Chapter 1: The Great Nation of Syracuse
On January 21, 2016, the Philadelphia 76ers defeated the incoming Orlando Magic 96-87 at home, thus ushering in the fifth victory of the season, but the 76ers' new victory did not bring anything to Philadelphia, as of this day, the 76ers with a 5-38 record confirmed the position of the leader of the Eastern Conference and even the league, they are still working tirelessly for next year's top pick, everyone understands that the 76ers' crazy loss is just a mess, for those rising stars in the draft, Their players have no problems with their attitude, they are still very professional, it can only be said that the management is deliberately controlling the team lineup, except for the team's hopeful stars Lennas Noel, Stauskas and Jaryl Okafor, the other players are lackluster, the starting No. 1 is the Rockets abandoned Imesl Smith, the starting No. 2 is the Rockets abandoned Isaiah Kanan, the starting third is the Rockets abandoned Robert Covington, and the substitute power forward is the Rockets abandoned Carl Landry, in addition, There is also Lakers outcast Kendall Marshall, recruits Hollis-Thompson and Jakar Sampson, in addition to the above sports stars, there is also an entertainment star in the 76ers, that is, Joel Funny, who has not played a game so far, this lineup, to be honest, I am not surprised at all that the record is at the bottom of the league, and I would be surprised if I am not at the bottom.
In fact, from a historical point of view, the history of the 76ers is very glorious, they are an old powerhouse, although the number of championships cannot be compared with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, but this does not deny the great history of the 76ers, today, we will talk about the Philadelphia 76ers.
Before talking about the 76ers, let's take a look at the city of Philadelphia, Philadelphia is just an abbreviation, his full name is Phila del Fia, and it is currently the fifth largest city in the United States, yes, it is the fifth largest city after Houston.
The biggest feature of Philadelphia is reflected in the word "Rong", she is a veritable world city, people of all races, beliefs and colors live happily here, there are the largest variety of foreign restaurants in the United States, as well as the largest and oldest "China Town" in American history, Philadelphia has a very developed heavy industry, known as the "Ruhr of the United States", but unlike Detroit, which is also a heavy industry city, Philadelphia is a city with a very strong cultural atmosphere, with many national levels. Even world-class universities, museums, and art are rooted here, Philadelphia is also a historical name, before Washington became the capital of the United States, Philadelphia was the political and cultural center of the United States, in 1776, the famous "Declaration of Independence" was published in Philadelphia, and the draft of the U.S. Constitution also came from Philadelphia, it is no exaggeration to say that the real United States of America was born in Philadelphia! The name of the team after the name change was also named the 76ers in honor of this year.
The predecessor of the 76ers is the famous Syracuse Nation, Syracuse was once the only city in the NBA with a population of less than one million, but with his passion for basketball and teamwork, he has been respected by the majority of fans, although the Syracuse Nation has become a thing of the past, but now it is widely respected in the NBA world, and he is considered the "ancient era" of the San Antonio Spurs.
Syracuse, nicknamed "Syracuse", is now an important hub for transportation in the United States, Syracuse's largest university, Syracuse's biggest university, has a very poor football record, but basketball is very strong, and one of the biggest stars the school has ever produced is Carmelo Anthony, who led Syracuse University to the 2002-2003 NCAA championship, which is now so, but it wasn't like that at the time, Syracuse was just a small city.
The Syracuse Nation was originally an NBL team, but in 1949, ABB merged with the NBA, and the Syracuse Nation joined the NBA strongly, so why do you say "strong"? Because the new national team did not have the same embarrassment as a new team, the team joined the NBA in 1949, moved to Philadelphia in 1963, never missed the playoffs for 14 years, and won two championships!
