Remembering That Time We Thought the Sixers Finally Got It Right!

With the no. 3 pick in the 1995 NBA Draft, the Philadelphia 76ers selected Jerry Steakhouse, and we thought we had found our savior.

The first time I got giddy about a 76ers draft was way back during the 1995 NBA Draft. Having been groomed by a family of 76ers fans, I was privy to the draft nightmares prior to 1995, after not having a first round pick between 1989 and 1992 (Hello Kenny Payne!).

Remember when we drafted Clarence “The Spoon” Weatherspoon to replace Sir Charles Barkley instead of continuing to build around the eventual Hall of Famer and drafting Robert Horry at #9, who perhaps could have brought his championship-caliber luck/marksmanship to the city of Philadelphia? Or how about following that brilliant decision up with the draft selection at #2 of Shawn Bradley, the 7’6’’ stiff from BYU who had only played one year of competitive college basketball two years before being drafted (lest we neglect to mention the draft rights to shooting guard Greg Graham that same year…)?

And then there was the debacle of the 1994 first round draft selections of Sharone Wright at no. 6 (on the board? Brian Grant, Eddie Jones, Jalen Rose and at least a half-dozen other guys who had longer, more productive NBA careers) and BJ Tyler (Who? Exactly!).

More from The Sixer Sense

Given the previous six years of ineptitude, the 1995 NBA Draft had to pay off, if for no other reason, the Ben Franklin Bridge would collapse under the pressure of the number of 76ers fans attempting to jump off of it at the same time.

I recall quite clearly, after the 1995 NBA Draft Lottery was laid and our beloved team was slotted at no. 3, the agony over not knowing what the Clippers would do with the no. 2 pick after Golden State would undoubtedly take the consensus no. 1 overall pick and quasi-bust, Joe Smith. There was this sense that either the basketball gods would not dare be on our side for once or, worse and most likely, the 76ers would somehow find a way to screw things up just like we had the previous several years.

Would the 76ers accept their fate and take Antonio McDyess at third overall? Would we think too much and draft a feel-good story like Philadelphia’s own Rasheed Wallace or a string bean project named Kevin Garnett who would go on to be the first player drafted right out of high school in 20 years? For this basketball team, there was no way an All-American shooting guard from North Carolina, who at the time compared favorably to the “GOAT” Michael Jordan, would fall directly into our laps, right?

There I was, a 13-year-old fanatic, with my father and some fellow 76ers freaks on that early summer evening. The probable happened: the Golden State Warriors took Joe Smith. Then, the unimaginable: the Los Angeles Clippers selected…Antonio McDyess! I leaped from the sofa and ran back and forth between the kitchen and the living room, screaming “WE GOT STACKHOUSE!!!!!”

It was as if the basketball gods looked through the window of our souls, smiled and said “76er fans: today is your day!” By all accounts, this was a pick we could not screw up. The next great NBA player was there for the taking. But wait… the 76ers still had to make the pick! That 5-minute lag between picks felt like five hours. But finally, David Stern came to the podium and uttered the words we had been waiting to hear for days, weeks, months… heck, for some, even years. “With the 3rd pick in the 1995 NBA Draft, the Philadelphia 76ers select… Jerry Stackhouse, shooting guard from the University of North Carolina.”

Now, I recognize that Stackhouse’s career trajectory did not go as planned (he had some very solid, if inefficient years for some decidedly below average Pistons and Wizards teams), and I know we unquestionably hit the bull’s-eye the following year, netting the 1st overall pick and taking a little guard from Hampton, VA known as Bubbachuck.

Furthermore, I recognize that perhaps ‘Sheed or Garnett wound up being the better players and having the better careers (heck, Damon Stoudamire wound up winning the Rookie of the Year award that year). However, my point here is that back in 1995, there was a real sense of hope, of organizational direction for the 76ers for the first time in a long time.

Next: Can the Sixers Fail in the 2016 NBA Draft?

After years of dwelling between mediocrity and misery, that hope has finally returned. Whether the pick is the Brandon Ingram, the gangly freshman sharp-shooter from Duke or Ben Simmons, the best all-around 19 year-old basketball player on the planet, the 76ers future is beyond bright. Add in the potential for moving assets (current big men and future draft picks) and the possible additions of Joel Embiid and Dario Saric, and it won’t be long before the 76ers are knocking on, then knocking down, the door of the NBA Playoffs.