Gary Ervin joins Dan Boyce on another episode of Aussie Hoopla to walk through his basketball journey and share memories of his time playing in the NBL.
Ervin was the NBL’s Most Valuable Player for the 2010–11 NBL season after racking up 20.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game playing for the Wollongong Hawks.
Ervin also spent time with the Townsville Crocodiles and Adelaide 36ers.
Ervin played 112 games in the NBL over four seasons and averaged 16.7 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists.
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Ervin lets us know there is a documentary soon to be released on his basketball career and shares his plans on returning to Australia sometime soon.
The 183cm guard started his basketball journey playing at Robeson High School in Brooklyn, New York before accepting a scholarship to play with Mississippi State.
In his freshman season at Mississippi State, Ervin was named in the 2004 SEC All-Freshman team after averaging 5.4 points, 2.5 assists, 1.1 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game.
He improved to 7.4 points, 2.4 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game in his sophomore season but decided to transfer to Arkansas University for his final two years of college basketball.
Alongside Patrick Beverly, the duo formed a formidable backcourt and they led the Razorbacks to the 2008 SEC Tournament final, finishing runners-up to the Georgia Bulldogs. He averaged 9.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.2 steals as a senior.
Ervin bounced around the NBA D-League before deciding to look overseas for playing opportunities after being seen by legendary NBL coach Brian Goorjian who encouraged him to look towards Australia.
Ervin also played for in Canada, Venezuelan, Ukraine and France before retiring.
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Topics include;
- Gary Ervin on what he’s been up to since leaving Australia (2:00)
- New York basketball and the night Ervin scored 30 points in 3 minutes (3:30)
- Playing in the Jordan Classic with LeBron James and Chris Paul (7:00)
- College basketball with Mississippi State and Arkansas (9:30)
- The NBA Draft experience (16:00)
- The G-League and fighting for an NBA spot (19:00)
- Finding his way to Australia and the Wollongong Hawks (22:00)
- Why he loves Australia and his comparing his other experiences playing overseas (28:00)
- Why he wishes he planned his career like Bryce Cotton (30:00)
- An up and down season with the Townsville Crocodiles (31:30)
- The championship that could have been with the Adelaide 36ers (37:00)
- Narrowly losing to the Perth Wildcats in the Grand Final (43:00)
- A return to Wollongong to wrap up his NBL career (45:30)
- Deciding to retire (47:30)
- Information on a Gary Ervin documentary coming out (49:00)
- What teams and players Gary loved to play against while in the NBL (51:00)
- Highlights and learnings from a career as a professional basketball (58:00)
All of this and a whole lot more…
