George Gervin

"Gervin" redirects here. For others with the surname, see Gervin (surname).

George Gervin

Gervin in 2008
Personal information
Born	(1952-04-27) April 27, 1952 Detroit, Michigan
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight	185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
High school	Martin Luther King (Detroit, Michigan)
College	Eastern Michigan (1970–1972)
NBA draft	1974 / Round: 3 / Pick: 40th overall
Selected by the Phoenix Suns
Playing career	1972–1990
Position	Shooting guard / Small forward
Number	44, 8
Career history
1972–1974	Virginia Squires (ABA)
1974–1985	San Antonio Spurs (ABA and NBA)
1985–1986	Chicago Bulls
1986–1987	Banco Roma (Italy)
1989	Quad City Thunder (CBA)
1989–1990	TDK Manresa (Spain)
Career highlights and awards
9× NBA All-Star (1977–1985) NBA All-Star Game MVP (1980) 5× All-NBA First Team (1978–1982) 2× All-NBA Second Team (1977, 1983) 4× NBA scoring champion (1978–1980, 1982) 3× ABA All-Star (1974–1976) 2× All-ABA Second Team (1975–1976) ABA All-Rookie First Team (1973) No. 44 retired by San Antonio Spurs NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team ABA All-Time Team
Career NBA and ABA statistics
Points	26,595 (25.1 ppg)
Rebounds	5,602 (5.3 rpg)
Assists	2,798 (2.6 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Basketball Hall of Fame as player
College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2006

George "The Iceman" Gervin (born April 27, 1952) is an American retired professional basketball player who played in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Virginia Squires, San Antonio Spurs, and Chicago Bulls. Gervin averaged at least 14 points per game in all 14 of his ABA and NBA seasons, and finished with an NBA career average of 26.2 points per game. Gervin is widely regarded to be one of the greatest shooting guards in NBA history.

Career

High school and college

Gervin attended Martin Luther King, Jr. High School, where he struggled on and off the court until he reached his senior year, when he had a growth spurt and averaged 31 points and 20 rebounds to lead his school to the state quarterfinals.

Gervin received a scholarship to play for Jerry Tarkanian at Long Beach State, but had such a culture shock that he returned home before the first semester was over. He transferred to Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan and averaged 29.5 points as a sophomore forward in 1971–72.

While competing in an NCAA College Division national semifinal game in Evansville, Indiana, Gervin punched a Roanoke College player. Gervin was suspended for the following season and eventually was kicked off the team. Invitations to try out for the Olympic and Pan-American teams were withdrawn.

Virginia Squires

Gervin initially played for the Pontiac (Michigan) Chaparrals of the Eastern Basketball Association, where he was spotted by Johnny Kerr, a scout for the Virginia Squires of the ABA. Kerr signed Gervin to the Squires for a $40,000 a year contract.

Gervin's time in Virginia would be short-lived, however. The Squires' finances had never been stable, and they had been forced to start trading their best players to get enough money to stay alive. In the space of only four months, they traded Julius Erving and Swen Nater for cash and/or draft picks. During the 1974 ABA All-Star Weekend, rumors abounded that the Squires were in talks about dealing Gervin for cash. The rumors turned out to be true; on January 30 Gervin was sold to the Spurs for $228,000. The ABA tried to block the trade, claiming that by trading their last legitimate star, the Squires were holding a fire sale. However, a court sided with the Spurs. Within two years, the Squires were no more.

San Antonio Spurs

Gervin as a member of the San Antonio Spurs in the American Basketball Association.

With Gervin as the centerpiece, the Spurs transformed from a primarily defense-oriented team into an exciting fast-breaking team that played what coach Bob Bass called "schoolyard basketball". Although the Spurs never won an ABA playoff series during Gervin's first three years there, their high-powered offense made them very attractive to the NBA, and the Spurs joined the more established league as part of the 1976 ABA–NBA merger.

Gervin's first NBA scoring crown came in 1978, when he narrowly edged David Thompson for the scoring title by seven hundredths of a point (27.22 to 27.15). Although Thompson came up with a memorable performance for the last game of the regular season, scoring 73 points, Gervin maintained his slight lead by scoring 63 points (including a then NBA record 33 points in the second quarter) in a loss in his last game of the season. With the scoring crown in hand, he sat out some of the third, and all of the fourth quarter.

Gervin went on to lead the NBA in scoring average three years in a row from 1978 to 1980 (with a high of 33.1 points per game in 1979-80), and again in 1982. Prior to Michael Jordan, Gervin had the most scoring titles of any guard in league history. In 1981, while sitting out 3 games due to injury, Gervin's replacement, Ron Brewer, averaged over 30 ppg. When Gervin returned, he scored 40+ points. When asked if he was sending a message, Gervin said, "Just the way the Lord planned it" and added, "Ice be cool" (with Ron Brewer). In 1982, the Spurs drafted high scoring guards Oliver Robinson of UAB and Tony Grier from South Florida to take some offensive pressure off Gervin.

Chicago Bulls

In 1985, Gervin was traded to the Chicago Bulls for forward David Greenwood after missing multiple preseason workouts amid the possibility of being relegated to the bench by new head coach, Cotton Fitzsimmons. The Bulls' rising star Michael Jordan stated he was "unhappy" after the trade. The last NBA game of Gervin's career was Jordan's 63 point game against the Boston Celtics in the playoffs on April 20, 1986. Gervin recorded 1 assist and 1 personal foul in five minutes of play for the Bulls.

Post-NBA career

When he left the NBA, Gervin played for several years in Europe: in Italy for Banco Roma during the 1986-87 season where he averaged 26.1 points per game, and in the Spanish National Basketball League for TDK Manresa team (he was 38 years old at the time). At this point in his career he had lost some of his quickness, but his scoring instinct remained; he averaged 25.5 points, 5 rebounds and 1.2 assists, and in his last match he scored 31 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to keep Manresa in the first Spanish division.

Career summary and legacy

Nicknamed Iceman for his cool demeanor on the court, Gervin was primarily known for his scoring talents.

Gervin's trademark move was the finger roll, a shot in which one rolls the basketball along his or her fingertips. While others mimicked this style when shooting layups, Gervin was known to "finger roll" from as far as the free throw line.

Gervin's legacy has inspired other athletes, such as Gary Payton who said Gervin was his favorite player to watch as a kid. He was also idolized by former NFL and Heisman-winning quarterback Ty Detmer. Detmer records in his autobiography that he was elated to receive Gervin's autograph one day as a youth in San Antonio.

Awards and records

Gervin was inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1996; additionally his #44 jersey has been retired by the Spurs and he was named to the NBA's 50 Greatest Players. Gervin was ranked #45 on SLAM Magazine's Top 50 NBA Players of All Time in 2009.

He remains active in the San Antonio community with his seven organizations designed specifically for underprivileged kids, including the George Gervin Youth Center. Gervin is beloved in San Antonio and believes that his own experience as an underprivileged child in Michigan inspired him to get involved.

At the time of his trade to the Bulls, he held nearly every significant scoring record in Spurs history. Many of his records have been surpassed by David Robinson and Tim Duncan. Gervin retired with the most blocks by any guard in NBA history.

Though a revered NBA and ABA All-Star and Hall of Famer, Gervin never made an appearance with a team in either an NBA or ABA championship series during his 13-year career in American professional basketball.

Gervin holds the distinction of being a former teammate of both Julius Erving (with the Squires) and Michael Jordan (with the Bulls).

On his 2009 release Slaughterhouse on the Prairie American guitarist Buckethead dedicated a track to Iceman.

Career statistics

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MIN	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
OFF	Offensive rebounds per game	DEF	Defensive rebounds per game	REB	Total rebounds per game
AST	Assists per game	STL	Steals per game	BLK	Blocks per game
TOV	Turnovers per game	PF	Fouls per game	PTS	Points per game

	Led the league
Bold	Denotes career highs

Regular season

Season	League	Team	GP	GS	MIN	FG%	3P%	FT%	OFF	DEF	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
1972–73	ABA	Virginia	30	…	23.0	.472	.231	.814	1.1	3.1	4.3	1.1	…	…	1.8	2.4	14.1
1973–74	ABA	Virginia/San Antonio	74	…	33.9	.471	.143	.815	2.3	6.1	8.4	1.9	1.4	1.6	3.4	3.6	23.4
1974–75	ABA	San Antonio	84	…	37.1	.474	.309	.830	2.9	5.4	8.3	2.5	1.6	1.6	3.0	3.5	23.4
1975–76	ABA	San Antonio	81	…	33.9	.499	.255	.857	2.2	4.5	6.7	2.5	1.4	1.5	2.7	3.6	21.8
1976–77	NBA	San Antonio	82	…	33.0	.544	…	.833	1.6	3.9	5.5	2.9	1.3	1.3	…	3.5	23.1
1977–78	NBA	San Antonio	82	…	34.8	.536	…	.830	1.4	3.7	5.1	3.7	1.7	1.3	3.7	3.1	27.2
1978–79	NBA	San Antonio	80	…	36.1	.541	…	.826	1.8	3.2	5.0	2.7	1.7	1.1	3.6	3.4	29.6
1979–80	NBA	San Antonio	78	…	37.6	.528	.314	.852	2.0	3.2	5.2	2.6	1.4	1.0	3.3	2.7	33.1
1980–81	NBA	San Antonio	82	…	33.7	.492	.257	.826	1.5	3.6	5.1	3.2	1.1	0.7	3.1	2.6	27.1
1981–82	NBA	San Antonio	79	79	35.7	.500	.278	.864	1.7	3.2	5.0	2.4	1.0	0.6	2.7	2.7	32.3
1982–83	NBA	San Antonio	78	78	36.3	.487	.364	.853	1.4	3.2	4.6	3.4	1.1	0.9	3.2	3.1	26.2
1983–84	NBA	San Antonio	76	76	34.0	.490	.417	.842	1.4	2.7	4.1	2.9	1.0	0.6	2.9	2.9	25.9
1984–85	NBA	San Antonio	72	69	29.0	.508	.000	.844	1.1	2.2	3.3	2.5	0.9	0.7	2.8	2.9	21.2
1985–86	NBA	Chicago	82	75	25.2	.472	.211	.879	1.0	1.7	2.6	1.8	0.6	0.3	2.0	2.6	16.2
NBA Career			791	…	33.5	.511	.297	.844	1.5	3.1	4.6	2.8	1.2	0.8	3.0	2.9	26.2
ABA Career			269	…	33.7	.480	.234	.831	2.3	5.1	7.4	2.2	1.4	1.6	2.9	3.4	21.9
Total Career			1,060	…	33.6	.504	.271	.841	1.7	3.6	5.3	2.6	1.2	1.0	3.0	3.1	25.1

Career highs

40 point games

In the NBA, Gervin scored 40 or more points 68 times in the regular season and six times in the playoffs.

Occurred in playoff competition

Points	Opponent	Home/Away	Date	FGM	FGA	FTM	FTA	3PM
63	New Orleans Jazz	Away	April 9, 1978	23	49	17	20	—
55	Indiana Pacers	Away	January 23, 1980	21	32	12		1
53	Denver Nuggets	Home	January 8, 1980	23	40	7		0
52	San Diego Clippers	Home	January 11, 1979	24	33	4		—
50 (3 OT)	Milwaukee Bucks	Home	March 6, 1982	21	31	8		0
49	Boston Celtics	Home	February 17, 1981	17		15		0
49	Detroit Pistons	Home	February 17, 1982	22	29	5		0
48	Boston Celtics	Home	March 4, 1982	17		14		0
47	Cleveland Cavaliers	Away	October 18, 1979	21	35	4		1
47 (OT)	Golden State Warriors	Home	November 13, 1979	22	33	3		0
47	Seattle SuperSonics	Away	November 13, 1981	15		17	18	0
47	Portland Trail Blazers	Away	January 5, 1982	19	30	8	9	1
47	Utah Jazz	Away	March 27, 1982	18		11		0
47	Phoenix Suns	Home	November 7, 1982	16	31	14	14	1
47	New Jersey Nets	Home	January 29, 1985	16	25	15	18	0
46	San Diego Clippers	Away	October 18, 1978	16		14		—
46	Houston Rockets	Home	March 30, 1979	15		16	18	—
46	Cleveland Cavaliers	Away	April 3, 1979	18	27	10		—
46	Philadelphia 76ers	Home	December 27, 1979	14		18	21	0
46	San Diego Clippers	Home	December 29, 1981	21	31	4		0
46	Washington Bullets	Home	April 18, 1978	17	32	12	15	—
45	Portland Trail Blazers	Home	December 4, 1981	20	30	5		0
45	Golden State Warriors	Away	January 7, 1982	15		15		0
45	Dallas Mavericks	Away	November 27, 1982	18	39	9		0
45	Dallas Mavericks	Away	January 27, 1986	15	29	15	16	0
44	Chicago Bulls	Home	November 26, 1982	17	31	10	12	0
44	Kansas City Kings	Home	December 29, 1983	16	27	12	13	0
44	Houston Rockets	Home	April 4, 1980
43	Detroit Pistons	Home	October 28, 1978	16		11		—
43	Los Angeles Lakers	Away	December 16, 1979	20	40	2		1
43 (OT)	Washington Bullets	Away	December 20, 1983	20	33	3	7	0
43	Philadelphia 76ers	Away	December 21, 1983	16	26	11	15	0
42 (OT)	Seattle SuperSonics	Away	January 30, 1977	14		14		—
42	Kansas City Kings	Away	January 29, 1978	19	25	4		—
42	Washington Bullets	Home	May 11, 1979	19	31	4	6	—
42	Washington Bullets	Away	May 18, 1979	16	31	10	13	—
42	Philadelphia 76ers	Away	December 5, 1979	17		7		1
42	Phoenix Suns	Home	January 2, 1980	18		6		0
42	Cleveland Cavaliers	Away	January 17, 1980	16		8		2
42	Washington Bullets	Home	January 19, 1980	18	34	6	7	0
42	Milwaukee Bucks	Home	February 17, 1980	18		6		0
42	Golden State Warriors	Away	November 1, 1980	16		10		0
42	Washington Bullets	Away	December 1, 1981	17	30	8	10	0
42	Houston Rockets	Home	December 30, 1981	17		8		0
42	Washington Bullets	Home	February 9, 1982	16	28	10	13	0
42	San Diego Clippers	Away	November 11, 1982	16	27	9	10	1
42	Kansas City Kings	Away	February 25, 1983	12		18	22	0
42	Denver Nuggets	Home	April 26, 1983	17	22	8	8	0
42	San Diego Clippers	Away	March 18, 1984	14	29	14	15	0
42	Cleveland Cavaliers	Home	November 10, 1984	18	23	6	6	0
42	Houston Rockets	Away	January 25, 1985	21	26	0	0	0
41	Portland Trail Blazers	Home	January 23, 1977	14		13		—
41	Seattle SuperSonics	Home	March 8, 1978	15		11		—
41	Detroit Pistons	Away	October 26, 1979	17		6	7	1
41	Denver Nuggets	Away	December 11, 1979	14		12		1
41	Houston Rockets	Home	February 12, 1980	15		8		3
41	New Jersey Nets	Away	February 24, 1980	16	27	9	9	0
41	Washington Bullets	Away	March 11, 1980	16	30	9	10	0
41	Indiana Pacers	Home	March 21, 1980	15		11		0
41	Portland Trail Blazers	Away	December 7, 1980	17		7		0
41	Cleveland Cavaliers	Away	March 20, 1982	16		6		3
41 (OT)	Detroit Pistons	Home	February 8, 1983	19	31	3	4	0
41	New York Knicks	Home	January 31, 1984	19	31	3	6	0
41	Denver Nuggets	Away	April 20, 1985	16	25	9	11	0
40	Kansas City Kings	Away	March 25, 1978	15		10		—
40	New York Knicks	Home	March 7, 1980	15		8	12	2
40	Utah Jazz	Home	December 12, 1981	18	33	4		0
40	Detroit Pistons	Away	February 25, 1982	18	31	4		0
40	San Diego Clippers	Away	March 9, 1982	14		12		0
40	Washington Bullets	Away	November 17, 1982	14	29	12	15	0
40	Los Angeles Lakers	Away	February 15, 1983	16	24	8	9	0
40	Dallas Mavericks	Away	April 16, 1983	15		10		0
40	Houston Rockets	Home	January 13, 1984	15	26	10	12	0
40	Golden State Warriors	Away	February 2, 1984	17	31	6	6	0

Regular season

Stat	High	Opponent	Date
Points	63	at New Orleans Jazz	April 9, 1978
Points, half (1st)	53	at New Orleans Jazz	April 9, 1978
Points, quarter (2nd)	33	at New Orleans Jazz	April 9, 1978
Consecutive points, first half	22	at New Orleans Jazz	April 9, 1978
Consecutive points, first half	18	at New Orleans Jazz	April 9, 1978
Field goal percentage	17-18 (.944)	vs. Chicago Bulls	February 18, 1978
Field goals made	24	vs. San Diego Clippers	January 11, 1979
Field goal attempts	49	at New Orleans Jazz	April 9, 1978
Free throws made, none missed	—
Free throws made, one missed	—
Free throws made	18	vs. Philadelphia 76ers	December 27, 1979
Free throws made	18	at Kansas City Kings	February 25, 1983
Free throw attempts	22	at Kansas City Kings	February 25, 1983
Three-point field goals made
Three-point field goal attempts
Rebounds	18	vs. Denver Nuggets	April 13, 1982
Offensive rebounds
Defensive rebounds
Assists	11
Steals
Blocked shots
Turnovers
Minutes played

Playoffs

Stat	High	Opponent	Date
Points	46	vs. Washington Bullets	April 18, 1978
Field goal percentage
Field goals made	19	vs. Washington Bullets	May 11, 1979
Field goals made	19	vs. Houston Rockets	April 4, 1980
Field goal attempts	32
Free throws made, none missed	—
Free throws made, one missed	—
Free throws made	14	at Los Angeles Lakers	May 9, 1982
Free throw attempts	17
Three-point field goals made
Three-point field goal attempts
Rebounds	15	vs. Los Angeles Lakers	May 14, 1982
Offensive rebounds
Defensive rebounds
Assists	9
Steals
Blocked shots
Turnovers	9	at Los Angeles Lakers	May 8, 1983
Minutes played

Personal life

Gervin played interscholastic basketball while attending Martin Luther King High School; he was a Detroit Free Press All-State selection in 1970. George has a son, George Gervin, Jr. (nicknamed "Gee"), who has played for the Harlem Globetrotters and in the Swedish League for the Norrköping Dolphins.

See also

• List of National Basketball Association career scoring leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career free throw scoring leaders
• List of National Basketball Association players with most points in a game
• List of individual National Basketball Association scoring leaders by season

External links

• George Gervin Official Website
• Gervin @ NBA.com
• George's page @ Basketball-Reference.com
• Gervin Interview with The Good Point
• Gervin tribute @ Remember the ABA.com
• Basketball Hall of Fame profile
• Career Stats
• George Gervin Youth Center

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