April 11, 2007
LAS VEGAS - Former UNLV men's basketball player Louis Amundson has been named as the NBA Development League's 2006-07 Rookie of the Year, which was selected by the league's head coaches.
Amundson, split time this season between the Colorado 14ers of the D-League and the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and Utah Jazz.
Allocated to Colorado by the D-League, Amundson played in 25 games (25 starts) for the 14ers between stints with the Jazz and 76ers. He averaged 11.1 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.5 blocked shots per game, converting 117-of-208 field goal attempts. Colorado was 19-6 with the 6-9, 225-pound forward in the lineup.
After completing a pair of 10-day contracts with both the Jazz and the 76ers, Amundson was signed for the remainder of the season by Philadelphia on March 28. Amundson joins Will Bynum (Roanoke 2005-06), James Thomas (Roanoke 2004-05), Desmond Penigar (Asheville, 2003-04), Devin Brown (Fayetteville, 2002-03) and Fred House (Charleston, 2001-02) as winners of the annual award.
Amundson came to UNLV in 2001 from Boulder, Colo., where he played at Monarch High School in Louisville, Colo. He wrapped up his fifth season with the Runnin' Rebels in 2005-06 (he sat out the 2002-03 season as a medical redshirt).
He played in 120 career games for UNLV and started 68, turning in a career shooting percentage of 53.5 percent. When he left UNLV, he ranked seventh on the UNLV career blocked shots list with 120 and recorded 668 career rebounds, which was one shy of No. 10 on the all-time UNLV rebounding list.
As a senior in 2005-06, Amundson was named to the All-Mountain West Conference second team and was also selected to the USBWA All-District 8 squad. He was named to the NABC All-District 15 second team and was an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 8 second team selection.
He started all 29 games he appeared in as a senior and led the team in scoring with 14.3 ppg, rebounding with 8.6 rpg and blocked shots with 1.3 bpg. He finished third in the MWC in rebounding and seventh in scoring. He became the only player in MWC history to have two 20-point/20-rebound games in a career when he scored 22 points and grabbed 21 rebounds vs. Hawaii.
