Chapter 2 Zhang Dashuai's first crown
In 1963, two Philadelphia businessmen bought the Syracuse Nation from Danny Villathorne and moved the team to Philadelphia, which was more prosperous and better than Syracuse, and renamed the team the 76ers to commemorate the 1776 Declaration of Independence.
In the 76ers' first season, former team leader Dolph Shays has been unable to perform on the court as he has aged, averaging just 5.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in 24 games, and at the end of the season, the first great player in the history of the 76ers announced his retirement.
After Shays's departure, the team's second-in-command Hal Greer, who was inducted into the NBA Snoyss Hall of Fame in 1981, became the team's leader, Greer is not tall, officially registered at 188 cm, but in fact he is shorter, his killer is the jump shot, especially the position behind the free throw line is almost 100 shots, he in Shays's last season, Averaging 23.3 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game, in addition to Greer, another sophomore rookie, Chet Walker, also ushered in an explosion, he averaged 17.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game, Walker replaced Shayce as the team's new pillar of the interior.
At the beginning of the 1964-1965 season, the 76ers were as calm as ever, and at the beginning of the season, the 76ers drafted a mobile forward from the University of Texas with the fourth pick in the first round, Luke Jackson, Jackson quickly became Chet Walker's right-hand man, although he was still not consistent on the offensive end. But he still averaged 14.8 points and 12.9 rebounds per game, and the team's star Greer averaged 20.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game, welcomed Wilt Chamberlain from the San Francisco Warriors!
Even from the perspective of the time, the 76ers made a lot of money in this deal, Paul Newman, who has not scored more than 5,000 points in his career for seven years, Coney Dilkin, who has only scored more than 1,000 points in three years of his entire ten-year career, and Lee Shaver? His biggest contribution to the Warriors was to get the Warriors to just 17 wins the following season before drafting Rick Barry in the 1966 draft.
Who was Chamberlain? Anyone who knows a little bit about the NBA will know this name, in order to render it, I must repeat it, this season is his last season for the Warriors, he averaged 40 points per game, grabbed 24 rebounds, and shot more than 50%, on March 2, 1962, Chamberlain scored 100 points in a single game against the New York Knicks, shocking the American sports world! In the first six seasons, he averaged more than 37 points per game and grabbed more than 22 rebounds in each season. There are many theories about this deal, and there are three reliable ones at present, first, Chamberlain was found to have congenital heart disease by the Warriors' team doctor, and he died suddenly that day, which made the Warriors' management sincerely afraid, and sent Chamberlain away in three steps and two steps, and later it turned out that Chamberlain was suffering from heart disease, and the final cause of death was indeed because of sudden cardiac death, but that was in 1999, and the Warriors' team doctor did not predict the next 30 years, awesome! Second, the Warriors with Chamberlain have lost in the playoffs for three consecutive years, two of which were given by the Boston Celtics with Bill Russell, which is actually just a microcosm, Chamberlain, who has just stepped into the league, may not be able to fight monsters enough, although he is the king in front of other teams, but in front of Russell, he is like a crocodile with his mouth tied, and he has nothing to do with Russell, which is unacceptable to the management of the Warriors, and the third reason is relatively simple and rough, that is, the Warriors management at that time was SB, brain-dead.
All in all, Chamberlain landed in Philadelphia, Philadelphia is actually Chamberlain's birthplace, but he doesn't like it here, he likes New York, he likes the metropolis, he likes fashion, he likes trends, and of course, he likes women, but this time, he has to lead his hometown team to the championship here.
Chamberlain's arrival, immediately made the 76ers from a playoff-level team gorgeously rose to a championship-level team, after the end of the regular season, the 76ers ranked third in the East, the playoffs 76ers all the way to the Eastern Conference finals, the final opponent is the Celtics, the strength of the two teams is equal, it is difficult to distinguish, the game has been played until the last minute of the seventh game to decide the winner, the last two minutes of the game, Boston has a 7-point lead, but after that, the "Big Big Dipper" Chamberlain suddenly broke out, scored 6 points in a row, and the Boston people did not score a point, the score chased to 109:110, the beginning was Boston's possession, but they made a mistake, they wasted time when the basketball ghost touched the out-of-bounds wire, the referee awarded the 76ers the ball, but people are not as good as the sky, Greer who served on the sideline made a mistake at a critical moment, and his pass to Chet Walker was cut off by Celtics guard Havlicek, thus, Chamberlain lost again to the Celtics, who then defeated their opponent in the Finals to win their seventh championship.
