June 29, 2000

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Reed Rawlings did not become the first Samford University basketball player to be drafted since 1982 in Minneapolis, but he will get his shot at the NBA. Rawlings has been invited to the Houston Rockets summer league tryout. The summer league is a six-week period where teams have the opportunity to evaluate non-drafted players. At the end of the six-week period the Rockets could offer the 6-7 Rawlings a free-agent contract.

Rawlings will have the opportunity to play the shooting guard position at the Rockets camp. He will be tutored by Rockets head coach Rudy Tomjanovich and some of the Houston players. Rawlings had a tryout with Houston earlier in the summer and impressed Tomjanovich enough to be invited back to the Rockets camp.

Rawlings averaged 14.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in his senior season at Samford where he led the Bulldogs to their second straight NCAA tournament appearance. In the Bulldogs first round loss to Syracuse, Rawlings scored 28 points on 8-12 shooting.