To continue to pass the time until the 2021-22 season begins for the Philadelphia 76ers, we are going to look back in time and take a look at some of the bigger stars in the franchise’s history.
In this edition, we are going to focus on the 2000s era for the organization and one of the team’s stars during the decade. Outside of the Allen Iverson years, the Sixers were not exactly in contention during the time, but they were competitive thanks to a do-it-all forward.
Andre Iguodala was selected with the 9th pick in the 2004 NBA draft and he made an impact on the team right away. As a rookie, he was a starter on a playoff team in 2005 and he provided some highlight plays on the offensive end with his elite athleticism and he was one of the team’s best defenders on the other end while his versatility gave the team a lot of options on how to use him.
When Iverson was traded to the Denver Nuggets, Iguodala assumed much more responsibility–probably more than he should have–and he did the best he could. He averaged 19.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists to go with 2.1 steals in the 2007-08 season and he led a hard charge for the Sixers to get into the playoffs as the No. 7 seed.
Over the years, Iguodala took a lot of criticism from plenty of people as he could not quite fill Iverson’s role, but that is not his fault. He was a very productive player while in Philadelphia and he took on a lot of different roles for the team in terms of being able to give more on the offensive end as well as having to be the team leader and their lockdown defender on the other end.
Iguodala did make an All-Star team in 2012 before he was sent to the Nuggets in the massive Andrew Bynum deal. He finished fourth in franchise history in 3-pointers made with 563, he’s ninth in points scored 9,422, fourth in steals with 1,076, and sixth in assists with 2,991.
He went on to win a finals MVP with the Golden State Warriors in 2015 and he made an impact in The Bay before also helping the Miami Heat make the finals in 2020.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
[mm-video type=playlist id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f5k5xtr64thj7fw2 image=https://sixerswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
[listicle id=49575]
[lawrence-related id=49625,49622,49599]