Depending upon the mock draft website and, more important, the number of international players moving up on NBA radar screens, Monarch High School graduate Louis Amundson of Nevada-Las Vegas and Wyoming’s Justin Williams could make it four consecutive years the Mountain West Conference produces a first-round pick in the NBA draft.
Both forwards measured 6-feet-8 at the pre-draft camp in Orlando, Fla., this month, and both helped themselves during the workouts and games.
Amundson has worked hard to improve his all-around game. A career 50.3 percent free-throw shooter at UNLV, he hit 57.5 percent of his attempts as a senior after making just 28.8 percent of his attempts as a junior. His assets are his work ethic and desire to scrap for every ball.
Williams was named MWC defensive player of the year as a junior and senior at Wyoming.
The junior college transfer set his sights on Theo Ratliff’s school single-season record for blocked shots. He broke it with a triple-double in the MWC Tournament semifinals this year and was second nationally with an average of 5.4 blocks per game.
“Amundson is an undersized Jeff Foster who helped himself at Orlando by making every hustle play (tip-ins, offensive rebounds, loose balls),” said an Eastern Conference executive requesting anonymity.
The same executive projected Williams as an early second- round pick in the draft Wednesday, saying: “He’s one of the top shot blockers in the draft. He’s very limited offensively but will be on an NBA roster next year simply because of his ability to block shots and make athletic plays.”
Amundson had six team workouts as of a week ago, including one with the Nuggets. He credited UNLV coach Lon Kruger, a former NBA coach with Atlanta, in part for mapping out his game plan for the camp in Orlando.
“I tried not to worry about getting the ball. If you give it up, you rarely (as a big man) get it back. I just tried to affect the game in as many ways as possible with defense, running the floor and blocking shots,” Amundson said.
He didn’t attract much recruiting attention out of Monarch after transferring from Boulder High School for his senior year. Many college athletes face adversity with homesickness, illness, a coaching change or personal loss, but it was all of the above for Amundson.
Growing up in Boulder, which has an extensive college campus, he had an adjustment at a school with a primarily commuter base. Then a staph infection forced him to take a medical redshirt his second season at UNLV. The worst blow came in summer 2003 when a former Monarch teammate, Billy Feeney, committed suicide.
Amundson played his sophomore year at UNLV with a heavy heart, and Rebels coach Charlie Spoonhour stepped down in midseason. But Amundson’s career took off during the two years he played for Kruger.
After all the adversity, “It makes it that much more rewarding to be in this position,” Amundson said. “It makes it sweet to have the opportunity to play well. What I have in front of me now is a cool feeling.”
Denver resident and radio talk show host Popeye Jones, a former NBA player whose career included a stint with the Nuggets, helped coach in Orlando and said of Amundson: “He goes over the top of four guys, grabs the ball with two hands and dunks. Everyone’s mouth just dropped. No one knew, even me, that the kid was that athletic.”
Jones said Williams “may be the best shot blocker in his class. … I don’t know if he’ll be a first-round pick, but he’ll definitely be drafted. … Amundson has a chance in the late first to early second.”
SI.com has Williams going 24th in the first round while noting “a player with Williams’ shot-blocking ability comes around only once every few years.” NBAdraft.net projects Amundson as the last pick in the first round. Draftexpress.com lists both in the second round.
Williams, who hopes to be the first NBA draft pick out of Wyoming since Ratliff in 1995, said he has had workouts for nine or 10 teams with Portland calling him back for a second look.
Now, it’s just a waiting game.
“It’s like recruiting in college, only you’re not the one making the decision,” Williams said.
Staff writer Marc J. Spears contributed to this report.
Staff writer Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303-820-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
NBA spotlight on
Mountain West
Louis Amundson of Nevada-Las
Vegas and Justin Williams of
Wyoming could continue a string of Mountain West Conference players selected in the first round of the NBA draft:
Player, school Year
Andrew Bogut, Utah 2005
Pick: First, by Milwaukee
Danny Granger, New Mexico 2005
Pick: 17th, by Indiana
Rafael Araujo, BYU 2004
Pick: Eighth, by Toronto
Marcus Banks, UNLV 2003
Pick: 13th, by Memphis (traded to Boston)
