Joe Crispin, Penn State's second all-time leading men's basketball scorer, has signed a contract with the Phoenix Suns of the NBA.

The 6-foot rookie, who led the Nittany Lions to their first Sweet 16 appearance in 46 years last spring, agreed to a deal for the remainder of the NBA season. Financial terms were not disclosed.

"I'm excited about it," Crispin said in press release. "I'm real excited about it. I haven't had much time to think about it. I'm just here ready to play ball and have some fun and bring some energy."

The Suns had been eyeing Crispin for the past few weeks and their interest heated up recently when increased depth on the frontcourt allowed them the flexibility to waive forward Daniel Santiago, making room to get a backup point guard like Crispin.

"We've liked him all along," Suns head coach Scott Skiles said in a press release. "We feel like we were short one guard. There's been situations where we needed an extra point guard so we went out and got one."

In college, Crispin was known as one of the best pure shooters in the Big Ten, if not the nation, as evidenced by his three-point shooting contest title at the 2001 NCAA Final Four. He also led Penn State in field goals from behind the arc last season with 108.

"He's a shooter," Skiles said. "He's an all-around player. He knows how to run a team and he can make a shot. He's tough. He is hungry to try to make it in the NBA so he's a pretty good all-around player."

New teammate and fellow guard Penny Hardaway expressed similar praise.

"Joe is a player," he said. "He's really a fundamentally sound guard that can shoot the ball really well and is not going to make a lot of mistakes out there. He's played in a tough conference in college so I think that really prepared him for the league."

Crispin already has played in the league. In August, the Los Angeles Lakers signed the native of Pitman, N.J., to a free-agent contract and Crispin made the team out of training camp. He appeared in six games for the Lakers, scoring 10 points, including a career-high five against the Golden State Warriors Nov. 23.

However, only two days later, the Lakers released Crispin to make room for the return of guard Derek Fisher from injury.

"I think it was a question of numbers," Crispin said. "I think financial (reasons) might have been part of it. They have Derek Fisher and they have Lindsey (Hunter) so we are all the same type of players there. They had three guys there at that position."

Crispin then moved on to the Southern California Surf of the American Basketball Association and proceeded to dominate at that level, averaging 35 points in his three games.

"I definitely gained some more confidence because I was able to go down there and I felt after playing down there that," Crispin said. "When I was up with the Lakers, I was like, 'Man, can I play here' and then when I went back down I was like, 'I think I can play at this level.' "

Crispin has one unexpected adjustment to make upon returning to the NBA.

"I had to get used to the brown ball again," he said. "I've been using that red, white and blue ball (that the ABA employs in its games). It's a little bit different.

"(But) it was a lot of fun. It was very good for me personally. I played for (Surf coach and former NBA guard) Scott Brooks and he was phenomenal. He helped me quite a bit."

The ABA is a league that prides itself in entertaining its fans, something Crispin sees himself quite adept at.

"I hope I'm enjoyable to watch," he said. "I try to bring something extra to the table. I try to bring a lot of energy to the floor. Defensively, I try to pressure up and help out the best I can. Offensively, I can shoot the ball and spread out the defense and, at the same time, create."

Crispin led Penn State in scoring as a senior last year with 19.5 points per game and trails only Jesse Arnelle on the Lions' career scoring list.

But don't expect him to be setting any NBA scoring records, at least not any time soon.

"All the other places I've been at I've been asked to score a lot and this is an opportunity where I don't feel I have to do that," Crispin said.

But that doesn't mean he doesn't feel he can carve a niche for himself at the professional level.

"I was (confident I'd get back)," Crispin said. "I felt like I belonged up here. I felt like I could play here."