Philadelphia 76ers: Ranking the Best Players by Position in Team History
By Phil Watson
The Philadelphia 76ers trace their roots to the old National Basketball League, where the franchise was launched in 1946 as the Syracuse Nationals.
The Nationals spent three years in the NBL before joining the NBA in 1949 as part of the merger between the NBL and the Basketball Association of America that formed what we now know as the NBA.
In the NBA, the Nationals were an instant success on the court, reaching the NBA Finals in their first season before losing to the Minneapolis Lakers. The Nats made the Finals again in 1954, again losing to Minneapolis, before breaking through in 1955 with the franchise’s first title, beating the Fort Wayne Pistons in Game 7 to win the crown.
The Nationals were the last of the teams located in smaller American cities to move to a larger metropolitan area when the team’s original owner, Danny Biasone, sold the team to Philadelphia investors Irv Kosloff and Ike Richman, who moved the team to Philadelphia and renamed it the 76ers.
The 76ers won their first title in Philadelphia, and the franchise’s second, in 1967 behind Wilt Chamberlain, who started his career with the Philadelphia Warriors and was brought back to Philly in a 1965 trade.
The franchise made the playoffs in each of its first 22 seasons in the NBA before failing to qualify in 1971-72. The following season, the 76ers set a league record for futility, finishing with a 9-73 record and a .110 winning percentage. The winning percentage mark was finally taken out of the record book in 2011-12 by the Charlotte Bobcats, but the nine wins is still a record low for a full season. That came six years after the 1967 title team set an NBA record with 68 wins.
The 76ers went on to win another title in 1983 behind newly acquired Moses Malone and Hall of Famer Julius Erving.
In all, the franchise has reached the playoffs 47 times in its 65 years and along with its three championships, the team made Finals appearances in 1977, 1980, 1982 and 2001.
And the influence of the Syracuse Nationals and their original owner, Biasone, extends all the way to today’s game. By 1954, the NBA had shrunk from a high of 17 teams down to eight and was struggling financially. Biasone suggested the league institute a rule that would speed play, increase scoring and—it was hoped—increase fan interest. Biasone’s innovation, the 24-second shot clock, is a staple in every NBA arena to this day.
So who are the best players by position in the history of the Philadelphia 76ers franchise?
NOTE: Players must have appeared in 250 regular-season games with the franchise to be considered for this list.
Small Forward: Julius Erving (1976-87)
Julius Erving was the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in 1980-81 and helped the Philadelphia 76ers to a championship in 1983. (Lipofsky
via Wikimedia Commons)
Julius Erving was the face of the American Basketball Association in its last years, leading the New York Nets to two of the ABA’s last three titles and his star power was at least a factor in the NBA’s decision to admit four ABA teams—including Erving’s Nets—into the league in the 1976 merger. But the cash-strapped Nets were facing a contract dispute with Erving and needed money and in October 1976, the Philadelphia 76ers paid $3 million to acquire Erving.
Money extremely well spent.
Erving was an All-Star in each of his 11 seasons with the 76ers, winning league MVP honors in 1981. He was named to seven All-NBA teams, including five times on the first team, and posted the highest player efficiency rating in the league in 1979-80 at 25.4.
Erving was part of the 76ers championship team in 1983 and in his 76er career averaged 22 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game.
As a small forward, Erving is the franchise’s all-time leader with 1,293 blocked shots and is also third with 1,508 steals; fourth with 18,374 points, 3,224 assists, 22 points per game, 1.8 steals per game and 836 games; seventh with 5,601 rebounds; and ninth with a 50.7 field-goal percentage and 1.5 blocked shots per game.
Here are some of Erving’s highlights with the 76ers:
Erving retired from the 76ers after the 1986-87 season and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.
Apologies to: Billy Cunningham, Andre Iguodala, Steve Mix, Chet Walker.
Power Forward: Dolph Schayes (1948-64)
Dolph Schayes enjoyed an All-American career at New York University and was the fourth overall selection by the New York Knicks in the 1948 NBA Draft. He was also taken in the NBL draft by the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, who traded his rights to the Nationals. Syracuse landed Schayes with a $7,500 contract offer, significantly more than the Knicks were willing to pay, and the Nationals landed the player who would be their franchise’s icon.
He immediately led the Nationals to respectability in his lone season in the NBL, leading the team to its first winning record, before heading to the NBA in the merger in 1949. With the Nationals, Schayes was a 12-time All-Star and was named to 12 All-NBA teams, including six first-team selections, and he led the Nationals to their lone title in 1955. He also led the NBA in rebounding in 1950-51 and three times led the league in free-throw shooting.
Schayes remained with the team when it moved to Philadelphia, serving as player-coach in 1963-64 and then coaching the team for two more seasons. He earned Coach of the Year honors after a 55-25 record and an Eastern Division title in 1965-66, but was fired after the 76ers lost to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Division Finals.
Schayes is the franchise’s all-time leader in rebounds with 11,256 and is also second with 12.1 rebounds per game and 996 games, third with 18.438 points, fifth with 3,072 assists and eighth with an 84.9 free-throw percentage. Schayes is also the franchise’s all-time leader with 142.4 win shares.
Here’s a profile done on Schayes in 1996 as part of the “NBA at 50” celebration:
Schayes retired as a player after the 1963-64 season and also went on to coach the expansion Buffalo Braves in 1970-71 and 1971-72. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1973.
Apologies to: Charles Barkley, Bobby Jones, Thaddeus Young, Luke Jackson.
