76ers History

By the early 1960s, the NBA's Nationals were struggling. Syracuse was the last of the medium-sized cities, but it was too small for a professional team to be profitable. Paper magnate Irv Kosloff bought the Nationals from Danny Biasone and moved them to Philadelphia in 1963. The NBA thus returned to Philadelphia one year after the Warriors had left for San Francisco. A contest was held to decide on their new name and the winner was the late Walt Stahlberg. Their name was changed to the "76ers," after 1776, the year the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia. The nickname was quickly shortened to "Sixers" by headline writers, and the two names soon became interchangeable for marketing purposes.

For their first four years in Philadelphia, the Sixers played mostly at the Philadelphia Arena and Civic Center-Convention Hall, with an occasional game at The Palestra at the University of Pennsylvania. In the 1964-65 season, the 76ers acquired the legendary Wilt Chamberlain from the Warriors; Chamberlain had been a high school legend in Philadelphia and began his career with the Warriors while they still played in Philadelphia.

In Chamberlain's first full year back in Philadelphia, the Sixers ended the Boston Celtics' eight-year reign as Eastern Division regular-season champions. The 76ers would push the Celtics to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals, with the 76ers trailing 110–108 in Game 7. After Hal Greer's pass was stolen by John Havlicek — an infamous blow to 76ers fans, rubbed in by fabled Celtics announcer Johnny Most when he yelled into the microphone "Havlicek stole the ball!" — the Celtics went on to beat the 76ers and win another NBA Championship.

The 76ers won their first 10 home games, their longest streak to begin a season since 1966-67. In a December 18 three-team trade, the Sixers acquired forward Kenny Thomas from the Rockets. Two nights later, Iverson's 32 points and team-record-tying nine steals carried Philadelphia to a 107-104 overtime victory against the Lakers.

After heading into the New Year with a 13-2 home record, the 76ers posted a 2-8 record at the First Union Center in January. Iverson scored his 12,000th career point in the second quarter against Boston on Jan. 20, becoming the 11th fastest player in NBA history to reach the plateau.

A midseason slump left the Sixers with a 25-24 record at the All-Star Break. After the break, the 76ers rattled off eight-straight wins. On Feb. 26, Eric Snow recorded his first career triple-double against Memphis with a season-high 22 points, 11 assists and a season-high 10 rebounds.

Larry Brown earned back-to-back Coach of the Month honors in February and March as he guided the Sixers to an 11-5 record in March, including wins in nine of 12 road games. On March 6, the Sixers held Portland to a 76ers post-shot clock opponent low 60 points. Philadelphia erased double-digit deficits in wins against East leaders Indiana on March 12 and the Nets on the 16th. The month ended as the Sixers clinched their fifth-straight playoff berth in an overtime win at Orlando while Iverson had a season-high 42 points. With 24 points and 20 rebounds, Kenny Thomas had Philadelphia's first 20-20 performance since 1997.

Without the services of MacCulloch since February with foot neuropathy, the Sixers also lost Van Horn and Coleman for multiple games in April. Luckily for the depleted Sixers, Thomas posted 10 double-doubles in the season's final 15 contests. In a win against the Pistons on April 8, Iverson scored 37 points, including the 13,000th point of his career, and broke the Sixers single-season steals record set by Steve Mix (212) in 1973-74. A season-best crowd of 21,257 sent Michael Jordan off in his final NBA game on April 16 with a 107-87 against Washington, clinching home-court advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

The Sixers defeated New Orleans in the first year of the NBA's best-of-seven First Round format. Allen Iverson started off the playoffs with gusto, scoring a franchise playoff record 55 points in a 98-90 win in Game 1 against the Hornets. The teams split the two games in New Orleans before the Hornets stole Game 5 at the First Union Center to close the gap to 3-2. Iverson's 45 points in Game 6 helped the Sixers advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the fourth time in five years.

With new ownership and Iverson in place, and the 76ers moving into the CoreStates Center, things seemed to finally be heading in a positive direction. Croce fired Lucas as both coach and general manager. Johnny Davis was named head coach, while Brad Greenberg took over as general manager. Iverson was named Rookie of the Year, but Philadelphia's overall improvement was minimal, as they finished with a 22–60 record. 76ers top brass felt changes had to be made after the 1996-97 season. Changes came in the form of the firings of Davis and Greenberg and the unveiling of a new 76ers team logo and jerseys. To replace Davis, Larry Brown was hired as head coach. Known for a defense-first approach and transforming unsuccessful teams into winners by "playing the right way", Brown faced perhaps his toughest coaching challenge. He often clashed with Iverson, but the 76ers improved to 31 wins in 1997-98. In the early 1997-98 season, the Sixers traded Jerry Stackhouse, who had been the third overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft, to the Detroit Pistons. In exchange, Philadelphia received Aaron McKie and Theo Ratliff, defensive standouts who would have an impact in the team's resurgence. The 76ers also acquired Eric Snow from the Seattle SuperSonics in January 1998.

Prior to the 1998-99 season, the 76ers signed George Lynch and Matt Geiger, but a lengthy lockout delayed the start of the season, which was shortened to 50 games. During the season, Philadelphia acquired Tyrone Hill in a trade with Milwaukee. The team began its resurgence during this strike-shortened season, finishing with a 28–22 record and the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, marking the first time since 1991 the team reached the postseason. In the first round, Philadelphia upset the Orlando Magic, three games to one, before being swept by the Indiana Pacers. The following season, the Sixers improved to 49–33, fifth in the East. Again, the Sixers won their first round series in four games, this time defeating the Charlotte Hornets. For the second straight year, they were defeated by Indiana in the second round, this time in six games. Iverson and Brown continued to clash, and their relationship deteriorated to the point where it seemed certain Iverson would be traded. A rumored trade to the Los Angeles Clippers fell through, but a complicated four-team deal that would've seen Iverson sent to Detroit was agreed upon, only to see it dissolve due to salary cap problems. When it became clear Iverson was staying in Philadelphia, he and Brown worked to patch things up, and the team would reap the benefits in 2000-01 with the Lakers tickets.

On December 19, 2006, Allen Iverson, along with Ivan McFarlin, was sent to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for guard Andre Miller, forward Joe Smith, and two first-round draft picks.

On January 11, Sixers GM Billy King announced that the Sixers and aging forward Chris Webber have agreed to a buyout of the remainder of his contract. The Sixers will be paying Webber $36 million over the next 1 1/2 seasons, which is $7 million less than he would have been paid to play. After the buyout, the Sixers waived Webber, making him a free agent. Webber signed with the Detroit Pistons shortly thereafter.

The Sixers drafted Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets SF Thaddeus Young with the 12th pick, traded with the Miami Heat for 21st pick Colorado State PF Jason Smith, traded with the Portland Trail Blazers for 42nd pick Vanderbilt SG/SF Derrick Byars, and then finally traded with the Utah Jazz for Providence PF Herbert Hill.

On December 4, 2007, the Sixers fired Billy King and replaced him with Nets GM, Ed Stefanski.

This season, the Sixers revamped their homecourt design. The logo based on their home uniforms is placed on center court, while the primary logo is placed on the right side of the baseline. The streaking ball on the left side of the court is eliminated, and the team Barry's Tickets is placed on the sideline.

The Sixers clinched a playoff berth with a win over the Atlanta Hawks on April 4, 2008. It was their first postseason appearance since 2005, as well as the first in the post-Iverson era. However, they were eliminated by the Pistons in six games, with Detroit winning the series 4-2. Even with this elimination, many folks considered this to be a successful season, considering that the Sixers were 12 games under .500 in early February and went on to have a run that led them to the playoffs.