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The Phoenix Suns had their eyes on former UNLV forward Louis Amundson for a while before signing him as a free agent Thursday.
New coach Terry Porter liked what he saw in the 6-foot-9 banger during the playoffs, when Porter was an assistant in Detroit and Amundson played for Philadelphia against the Pistons.
Porter got the Phoenix job after Mike D’Antoni bolted for the New York Knicks, and Porter and Suns president of basketball operations and general manager Steve Kerr watched Amundson closely this summer.
At the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, Amundson averaged 6.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 17.6 minutes for Golden State.
Amundson, 25, played sparingly for Utah and Philadelphia the past two seasons. He will make $711,517 in Phoenix, and the Suns have an option to bring him back in 2009-10
After working out with new teammates Boris Diaw and D.J. Strawberry on Thursday, Amundson told the Arizona Republic that he’s a high-energy, athletic player who can run the floor.
"I take pride in my defense,” he said. “I like to get in there and change the game with my athleticism."
Porter, Kerr and David Griffin, the Suns’ vice president of basketball operations, raved about Amundson’s physical style and potential.
They viewed him as a perfect fit, with draftee Robin Lopez out of Stanford, for the team’s youth movement toward defense. They will back up Amare Stoudemire and Shaquille O’Neal.
Under D’Antoni, an assistant on the U.S. national team currently playing in the Olympics in China, the Suns were an electric team, vowing to score within seven seconds. But they failed to reach the NBA Finals.
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