The 100 Greatest Sixers of the 2010s: 100-81
It’s time for the most important decade-end countdown.
Andrew Unterberger is a famous writer who invented the nickname 'Sauce Castillo' and is now writing for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez, as part of the 'If Not, Pick Will Convey As Two Second-Rounders' section of the site. You can follow Andrew on Twitter @AUGetoffmygold and can also read him at Billboard.
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It’s been a long, long decade for the Philadelphia 76ers. As well all know, The Process started at least 15 years ago -- and that was only in 2013. At the beginning of the Sixers’ decade, Doug Collins wasn’t more than just a gleam in Ed Stefanski’s eye, as Eddie Jordan and his vaunted Princeton offense were running the show. Meanwhile, the Sixers were still in the throes of hosting an extremely anti-climactic one-man comeback tour, and about to accidentally tank for a can’t-miss prospect who spent four years here and didn’t really change their team fortunes at all. Like I said, long decade.
As the 2010s comes to a halt, it feels like time to capture this period of Sixers history with the only true way to commemorate a decade passed: A top 100 list, ranking the very greatest players this decade of Philly pro basketball had to offer. Only counting contributions this decade, of course, and though on-court production was certainly the greatest factor in deciding the final ranking, it’s not purely a stat-based list. Iconicity matters, obviously, and those who defined a certain moment or moments in Sixers history invariably had an edge over those who played their part, and otherwise just passed through.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: The 100 Greatest Sixers of the Decade? Isn’t that, like, all of them? And the answer is: Almost! By my count, there were exactly 130 who played at least one regular-season game for the Philadelphia 76ers this decade -- with apologies to our Summer League kings Scottie Wilbekin and Brandon Paul -- so there are 30 Sixers here who couldn’t quite make the grade. Those unfortunately left off include such luminaries as Antonio Daniels, James Nunnally, Glenn Robinson III, Jerryd Bayless and, of course, Mike Muscala.
Who could have made the final cut if those greats are left waiting in the Green Room? Well, tune into If Not, Pick Will Convey as Two Second Rounders all week, as we count the Top 100 down 20 players at a time -- starting today with 100-81. It’s the ultimate list, but we’ll probably do it again next decade.
100. Allen Iverson (1996-2006, 2009-2010)
For as acutely as I remember the press conference announcing Allen Iverson’s second tour of duty with the Philadelphia 76ers, and his re-debut performance at the Center against old squad the Denver Nuggets, I have shockingly few memories of what, if anything, happened afterwards. Supposedly he played 25 games for the Sixers total in 2009-2010 -- 17 of them this decade, even -- but as far as I can remember, his time here just kinda quietly ran aground, and as the rest of the season fell apart AI slowly receded into the background, as if everyone involved hoped no one really noticed that he had come back at all. Incredibly, he still was voted an All-Star starter that year, the only such Sixer this decade until Joel Embiid last year.
99. Eric Maynor (2014)
The throw-in cost of acquiring a couple second-rounders from the Denver Nuggets and Washington Wizards at the 2014 trade deadline was this classic I Always Liked Him in College point guard, a VCU alum and OKC washout who played eight unremarkable games for the first-year-Process Sixers and then never appeared again in the NBA. The deal would still prove fruitful for the Sixers, as one of the second-rounders it brought to Philly turned into Arturas Gudaitis, which of course was used in the fateful pickswap trade in summer 2015.
98. Tony Battie (2010-2012)
A break-rotation-in-case-of-emergency third-string center deployed during the first two Doug Collins years, having already bounced around just about every other team in the East. Mostly he was there for the opportunity to mentor Spencer Hawes and Marreese Speights, which, well.
97. Darius Songaila (2010-2011), Darius Morris (2013) Darius Johnson-Odom (2013-2014)
Three replacemenet-level Dariuses for the Process of one! To each their own as to which you feel was most relevant to the 2010s Sixers, though DJO definitely survives as the shirtiest name of the bunch.
96. Tim Frazier (2015)
Feels like Tim Frazier was bouncing around the Sixers’ point guard rotation for at least half a season if not more, but turns out he played just six games for Philly before getting waived and eventually moving onto Portland. He did start three of them, as part of Brett Brown’s accelerated curriculum during the Peak Process years, including a scoreless 0-7 outing against Charlotte that the Sixers won anyway. Still in the NBA, most recently with Detroit, so you better believe Frazier still gets counted as part of our Process Success Story montage.
95. Dorell Wright (2012-2013)
A three-and-D guy coming off a couple career years in Miami, the advanced stats say that Dorell Wright was actually pretty good in his one season for Philly -- a career-high 16.0 PER, the second-highest win shares total on the team that season (4.9). All I remember from his Sixers tenure were a whole lot of missed threes in big moments; impressive, considering how few big moments there were on the whole in the 2012-’13 season.
94. Shelvin Mack (2012-2013)
Played seven minutes in four games total as a Sixer, registering two points and one assist. Enough for Sixers fans to feign light outrage at his having gotten away, with Mack going on to a successful journeyman career as the kind of bulky combo guard Philly always seems to be in precious short supply of.
93. Trey Burke (2019)
He’ll hit his game-winner soon enough.
