Sixers team info

The Philadelphia 76ers do not have a hard time selling NBA tickets. The Wachovia Center is always filled to capacity because Allen Iverson plays there. In case you are not familiar with Mr. Iverson, he is six feet tall, perennially averages around 30 points a game, and takes his teams to the NBA Playoffs. He does so despite never shooting better than 42% in his career. How does he do that? How does a tiny man, who cannot shoot worth a flip, manage to score and score on a nightly basis without killing his team? The answer is simple. He wills it. Allen Iverson has the will to succeed and make his teams succeed. It is the same will that MJ, and Larry, and Magic had, and it makes Iverson the most unsinkable player in the NBA.

Joined by Chris Webber last year, Iverson struggled to adapt to his new big man. Do not expect the same issues this year. Iverson and Webber have been clicking in preseason games, which means the rest of the league better look out for Philly in 2005-06.

The 76ers seem to have collected freakish players through the years. From Wilt Chamberlain to Julius “Dr. J” Erving to Charles Barkley, Philadelphia seems to specialize in players with out-of-the-ordinary talent and determination.

Chamberlain came to the 76ers in 1964, and brought them a championship in 1968. His exploits on and off the court are well documented, but Chamberlain was a freak in his day, and one who proved utterly unguardable.

Chamberlain left in 1969, but new hope arose in 1976 when Erving joined the team from the defunct ABA. Erving’s size and athletic ability was unrivaled in his day, and he was able to bring them more NBA gold in 1983. Erving went on to become the face of the NBA before Magic and Larry inherited the roll.

Next came Charles Barkley. He was even more freakish as a player than his predecessors. At 6’4”, Barley somehow managed to dominate the paint, redefining the position of power forward. Barkley outscored and rebounded players twice his size on a nightly basis.

Iverson is the newest special athlete for the 76ers. Since his arrival in 1996, Iverson whizzed and whooshed around defenders in his constant pursuit to put the ball in the basket. His efforts were rewarded in 2001, when he led the 76ers to the NBA Finals, where Philadelphia was beaten by the Kobe and Shaq Lakers.

Iverson wants nothing more than another ticket for his 76ers to reach The Finals. He has more than enough will to make this happen. If he and Webber can stay on the same page, 76ers ticket holders are in for an unforgettable season in 2005-06.
 

