Andrew Toney: The Forgotten Piece of the 1983 Sixers' Title Run

The Philadelphia 76ers of recent times have been a franchise that is more of a disappointment than a dynasty. It all started with the intentional tanking of “The Process”, then progressed to multiple collapses in the playoffs, even when they had all the pieces to win, as they haven’t been to the conference finals since 2001. But back in the early 80s, they were one of the best teams in the league. In 1983, the duo of Julius Erving and Moses Malone along with their defensive stars Mo Cheeks and Bobby Jones were able to win a title in the midst of the Boston/LA dominance of the NBA during the decade. But one key piece on the team rarely gets talked about for his contributions: Andrew Toney. He was a dynamic scoring threat that provided the offensive punch the Sixers needed, as he was a nightmare to guard for even the best defenders. He was also able to play the point and run the offense if you needed him to. Toney was well on his way to being one of the best shooting guards in the league before foot injuries derailed his career after only 8 seasons. Today, we’ll look at the career of the Boston Strangler, someone Larry Bird and Sidney Moncrief said was on par with Michael Jordan offensively.