How can the Sixers replicate the success of 1983? Bobby Jones explains what it takes.
The Sixers last won an NBA title in 1983. That group, which still remains tight 40 years later, provided sage advice to this year's team about sacrifice and role acceptance.
One in a series of stories remembering the 1982-83 76ers, one of the NBA’s best teams ever.
From the moment the 76ers acquired Moses Malone in exchange for Caldwell Jones and a first-round pick, success seemed destined.
Malone’s presence alongside Julius “Dr. J.” Erving, Mo Cheeks, Bobby Jones and Co. enabled the Sixers to win the 1983 NBA title nine months after he was acquired from the Houston Rockets on Sept. 15, 1982.
While it won’t be as immediate, the current Sixers hope James Harden’s acquisition from the Brooklyn Nets on Feb. 9, 2022, ends their 40-year championship drought this summer.
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Like Malone, Harden is a former league MVP who played his best seasons with the Rockets, and both are amongst the league’s all-time greats. Harden will also be enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame once his career concludes.
Harden is the standout co-star for Joel Embiid that Malone was to Erving. While Malone gets the credit for taking the Sixers to the promised land, they had a team full of stellar role players.
This season’s squad needs to duplicate the selfless play of the 1982-83 team to reach their level of greatness. Instead of focusing on what Malone and Harden provide, they need to emulate what Jones provided.
While there is plenty of talk about the need for ball movement among these Sixers, there are hierarchies on championship teams. Malone and Erving were the top dogs during that championship season. Everyone else, despite their varying levels of greatness, fulfilled a role.
That’s what ultimately needs to happen during the upcoming playoffs for the Sixers to have any chance of winning their fourth NBA title in franchise history.
The Sixers preach this is a “we season, not a me season.” Yet not everyone has always been happy with their role. That’s understandable. But the great NBA championship teams all had standout players who sacrificed individual statistics and accolades for team goals.
That’s how Jones, a Hall of Famer, was utilized during his time as a Sixer. That’s exactly what P.J. Tucker has been doing since the Sixers acquired him in free agency last summer.
And look at the Milwaukee Bucks, who have the Eastern Conference and NBA’s best record. That’s what several players are doing for them (58-22). Joe Ingles, Bobby Portis, Jae Crowder, and Jevon Carter are all thriving in specific roles off the bench. Sure, two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday, and Khris Middleton are the Bucks’ headliners. But Milwaukee wouldn’t be favored to win their second NBA title in three seasons without the selfless contribution of its role players.
The same can be said about the Boston Celtics, who have the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and NBA at 55-25.
“P.J. Tucker, to me, has made a huge difference for this team,” Jones said. “He doesn’t hold the ball very long; he gives it to somebody else. He knows his role. If he’s open, he’s going to take the shot. If not, he’s going to move the ball to somebody else and he’s going to knock three guys sideways to get the rebounds and kick it out. Those kinds of players make a difference.
“I think Georges Niang’s the same kind of player; he’s not going to back down from anybody. … So I just encouraged the players: ‘Know your role and fulfill your role.’ ”
Jones played eight seasons with the Sixers, averaging 10.7 points and 4.8 rebounds in 617 games. His real value to the team, however, came at the defensive end, where he stopped some of the league’s best players.
The highlight of his career came in the 1982-83 season, when the Sixers won 65 games and went 12-1 in the playoffs to win their first NBA championship since 1967. In 2019, Jones became the fourth member of that team to make the Hall of Fame, joining Erving, Malone, and Cheeks.
The Sixers acquired him, Ralph Simpson and first-round pick from the Denver Nuggets after the 1977-78 season in exchange for George McGinnis and a first-rounder.
Jones averaged 13.2 points during his first four seasons in Philadelphia. But as the NBA’s sixth man of the year on the 1983 championship team, Jones’ scoring dropped to 9.0, a career low at the time.
That didn’t matter to him. He meshed seamlessly with whomever he played with coming off the bench both on defense and getting out on the fast break with a hustling, full-throttle style of play.
“My role was to hit an open shot from the elbow or to play defense, or to get back…” Jones said. “I think our team figured out their roles — all of our players — and our bench especially was ready when it was time to play in the playoffs. I think this team’s the same way.”
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And they’ll need to accept and flourish in those roles in order to win the championship.