Ervin Johnson Jr. (born December 21, 1967) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who is a community ambassador for the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). He played in the NBA for the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

, Denver Nuggets,

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

and

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

as a

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

from 1993 to 2006.

Early life

Johnson attended Block High School in

Jonesville, Louisiana Jonesville is the largest town in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, United States, at the confluence of the Ouachita, Tensas, and Little rivers. The three rivers become the Black River at Jonesville. The Jonesville population was 2,265 at the 2010 ...

, where he played

until he quit in the 10th grade. Three years removed from high school, he worked in a

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...

supermarket and had grown 8 inches when a friend suggested that he should try-out for the

New Orleans Privateers New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

, who did not have a big man. Privateers head coach

Tim Floyd Tim Floyd (born February 25, 1954) is a former American college basketball coach, most recently the head coach at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). He was formerly the head coach of several teams in the NCAA and the NBA. Floyd is also kn ...

offered Johnson a scholarship on sight despite the fact he had not played basketball in years.

College career

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 (1,608 points), first all-time in field goal percentage (59%), first all-time in double-doubles with 55, first all-time in rebounds with 1,287 (10.5 per game), third all-time in double-figure scoring games (81), eighth all-time in steals (109), second all-time in games played (123) and first all-time in blocks (294). 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 (40) was retired at

Lakefront Arena The Senator Nat G. Kiefer University of New Orleans Lakefront Arena (commonly Lakefront Arena or UNO Lakefront Arena) is an 8,933-seat multi-purpose arena located in New Orleans, Louisiana. The arena is home to the University of New Orleans New O ...

. 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

from the

University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is a member of the University of Louisiana System and the Urban 13 association. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High rese ...

, Johnson was selected 23rd overall by the

in the 1993 NBA draft, and played for the Sonics,

and

. On February 14, 1996, Johnson scored a career high 28 points, alongside grabbing 12 rebounds, in a win against the Timberwolves. Johnson and Seattle would make it to the

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

that postseason, before losing to the Bulls. The following season, after signing with the Nuggets, Johnson scored 19 points, grabbed 20 rebounds and blocked 5 shots on December 20 in a win against the

Vancouver Grizzlies The Vancouver Grizzlies were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Vancouver. They were part of the Midwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was established in 1995, along w ...

. That

year A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hou ...

, Johnson led the league in total defensive rebounds, with 682. During the 1997 offseason, Johnson was traded to the Bucks for

Danny Fortson Daniel Anthony Fortson (born March 27, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player. He played the power forward and center position in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1997 to 2007. Early life Although born in Philad ...

Johnny Newman John Sylvester Newman Jr. (born November 28, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player. A 6' 7" and shooting guard/small forward, Newman starred at the University of Richmond, before going on to play in the National Basketball ...

, and

Joe Wolf Joseph James Wolf (born December 17, 1964) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. Professional career He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was the 13th overall pick of the 1987 NBA Draft, selected ...

. On April 11, 1998, Johnson scored 24 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in a loss against the

New Jersey Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

. Johnson played a key role on the 2000-01 Bucks, grabbing a playoff career high 17 rebounds on May 15 against the

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

, and playing in every game of their playoff run leading up to their Game 7 loss (in which he started and played 42 minutes) in the Eastern Conference Finals against the 76ers. Three years later, now in Minnesota and 36 years old, Johnson played an important role on another team's deep playoff run. This time averaging 20 minutes a game in the playoffs, but still starting most games en route to a Western Conference Finals loss to the Lakers. Johnson returned to the Bucks for one season, and retired after the end of the 2006 NBA playoffs.

NBA career statistics

Source

Regular season

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Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

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Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

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, 82 , , 19 , , 24.2 , , .545 , , – , , .538 , , 7.5 , , .5 , , .5 , , 1.2 , , 3.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

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Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

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Playoffs

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, 18 , , 18 , , 14.1 , , .371 , , – , , .818 , , 3.9 , , .4 , , .3 , , .8 , , 3.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1999 , style="text-align:left;",

, 3 , , 2 , , 30.7 , , .462 , , – , , .500 , , 6.0 , , .3 , , .7 , , 1.7 , , 4.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

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Post-playing career

Johnson worked for the

as a community ambassador, he also hosts clinics to teach basketball fundamentals to children in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

References

External links

NBA.com Profile - Ervin Johnson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Ervin 1967 births Living people 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from New Orleans Centers (basketball) Denver Nuggets players Medalists at the 1991 Summer Universiade Milwaukee Bucks players Minnesota Timberwolves players New Orleans Privateers men's basketball players Seattle SuperSonics draft picks Seattle SuperSonics players Universiade gold medalists for the United States Universiade medalists in basketball