The Nationals reached the Finals in their first season in the NBA, but lost to the Lakers led by George McCann and lost the championship, the leader of the team at that time was Dolph Shayce, a legendary star in the history of the 76ers, he dedicated all his 15 years of career to the 76ers, including 13 years as the team's scoring champion, 10 seasons as the team's rebounding champion, three things you must know about Hall of Fame superstar Dolph Shayle, first, 1948, The NBL and BAA have not yet merged, and in that year's draft, Shayl was selected by the New York Knicks of the BAA and the Tri-City Black Hawks (the predecessor of the Atlanta Hawks) of the NBL at the same time, and both had high hopes from their respective teams, and in the end, Shayl decided to join the Black Hawks, who offered half the salary higher than the Knicks, but unfortunately, just when Shays was looking forward to being confident about the future, the Black Hawks declared bankruptcy, so the rookie signing rights fell into the hands of the Syracuse Nationals. The second thing is about the All-Star Game, and in 1951, the NBA followed the example of the baseball league and decided to select 12 players from all teams to hold an All-Star Game at the Boston Garden Arena, and Shays was the best of the bunch, scoring 15 points and grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds in this game-making game. Third, Shayl is a Jew and the first Jew to achieve such great things in the NBA. On December 10, 2015, Shayce passed away.
In the first year, Shays averaged 17 points and 16.4 rebounds per game, and then the team successively added George King, Paul Seymour, Reed Roza, Reed Cole, Earl Lloyd and other capable players The strength of the team continued to rise! Veteran Al Selvie gradually transitioned from player to coach, and his style of team basketball was famous at the time!
Time to the 1954-1955 season, when the NBA, which had just been established for only six years, began to decline, the long wait after holding the ball, the lengthy offensive rounds, and all kinds of fouls made the game unappreciative, and in this critical period, the owner of the Nationals, Danny Villathorne, proposed the epoch-making "24-second violation rule" to save the NBA from fire and water, a rule that has never been questioned and never advocated for revision. Villathorne's choice of game movement and offensive timing is impressive, and he was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame for his intelligent invention.
It was this season that Lady Luck favored the team, and the Syracuse Nationals made the playoffs with the best regular season record, and defeated the Boston Celtics and Fort Wayne Pistons in the playoffs to be crowned the first championship of the Syracuse era. Then the next season, due to the poor management of the NBA, there were only eight teams left in the league, and the superior Nationals easily reached the playoffs, and finally the Finals were played between the Nationals and the Fort Wayne Pistons, and the final game of the Finals was a great moment for George King, his last-minute free throws helped the team lead by one point, and he broke the Pistons' serve in the next round to take the victory.
But after that, the Celtics dynasty rose, and they won 11 of those championships in the next 13 years, creating the greatest team myth in the professional game, but on the back side, there was an extremely dark moment for other teams.
In the 1958-1959 season, rookie Hal Greer gradually played in the league, last season's scoring champion George Yadri joined the national team halfway, and for a time the national team formed a squad depth comparable to the Celtics, in the Eastern Conference finals that year, the national team and the Celtics fought seven games, the sky thundered and the earth was on fire, the game was earth-shattering, and the devil cried and howled, and finally in the seventh game that decided the outcome, the Celtics took away the victory with a score of 130-125, And then began their great eight consecutive victories!
After this season, the Syracuse Nation and the Philadelphia Warriors formed a mortal rival, this year, "the biggest killer in NBA history" Wilt Chamberlain joined the Warriors, and Chamberlain averaged as many as 37.6 points per game in his rookie season! and won the scoring title, the two teams met in the playoffs, and in the end, the Warriors had the last laugh.
The following season, Chamberlain averaged 38.4 points per game to once again dominate the league, but in this year's playoffs, the Syracuse Nationals took team basketball to the extreme, leaving Chamberlain as a caged beast, and they eventually defeated the Warriors.
In his third year, Chamberlain averaged a staggering 50.4 points and 24.7 rebounds per game! The star of the Nationals, Shayle, did not perform well because of a jaw injury, and the Nationals were defeated by the Warriors in the playoffs, but after the end of the season, the Warriors were sold to San Francisco, and there was a gap in the history of professional basketball in Philadelphia, in 1963, two Philadelphia businessmen, Ilf 61 Koslov and Ek 61 Richman, bought the Syracuse Nation from Danny 61 Villathorne, and in honor of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the Syracuse Nation was renamed the Philadelphia 76ers, The Syracuse Nation became NBA history and became the leader of the U.S. men's early professional league.