Teen blazes trail to NBA with Suns

Undrafted rookie Lecque skips college, takes his shot with pros

It’s hard to temper excitement when discussing Jalen Lecque.

The 19-year-old, undrafted rookie represents a disruptive force that could undermine the exploitative system running college basketball.

He also might help signal a new era for the Phoenix Suns. (No pressure, young fella.)

The good thing is, he’s not thinking of any of that. He’s just trying to get used to playing pro ball after

coming to the NBA straight out of high school.

“It’s a great opportunity,” he said during a break from signing autographs for kids at Phoenix Children’s Hospital on Tuesday. He was there to present a $250,000 donation from the Phoenix Suns that will go primarily toward technology. (He chatted with one youngster via a video chat hooked to a robot.)

“I just look at everything as an opportunity. And the opportunity I was given was to play against pros every day and to learn from them … just learning every day, but also being competitive on and off the court with everything I do. It’s just helping me to become a better person.”

‘The most explosive leapers’

Lecque is known primarily for his spring-loaded calves that have turned him into something of an urban legend. He’s been YouTube famous for a couple of years now, and he didn’t disappoint when he showed up at the NBA draft combine and put up a 43-inch vertical jump.

It was the highest score of the camp, and a scouting report said he was “among the most explosive leapers in combine history.” For the sake of context, the measurement put Lecque in a class with guys like Dominique Wilkins, Clyde Drexler, Shawn Kemp, Vince Carter and Dr. J. Of course, if bunnies, hops and ups were all it took to find success, guys like Harold Miner, Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine would be All-Stars.

But Lecque doesn’t seem at all afraid of hard work. Just consider whom he’s most looking forward to going against now that he’s in the NBA. “Everybody,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to playing against everybody on the basketball court,” he added. “It should be a great opportunity for me to get better this year.”

He downplays his decision to opt out of playing NCAA ball, saying glowing things about NC State, where he originally committed to play.

But stop and consider what he did. Rather than subject himself to a filthy network of scouts, handlers and runners who in recent years have used a byzantine web of cash, phony classes and even prostitutes to entice teenage basketball players and their families, Lecque took a fifth year in high school. (A move that satisfies the NBA’s “one-and-done” rule.)

He attended Brewster Academy (New Hampshire) and focused on getting his game NBA-ready — especially on defense.

“I just had to make the best decision for me and my family,” he said.

If he has any success whatsoever (and the guess here is that he makes the Suns roster — and who knows? Maybe he gets a shot in the dunk contest over All-Star Weekend?) it will mark a new path to the NBA for players who have career aspirations that don’t include pretending to be a student for three months while they enrich college administrators and coaches but not themselves.

‘I’m around their same age’

As for the Suns, Lecque fits in with a nucleus of guys known for getting good grades and staying out of trouble. (Jevon Carter and Ty Jerome were Academic All-Americans. Cam Johnson graduated from Pitt with honors in three years before transferring to North Carolina.)

Lecque comes off as the kind of youngster you wouldn’t mind giving the keys to your car.

It was apparently his idea to visit the children’s hospital. “Just seeing people like friends, family just go through the same thing,” he said.

He just wanted to boost spirits, play air hockey and pose for a few pictures.

“These kids, I can kinda relate to,” he said. “I’m around their same age. I just want to talk to them like regular human beings, which they are. (It’s important) not to treat them different and just focus on what’s on the inside, not what’s on the outside.”

As for the Suns, there’s no doubt that with veterans like Ricky Rubio and Dario Saric and a new coach in Monty Williams that they’re going to be better.

How much better is an open question in the West, but Lecque wants to be part of a foundation that takes the first step toward returning the Suns to glory.

“The challenge was accepted as soon as I signed that paper to become a Phoenix Sun,” he said. “The pressure’s not on. This journey has just begun.”