In the 1965-1966 season, Chamberlain's Philadelphia 76ers made a comeback, this season, Chamberlain averaged 48 minutes per game, 33.5 points and 24.6 rebounds, his performance has been perfect, Grell also averaged 22.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game, at this time Philadelphia has the strength to end the Celtics' hegemony.
But fate once again played a joke on the 76ers and Chamberlain, and they were sent back to their hometown to fish by the Wizards 1:4 in the first round. In 5 games, Chamberlain averaged 28 points and 30.2 rebounds per game, but what about the others? Not to mention anything else, just talking about the shooting percentage, Greer 35.2%, Walker 37.5%, sophomore guard Wally Jones 32.5%, Luke Jackson 42.9%, the offensive end with such a miserable shooting rate, it is difficult to win.
The continuous failures made Chamberlain difficult to speak, he is a very competitive person, he does not allow failure, nor can he accept any excuse for failure, he humbly asked the guidance of the famous coach Hannewt, and Han gave Chamberlain a change in his playing style, that is, to give up his own offense appropriately, pass the ball more, attract the bag defense, and give other players a chance! Therefore, after the start of the 1966-1967 season, fans found that Chamberlain's playing style had changed dramatically, the original was to rush to the inside with the ball, and now it is to observe the running position of teammates after holding the ball, and after someone under the basket is clamped, they do not reluctantly shoot, but pass to teammates on the outside, this set of concepts makes the 76ers invincible, and they have won 45 games in the first 49 games! Although Chamberlain averaged 24.1 points per game at the lowest in his career, and the only time he entered the league did not win the scoring title, he successfully pinched the team, and Chamberlain alone also supported the team's defensive system, this season Chamberlain averaged 7.8 assists per game is the first in the league, and his 68.3% shooting percentage is also the first in the league, and the 76ers have an eye-popping 68 wins! They reached the Eastern Conference Finals, and the 76ers' opponent was the Celtics!
At this time, the Celtics have reached the end of their lives, the "Cardinal" Auerbach announced his retirement, Russell led the team as a player and coach, they lost the record of holding the top spot in the East for ten consecutive seasons, and the signs of the decline of the dynasty began to appear, and at this time, the 76ers, in addition to having Chamberlain, Greer, another great player also began to rise, that is, forward Billy Cunningham, who was selected with the 5th pick in the first round in 1965, He averaged 15.0 points and 6.2 rebounds per game in the playoffs, helping the team a lot.
Billy Cunningham is in poor physical condition, thin, red-haired, freckles, and most importantly, he walks super outside, so he gets the nickname "Kangaroo Boy", but he has a superior ball quotient, first-class running, accurate jump shots, he played mainly as a substitute for Chamberlain and Chet Walker and Luke Jackson in his rookie season, that is, last season, but he was still able to score 14.3 points, and this season, Cunningham went further, After averaging 18.5 points per game and shooting percentage by 3 percentage points with almost the same playing time, Luke Jackson, who has been inconsistent in his offensive prowess this year, has all but given up on offense and completely ceded the opportunity to Cunningham.
On the one hand, the Celtics are declining, on the other hand, the 76ers are in full swing, the results of the game did not refer to any history, the 76ers defeated the Celtics 4:1, making the latter's eight consecutive championships history, and then in the Finals, the 76ers faced the opponent who had swept Chamberlain out of the house, and the leader of the Warriors at this time was Rick Barry, 4:2, the 76ers won the first championship after the relocation, this team is called the strongest team in NBA history, Chamberlain's sacrifice of individual offensive ability in exchange for the prosperity of the team as a whole has become a classic case of teamwork in NBA history.