Former James Madison post player Denzel Bowles (Virginia Beach, Va./Kempsville) is part of the 15-man roster unveiled this week for the New Orleans Hornets in the 2012 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
Fresh off his MVP performance in the Phillipine Basketball Commissioner’s Cup, Bowles will see his first official NBA competition in the July league playing primarily alongside fellow NBA newcomers. The Hornets’ summer roster includes NBA Draft top pick Anthony Davis and former Duke guard Austin Rivers among other noteworthy recent college and foreign players.
The Hornets will conduct a mini-camp in New Orleans July 11-13 before shifting workouts to Las Vegas July 14. Five games are scheduled over the course of seven days, including Portland July 15 (10:30 p.m. ET), Milwaukee July 16 (10:30), Phoenix July 18 (8:30), Dallas July 20 (10:30) and Golden State July 21 (6:30). All games are scheduled for the Thomas and Mac Center and will be televised on NBATV.
Bowles led B-MEG Llamados to the PBA championship in the spring and was named the league’s Best Import. He poured in 39 points with 21 rebounds in the series-clinching game seven victory, including two free throws in the final seconds to force overtime and 11 of the team’s 14 points in the extra session. He averaged 26.3 points and 12.5 rebounds while shooting 51 percent from the field in 24 games for the Llamados. Prior to the PBA, Bowles played 26 games for BC Siauliai in Lithuania.
Bowles played two seasons at JMU and reached the top 20 on the career scoring chart with 1,101 points. He also ranks fourth in JMU history in field goal percentage (.587), fourth in scoring average (19.0), second in rebounding average (9.0) and second in double-doubles (26).
In his senior season in 2010-11, he led JMU to a 21-12 campaign and earned First Team All-CAA honors after ranking third in the league with 17.6 points per game and third with 8.8 rebounds per game. As a junior, he became the first player in CAA history to lead the league in scoring (20.8), rebounding (9.2) and field goal percentage (.594). Bowles transferred to JMU after beginning his collegiate career at Texas A&M.
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