Ervin Johnson


Ervin Johnson is an American retired professional basketball center who played in the National Basketball Association from 1993 to 2006. He currently resides in Colorado as a community ambassador for the Denver Nuggets. He currently coaches the youth club basketball teams E.J. Hoops in Denver.

Early life and college career

After working in a Baton Rouge supermarket for almost three years, he went to college at the University of New Orleans, where he played for coach Tim Floyd.
UNO recorded 87 victories during Johnson's time in the program. They earned two NCAA tournament bids and one NIT tournament appearance. When he finished, he was the second all-time leading scorer in UNO history, first all-time in field goal percentage, first all-time in double-doubles with 55, first all-time in rebounds with 1,287, third all-time in double-figure scoring games, eighth all-time in steals, second all-time in games played and first all-time in blocks. Johnson was named All-American South Conference for the 1990-1991 season, All-Sun Belt Conference for the 1991-1992 season and was the 1992-1993 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year.
Johnson completed his degree in general studies from University of New Orleans during the 1996-97 NBA season, and was commencement speaker at graduation ceremonies.

Honors

Johnson was named Basketball Times 2nd Team All-American for 1992-93 and 3rd team All-American by Basketball Weekly and United Press International. He was named Honorable Mention All-American for the same season by the Associated Press.
Johnson was named MVP of the NABC All-America Game in 1993.
On December 29, 1997, his Privateer jersey was retired at Lakefront Arena.
In 2005, Johnson was named to the All-Time Men's Basketball Team for the Sun Belt Conference in celebration of the conference's 30th basketball season.

Professional career

A 6'11", 245-pound center from the University of New Orleans, Johnson was selected 23rd overall by the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1993 NBA draft, and played for the Sonics, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves and Milwaukee Bucks.
In the 1996-97 season, Johnson led the league in total defensive rebounds, with 682.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs