Pervis Ellison - Washington Bullets

Pervis Ellison - Champion 48

That's the shit. Really, it is. Of all the Bullets jerseys you see out there (Howard, Sheed, Unseld, Webber), this is probably the funniest. And you know I had to find it.

I wasn't even sure if it was made, but chances were it was released, since Pervis was a pretty high draft pick (1st in 1989). Once I finally found it on Ebay it went this way for about 15 dollar. Pretty nice bargain if you ask me.

Back to Pervis as a player, he was the first pick in one of the weaker drafts of recent decennia by the Sacramento Kings. Nicknamed "Never Nervous", Ellison entered the league injured and never really was able to shake them. Teammate Danny Ainge once nicknamed him Pervis "Out of Service" which should tell you something.

Other names in this 89 draft include the top five picks Danny Ferry, Sean Elliot, Glen Rice and JR Reid. Sean and Glen? Good. JR and Danny? Not so much. After that you had Stacey King, George McCloud, Randy White, Tom Hammonds, Pooh Richardson (all top 10), Dana Barros, BJ Armstrong (competes for Worst All Star ever with Jamaal Magloire, and soon Jilian) etc.

The few names who did actually impress were Mookie Blaylock (#12), Tim Hardaway (#14), Shawn Kemp (#17), Vlade Divac (#26), Cliff Robinson (early 2nd round) and Dino Radja (mid 2nd round).

Funny thing is, if this class would have been the draft class today, the latter names would probably make up the first lottery selections while the 'sure shot' top 10 would end up out of the top 10, with the exception of Elliot and Rice. The NBA's love for prospects and European talent clearly wasn't that big back then.

I should probably also mention one of the last picks of this draft was Haywoode Workman, NBA journey man, servicable G for the Pacers and currently NBA referee.

Well this Pervis Ellison post turned out to be more about the '89 draft than it was about the player himself, but I guess it kind of sums up this man's carreer. He did actually win the Most Improved Player award in '91-'92, one of the two seasons in which he kind of played like a first overall pick (20 points, 11 rebounds, 2.6 blocks). Knee problems just ruined his career, which actually did last for about 11 seasons, in which he played for the Kings, Bullets, Celtics and Sonics.

He currently lives in New Jersey where he coaches both basketball teams and the football team his son plays for. Pervis must have loved his tenure with the Sonics; he named one of his children 'Seattle'.