92. Samuel Dalembert (2001-2010)
I’ll always mostly remember Dalembert (who barely crept into the 2010s as a Sixer) as the player embodiment of why blocks should be counted as a plus/minus stat along with goaltends, since Sammy D’s ratio was 3:2 in a good year. Higher up on many of the Sixers’ all-time rankings than you might expect (including eighth in total rebounds and second in blocks), and he was half-responsible for maybe the only actual highlight of the AI2 experience, but I was thrilled when we finally traded him for Spencer Hawes and Andres Nocioni.
91. Larry Drew (2015, 2018)
Mostly higher than some of these other dudes out of respect for his being a two-timer, one during the bad years and one during the good -- though only a combined 15 games in the two stops. Not a great Sixer, certainly, but sure he could tell you some stories.
90. Royal Ivey (2008-2010, 2012-2013)
Another two-timer, though one who actually had a little more regular a role for the 2012-2013 squad as the ultimate in ship-steadying veteran point guarddom. I swear there was at least one game where “ROY-AL I-VEY!!” chants broke out -- maybe this 17 points on 6-6 shooting win over Golden State? -- though maybe that was just in my Queens apartment.
89. Jonathon Simmons (2019)
I had to check Jonathon Simmons’ stat line for his 15 games with the Sixers about a half-dozen times before believing it was actually true: 45% FG shooting and 43% from three, a career-high 12.9 PER??? I had completely forgotten how much his final numbers were skewed by the final two garbage games of the season, a combined 34 points on 13-23 FG (5-9 from three) -- before which he was shooting 39/33%, and had scored 49 points total in 13 games. Anyway, in terms of production he was certainly one of the worst Sixers in recent memory, though he’ll always have a bit of a cult following for his sprawling line-drive chaos -- years from now, we’ll still talk about a new player having “a little Jonathon Simmons to his game” and laugh.
88. James Young (2018)
Until Norvel Pelle, James Young looked like he would perhaps be the final Truly Process Sixers role player: A former first-rounder with the general outline of a useful pro player, if only he could be MORE CONSISTENT (i.e. better). After he made a three in each of his first two games as a Sixer (both wins!) I was ready to declare the James Young Project a success; he only hit one more for the remainder of his Sixers tenure and will likely never play again in the pros after.
87. Kendall Marshall (2015-2016)
“Wait till Kendall Marshall gets healthy!” was a common cry of the 2015-2016 Sixers team in the midst of their 18-game losing streak to start the season, during which our presumed starting point guard was still recovering from an ACL tear the season before. Unfortunately, injuries (and a lack of pro athleticism to begin with) neutralized whatever benefits there were to Kendall Marshall’s point guardiness, as he went 0-5 as a starter and shuffled in and out of the rotation afterwards. At least the idea of him was a bright spot, which is more than you could say about most of the 2015-’16 roster.
86. Daniel Orton (2013-2014)
Obviously skilled but forever out of shape, Daniel Orton actually had a surprisingly consistent role for a stretch there on the pre-Run Out the Clock 2013-’14 76ers, serving as the backup center for much of the season’s first two months, including the famous three-game winning streak that kicked off The Process. Feel like he had at least one or two legit highlight plays over that stretch, though neither YouTube or I seems able to remember what they actually were.
85. Willie Green (2003-2010)
Like Samuel Dalembert, Mr. Five Stars just barely creeps onto the 2010s Sixers, finishing out the miserable 2009-2010 season as a two-guard off the bench before moving on from his seven-year tenure in Philly. Sadly emblematic of the “good enough isn’t good enough” years of Sixers hoops, there were definitely squads in recent years where Green’s competence off the bench would have been more appreciated.
84. Kwame Brown (2012-2013)
The apple of Doug Collins’ eye; we’d probably still have him under contract for $6 million a year if Dougie had his way. Kwame’s long-illustrious post-draft-bust career sadly wound to its final stop as part of a theoretical twin-towers lineup along with Spencer Hawes in Philly, averaging less than a bucket a game while waiting for Andrew Bynum’s knee cartilage to magically regenerate. I’ll never forget how overjoyed I was the first time an opposing defense pulled out the Hack-a-Kwame, though.
83. Arnett Moultrie (2012-2014)
Another classic of Dougie’s Follies, trading into the late first-round to pick up Arnett Moultrie, leading to the classic Inquirer headline: “For Collins, love of Moultrie’s game at first sight.” Second sight apparently proved less amorous for DC, as Moultrie failed to secure any kind of regular minutes until the season had already gotten out of hand, and by 2014 we were all jettisoning him to the Knicks for a couple second-rounders. I always kinda enjoyed Arnett’s garbage minutes, though -- he shot 58% from the field as a rookie!
82. Justin Holiday (2012-2013)
“Sure, let’s sign Jrue’s older brother why not” seemed like a sign of just how wacky things had gotten towards the end of the final Doug Collins season -- a perception not helped tremendously by Justin’s tremendously unproductive nine-game tenure in Philly, averaging 4.7 PPG on a cool 33% shooting. Still Justin retroactively justified the stretch by turning into a serviceable three-and-D wing in Chicago and New York, even showing up on a bunch of trade deadline wishlists for the Sixers the past few seasons.
81. Elliott Williams (2013-2014)
An inspired buy-low candidate for Philly, the shooting guard and former first-round pick of the Blazers seemed like he might be able to put up numbers on the early-Process Sixers, but mostly just sopped up minutes -- though he did have an almost-impressive nine-game streak of double-digit scoring as the season wound down to nothingness. Mike’s probably still a believer.
Check back tomorrow for 80-61, including a dead guy, a road travel connoisseur, and at least one Furkan.