Wilt Chamberlain was the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in each of his three full seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers. (Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons)
Center: Wilt Chamberlain (1965-68)
Wilt Chamberlain spent less than four seasons with the 76ers after being acquired in a January 1965 trade that sent Connie Dierking, Paul Neumann, Lee Shaffer and cash to the San Francisco Warriors, but his impact on the franchise was undeniable.
Chamberlain led the 76ers to their first title after moving from Syracuse in 1967 and was the NBA’s MVP in each of his three full seasons, 1965-66, 1966-67 and 1967-68. He was also an All-Star in each of his three full seasons in Philadelphia and was four times named to the All-NBA team, three times on the first team. He led the NBA in rebounding three times as a 76ers, was twice the scoring champion, led the league in field-goal percentage each year he was a 76er and became the first, and only, center to lead the league in total assists with a whopping 702 in 1967-68 (Oscar Robertson did have a higher average, but only played in 65 games).
In his three-plus seasons in Philadelphia, Chamberlain averaged 27.6 points, 23.9 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game while shooting 58.3 percent from the floor—video-game numbers.
Chamberlain is the franchise’s all-time leader with 27.6 points and 23.9 rebounds per game and a 58.3 field-goal percentage and is third with 6.8 assists per game. His 26.6 PER is the highest in franchise history, as well, and despite the short time he spent with the franchise, he is fifth on its all-time list with 6,632 rebounds.
Chamberlain holds team single-season records with 1,957 rebounds and a 68.3 field-goal percentage in 1966-67 and 2,649 points, 33.5 points per game and 24.6 rebounds per game in 1965-66. His 21.9 win shares in 1966-67 is also a franchise best.
Here are some of Chamberlain’s highlights as a 76er:
Chamberlain was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for Jerry Chambers, Archie Clark and Darrall Imhoff in July 1968. He retired after the 1972-73 season and coached the San Diego Conquistadors in the ABA for one season (1973-74). He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1979 and died in October 1999 at the age of 63.
Apologies to: Red Kerr, Moses Malone, Samuel Dalembert, Darryl Dawkins.
Shooting Guard: Allen Iverson (1996-2006, 2009-10)
Allen Iverson was taken first overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1996 NBA Draft and went on to win an MVP award and four scoring titles as a Sixer. (Lipofsky
via Wikimedia Commons)
The Philadelphia 76ers made Allen Iverson the No. 1 overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft after two terrific years at Georgetown and got the face of the franchise for the next decade.
Iverson was a six-time All-Star for the 76ers and won Rookie of the Year honors in 1996-97 and was the league’s MVP in 2000-01, leading the 76ers to their last NBA Finals appearance. He was also a six-time All-NBA selection with three appearances on the first team. Iverson was a four-time scoring champion (1998-99, 2000-01, 2001-02 and 2004-05) and led the NBA in steals for three straight seasons (2000-01 through 2002-03).
In parts of 12 seasons with the 76ers, Iverson averaged 27.6 points and 6.1 assists per game.
Iverson is the franchise’s all-time leader with 885 3-pointers and 2.3 steals per game. He is also second with 19,931 points and 1,644 steals, third with 4,385 assists and sixth with 722 games. His 27.6 points per game average is only fractionally behind Wilt Chamberlain’s in second place on the club’s all-time list and his 6.1 assists per game ranks seventh. Not surprisingly, he also ranks No. 1 in team history in usage percentage at 33.2.
Iverson holds franchise single-season records with 225 steals in 2002-03 and 2.8 steals per game in 2001-02. His 37.6 assist percentage in 2004-05 is also the team’s best, as is his 37.8 usage percentage in 2000-01.
Here are Iverson’s top 10 plays as a 76er:
In December 2006, Iverson was traded with Ivan McFarlin to the Denver Nuggets for Andre Miller, Joe Smith and two 2007 first-round draft picks. He came back to the Sixers for a short cameo in December 2009 after he was waived by the Memphis Grizzlies, but he was released in March 2010 and has not played in the NBA since.
Apologies to: Hal Greer, Hersey Hawkins, Doug Collins, Paul Seymour.
Point Guard: Maurice Cheeks (1978-89)
Maurice Cheeks, shown in this 1986 Fleer card from the author’s personal collection, helped the Philadelphia 76ers to an NBA title in 1983.
When the Philadelphia 76ers took Maurice Cheeks out of West Texas State in the second round of the 1978 NBA Draft, they were hoping to get a player who could contribute to a perennial 50-win team. What they got was a guy who helped change the culture in Philadelphia. Cheeks guided the 76ers to three NBA Finals in four seasons (1980, 1982-83) and to a title in 1983 as a playmaker and defender.
Cheeks was a four-time All-Star in Philadelphia and was named top five NBA All-Defensive teams, including four times on the first team. He led the NBA in steal percentage in 1981-82, as well.
In 11 seasons, Cheeks averaged 12.2 points, 7.3 assists and 2.3 steals per game while shooting 52.8 percent from the floor, an impressively high figure for a guard.
Cheeks is the franchise’s all-time leader with 6,212 assists, 1,942 steals and 7.3 assists per game. He is also second with 2.3 steals per game, third with 853 games, fifth with a 52.8 field-goal percentage and eighth with 10,429 points. His 3.2 steal percentage is the best in club history, as well.
Here are some highlights from Cheeks’ career:
In August 1989, Cheeks was traded with Chris Welp and David Wingate to the San Antonio Spurs for Johnny Dawkins and Jay Vincent and retired after the 1992-93 season. Cheeks was just named coach of the Detroit Pistons and also spent parts of four seasons coaching the 76ers from 2005-06 to 2008-09. Prior to that, he was also head coach for the Portland Trail Blazers.
Apologies to: Larry Costello, Eric Snow, George King, Louis Williams.