J.J. Avila to play for Houston Rockets in NBA summer league

J.J. Avila is officially a professional basketball player.

The former CSU forward was picked up by the Houston Rockets on Wednesday to become a member of their NBA summer league team.

Avila had been practicing with the Rockets all week on a tryout basis and had been repeatedly asking coaches when they'd announce who made the team. At 7 p.m., he received a text message shortly after leaving Houston's facility with good news.

"Honestly, the practices are pretty tough, so I was pretty tired, but when I got the text I got butterflies in my stomach. I won't lie, I was excited," Avila said. "I've been working hard to make a summer league team. There are a bunch of great guys on this team right now and I think we'll be really good."

Houston begins play in the Las Vegas Summer League on Sunday and he'll leave for Sin City on Thursday. The league's schedule runs through July 10-20.

Avila was a first-team All-Mountain West selection at Colorado State University last season when he averaged 16.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. He transferred to CSU from South Texas College in his hometown of McAllen, where he spent a year not playing organized basketball following two seasons at Navy.

Avila said his passing ability and innate ability to grab rebounds, especially on offense, will be his best bet for sticking around with the Rockets once the 2015-16 NBA season begins in the fall.

Houston is only a 5 1/2 hour drive from McAllen. Avila admits he never had a favorite NBA team growing up. That changed Wednesday.

"Hey, if they want me to be a fan, I'd be happy to," he said.

For insight and analysis on athletics around Northern Colorado and the Mountain West, follow sports columnist Matt L. Stephens at twitter.com/mattstephens and facebook.com/stephensreporting.