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The excitement that followed Jalen Lecque from New Hampshire to Phoenix will travel with him to Prescott Valley on Monday as the undrafted rookie free agent joins the Northern Arizona Suns roster for training camp.
Lecque will join an intriguing roster of young players in Prescott Valley, where the project of developing the athletic prep-to-pro guard will begin.
Still, Lecque will be the focus of the developmental energy of the NAZ coaching staff. The front office surrounded Lecque with more talented players than you’ll find on most G League rosters. Coaches will be able to spend less time educating the rest of the roster and spend more time on Lecque, who may need more of a hands-on approach than pro veterans.
If his time in Phoenix was any indication, this is exactly what will happen.
The player development staff putting in detailed work with Jalen Lecque on his shot pic.twitter.com/MJLb6XOpdA
— Brendon Kleen (@BrendonKleen14) October 19, 2019
The NAZ front office is excited about what the playmaking of two-way signee Jared Harper and No. 1 overall pick in the G League draft Anthony Lawrence can do for Lecque.
You may recognize several other names on the NAZ roster. Suns training camp additions David Kramer, Norense Odiase and Tariq Owens will wear orange and purple up north, as will last-second affiliate player Troy Williams. The Suns signed and then immediately released Williams on NBA roster finalization day to get his G League rights. This is basically the G League equivalent of “dibs” on a player.
Williams has played parts of the past three seasons in the NBA and theoretically could become a 3-and-D guy some day. His career rate from deep is just 29.9 percent, though.
Really, the focus is Lecque. Development anywhere else on the roster is icing on the cake. The Suns right now are trying to establish Prescott Valley as the junior varsity version of Phoenix and setting the same types of cultural and schematic norms they’ve worked hard this summer to install with the NBA roster.
Expect Lecque to spend the majority of his season with NAZ unless injuries or other situations force the Suns to bring Lecque up as depth for NBA games.
Being that Lecque is on a full NBA contract, the Suns can use Lecque any time they want/need in Phoenix as the season progresses.