With the NBA season starting later this month, the Phoenix Suns tipped off their 2010-11 campaign locally. The Suns held training camp at UCSD’s RIMAC Arena from Sept. 28 to Oct. 3, calling La Jolla home for a week. “It gives you a chance to bond with your team,” said Suns head coach Alvin Gentry. “You’re kind of away from home and the guys eat together and hang out together.” The Suns squeezed in eight conditioning-heavy practices and a full scrimmage in their six days at RIMAC Arena, including two-a-days Sept. 28-30. The last day of camp was followed by a visit to Qualcomm Stadium to drop in on a pro neighbor also visiting San Diego, the Arizona Cardinals. “It’s team bonding, working hard, having fun and coming out of camp feeling more comfortable with one another,” said Suns forward Grant Hill. “I think we’re moving in that direction.” Gentry said team unity and the weather — even though Phoenix’s stay included record heat and a day of thunderstorms — were the main reasons Steve Nash and Co. brought their training camp to San Diego for the second year in a row. The return trip, however, also had a superstitious aspect. “We had good luck here in the San Diego area and we hope to repeat that,” Hill said. After holding camp at the University of San Diego prior to last season, the Suns went 54-28 and advanced to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in four seasons, losing to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers in six games. The Suns are shooting for similar success this year. “We felt like last year with a couple of breaks maybe we could have scared the Lakers into a seventh game,” Gentry said. “Our goal is to see if we can get back to that level. It’s important to try and maintain that level and we don’t want to take a step back.” Maintaining a high level started at UCSD for a Suns team that saw a fair amount of roster turnover in the offseason. Six players are gone from last year’s team, most notably center Amare Stoudemire, the team’s leader in scoring and rebounding who signed a maximum free agent contract with the New York Knicks over the summer. “Even if you have everybody returning, you still have to work hard and come together as a team,” Hill said. “We have some new faces, so it’s important for us to work together and use this as a chance to get familiar with one another as we come out of camp.” The biggest of the new faces is Hedo Turkoglu, who came to Phoenix in an offseason trade that sent Leandro Barbosa to the Toronto Raptors. A 10-year veteran, Turkoglu is expected to shoulder some the scoring load in the Suns’ uptempo attack. “He’s what we thought he was,” Gentry said. “He’s a facilitator, shoots the ball well from three-point range, and you can put it in his hand at the end of the game and he can create a shot for himself or someone else.” Other newcomers include forward Hakim Warrick, guard Josh Childress, veteran point guard Chucky Atkins and a group of five rookies. Not all these players in San Diego will make it to Phoenix, however, as the Suns have to cut five players from their 20-man preseason roster before the season gets underway. “Obviously, Steve is going to start and Grant is going to start and Jason Richardson is going to start, but even the guys battling those guys are giving a good fight out there,” Gentry said. “That’s going to be good for us, because the harder we can play against our teammate and the more effort we can make them put out, then we become a better team.” Off the court, the Suns stayed at the Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa near UCSD. In slightly different surroundings than 2009, the team still had a positive stay in San Diego. “This is a great place to be and the people here have been phenomenal the past two years,” Gentry said. The Suns began their preseason at the Sacramento Kings on Oct. 5. They open up the regular season at the Portland Trailblazers on Oct. 26.