Sixers team history
Philadelphia 76ers, NBA professional basketball team and one of five teams in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 76ers play in the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and wear jerseys of red, white, and blue sometimes black with gold trim. The team’s name is taken from the year 1776, in which the constitution was enacted in Philadelphia, declaring U.S. independence from Britain. The 76ers (also known as the Sixers) began play in 1946 as the Syracuse Nationals. In 1950 they played against the Minneapolis Lakers in the NBA’s first championship series. The Nationals were a perennial powerhouse behind the play of forward Dolph Schayes, reaching the NBA Finals in 1954 and winning the NBA championship in 1955. The team moved to Philadelphia in 1963 and adopted its current name. In the 1966-67 season the squad included center Wilt Chamberlain, guard Hal Greer, and forwards Billy "Kangaroo Kid" Cunningham and Chet Walker; it won 68 games and the NBA title. In the late 1970s and early 1980s the 76ers made four trips to the NBA Finals, claiming the 1983 championship. Those teams featured forwards Julius Erving, George McGinnis, and defensive stopper Bobby Jones; guards Maurice Cheeks and Andrew "The Boston Strangler" Toney; and center Moses Malone (rebound extraordinaire). The Syracuse Nationals joined the National Basketball League (NBL) in the 1946-47 season. Three years later six NBL franchises, including the Nationals, merged with the Basketball Association of America (BAA) to form the NBA. The Nationals won their division title in the NBA’s inaugural season, 1949-50, but they lost to the Minneapolis Lakers in the first NBA Finals. Dolph Schayes was the Nationals’ first star. He led the 76er's club in scoring for 13 consecutive years and was its top rebounder for 10 seasons. In its early years the team also included player-coach Al Cervi, who first played professionally in the 1930s. The Nationals again lost to the Lakers in the 1954 NBA Finals, but the next season they defeated the Fort Wayne Pistons in seven games to capture the franchise’s first NBA title. In the late 1950s and early 1960s the team remained competitive, but it rarely advanced far in the playoffs. Top players in those years included center Johnny Kerr, forward George Yardley, and guards Larry Costello and Hal Greer. In 1962 the Philadelphia Warriors franchise moved to San Francisco, California. This left Philadelphia without a professional basketball team. A season later paper manufacturer Irv Kosloff and attorney Ike Richman bought the Syracuse Nationals, moved the team to Philadelphia, and renamed it the 76ers. Halfway through the 1964-65 season the 76ers obtained Wilt Chamberlain from the Warriors in a trade. Chamberlain had led the league in scoring in his first five NBA seasons with the Warriors, and he did so again in his first season with the 76ers. In 1965-66, Chamberlain’s first full season with the 76ers, the team won 55 games to break the Boston Celtics’ string of seven consecutive division titles. In the playoffs, however, the Celtics defeated the 76ers in the division finals.
The next season, 1966-67, the 76ers fielded one of the league’s best teams ever. The roster included three future members of the Hall of Fame—Chamberlain, Billy Cunningham, and Chet Walker. The club registered 68 wins, which set a league record for the most victories in a single season, and defeated the Warriors for the NBA title. (The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls now hold the record for regular-season wins with 72.) The 76ers won 60 games the following season but were upended by the Celtics in the conference finals. The club traded Chamberlain in 1968, beginning a period of decline that included the worst regular-season record in NBA history—a 9-73 win-loss mark in 1972-73. Philadelphia improved markedly during subsequent seasons, and with the acquisition of high-scoring stars George McGinnis and Julius Erving from the American Basketball Association (ABA), the 1976-77 team won 50 games and advanced to the NBA Finals. There they were upset by the Portland Trail Blazers. The 76ers remained one of the NBA’s best teams for the next several seasons. In addition to Erving, outstanding players of the time included forwards Bobby Jones and Darryl Dawkins and guards Maurice Cheeks, Lionel Hollins, and Andrew Toney. In both 1980 and 1982 the 76ers lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. In 1982 center Moses Malone joined the 76ers. This completed one of the most powerful rosters ever assembled on an NBA team. Cheeks, Erving, Jones, Malone, and Toney led a 76ers team that posted a 65-17 record in the 1982-83 season and swept the Lakers in the NBA Finals. Malone won the league’s most valuable player (MVP) award. In 1984 the 76ers drafted forward Charles Barkley, who energized the aging team and helped it advance to the 1985 Eastern Conference Finals (losing to the Larry Bird led Boston Celtics). Erving retired after the 1986-87 season. In 1992 the 76ers traded Barkley to the Phoenix Suns, and after the deal the team suffered several losing seasons in the early and mid-1990s. In the mid- and late 1990s Philadelphia drafted several promising young players. The most prominent new face was guard Allen Iverson, who was the 1996-97 NBA rookie of the year. In the lockout-shortened 1999 season, Iverson led the 76ers to the club’s first playoff appearance since 1991 and then there was the miracle 2001 NBA basketball season.......

The 2001 Sixers miracle team
Larry Brown the coach of the 76ers in 2001 looked at his bench, saw a bunch of "summer league" players and couldn't believe he was in the NBA Finals. Despite being a team of role players except for their one superstar, Allen Iverson, the 2001 Philadelphia 76ers won 56 games, finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference and reached the NBA Finals for the first time in 18 years. As the Sixers season progressed, the hard working team won the respect and admiration of the hardworking city who they were playing for. Every other car in Philadelphia during the Sixers improbable playoff run had a Sixers banner or flag on it, every game was watched by every fan and Sixers pride ran thick through every corner of Philadelphia. However all good things come to an end and the remarkable NBA playoff run ended when the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Sixers in 5 games to capture their second of three straight NBA championships after losing Game 1 of the series -- their only loss in the postseason.

2005 Philadelphia 76er's and beyond
The 76ers have put together a good young nucleus to complement Iverson including Samuel Dalembert and Kyle Korver, with also a questionably healthy but always dangerous Chris Webber the Sixers should make the NBA playoffs and may still have an outside chance at making the Eastern Conference Finals or NBA Finals if all the rookies and Webber and Iverson gel.