The Sixers begain in 1937 as the Syracuse Natinoals. or the Nats. the Nats played in the BAA, and in 1949 joined the newly created NBA. in 1950 the team drafted Dolph Shayes, Shayes quickly became a star. he joined with Al Cervi, and Alex Hannum, and in 1950 the team made the NBA finals, but lost 4-2 to the George Mikan lead Minneapolis Lakers.
The Team would once again make the Finals in 1954, but once again lose to Mikan and the Lakers. but in 1955, the Nats would win the NBA title in a 4-1 series over the Fort Wayne Hawks.
The Nats would remain good in the later part of the 50s, even beating the Wilt Chamberlin lead Philadelphia Warriors in 1958, but they lost to Boston. then in 1963 after the Warriors moved to San Francisco, Two Philadelphia bussnessmen Irv Kosloff and Ike Richman bought the Nats, and moved them to Philadelphia, and renamed them the 76ers. the 1963-64 campaingne would be the last for Dolph Shayes, he would retire at seasons end, in the middle of the 1964-65 season, the Sixers traded G. Paul Neumann, C. Connie Dierking, F Lee Shaffer, and Cash, to the San Francisco Warriors for allstar Center Wilt Chamberlin
One year after aacquiring Chamberlin, he lead them to the NBA finals, and the team second NBA Championship in 1967. but in 1968-69 after the team broke apart, GM Jack Ramsey traded Chamberlin to the Lakers. The Sixers where now lead by Billy Cummingham, but the team kept getting worse, until in 1971-72 the team went 30-52. in 1974 the Sixers added Tom Van Arsdel, but things kept getting worse. the Sixers won just 25 games that year.
Fitz Eugene Dixon would buy the club in May 1976, and turn things completly around. Later that year Dixon would pay, what seemed like at the time, and "unreal amount of Money($6 Million dollars) for Julius "DR J" Erving(3 Million to the Nets of the ABA, and 3 Million to Erving). Erving turned the team around, they went 50-32, and made the NBA finals. but they lost to Portland and their leading bigman Bill Walton.
The Sixers would face the Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar lead "showtime"Lakers in 1980, and 82. in late 1982, the Sixers added Moses Malone, to a cast of Julius Erving, Bobby Jones, Andrew Toney, and Maurcie Cheeks. The Sixers would go on to win the Title that year, the teams 3rd. Moses Malone would be named MVP of the series.
1984 the Sixers used the 5th pick in the Draft to draft Auburns Charles Barkley. Barkley immediatly was a fan favorite, and made the Sixers competitive, but with the Boston Celtics dynasty to compete with, the Sixers never made it past the Eastern Finals. then in 1992 the Sixers traded Barkley to the Phonex Suns for Andrew Lang, Tim Perry, and Allstar Jeff Hornacek. this would begin Phillys worst period of losing in their franchise history.
In 1993 the Sixers had the #2 pick, and used in on BYU center Shawn Bradley. the 7'6 bigman never worked out for the Sixers, and they traded him a few years later. that same year the Sixers traded their best player Jeff Hornacek to Utah for aging SG Jeff Malone. Malone would play half a season with the Sxers.
Thing kept getting worse for the Sixers, and in 1996 they got the #1 pick in the draft, and used it to take Georgetwon combo gaurd Allen Iverson. with Iverson on board, things where about to change for the Sixers. though his impact wasnt felt immediatly, the Sixers still improved year after year until 1999 when the team finaly made it back to the playoffs after a nine year absents.
The Sixers would be a consitant winning team, then in 2001, lead by Allen Iverson, Eric Snow, and Tyron Hill the Sixers made the NBA Finals again, and in a shocker took game 1, but would lose then next 4 to the Kobe, and Shaq lead Lakers.
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