130 4.8 67 2.5 55 0 30 2 387 14.3

2002-03 76 2148 350 803 .436 150 183 .820 85 249 .341 36 202 238 3.1 137 1.8 159 0 52 8 935 12.3

2003-04 ORL 48 1435 188 427 .440 67 81 .827 46 113 .407 37 127 164 3.4 80 1.7 98 0 41 10 489 10.2

2003-04 UTA 25 606 128 297 .431 68 77 .883 14 39 .359 14 48 62 2.5 42 1.7 46 0 15 5 338 13.5

2003-04 73 2041 316 724 .436 135 158 .854 60 152 .395 51 175 226 3.1 122 1.7 144 0 56 15 827 11.3

2004-05 UTA 81 1660 283 632 .448 111 137 .810 38 105 .362 25 157 182 2.2 137 1.7 155 1 46 11 715 8.8

2005-06 UTA 37 956 166 383 .433 43 57 .754 18 59 .305 15 55 70 1.9 63 1.7 87 0 16 4 393 10.6

2006-07 UTA 61 1188 176 381 .462 71 87 .816 52 122 .426 24 105 129 2.1 63 1.0 122 1 28 5 475 7.8

2007-08 UTA 22 279 41 102 .402 1 1 1.000 12 34 .353 6 25 31 1.4 16 0.7 24 0 13 1 95 4.3

2007-08 PHI 12 110 13 41 .317 6 8 .750 5 15 .333 1 13 14 1.2 11 0.9 9 0 3 1 37 3.1

2007-08 34 389 54 143 .378 7 9 .778 17 49 .347 7 38 45 1.3 27 0.8 33 0 16 2 132 3.9

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NBA TOTALS 362 1345 .439 631 270 .367 732 2.5 1.5 2 45 9.6

8382 3066 517 .819 736 158 890 549 700 214 3477

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