Philadelphia 76ers: Allen Iverson voted franchise’s all-time favorite player
Our all-time favorite Philadelphia 76ers tournament has come to a conclusion.
The Philadelphia 76ers‘ long and storied history has yielded many great players. Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving, Billy Cunningham, Hal Greer, Moses Malone, Charles Barkley, Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney, just to name a few. It is a truly historic franchise.
However, one player stands above the rest in Sixers lore. Not because he won a championship, or because he was the most talented. In fact, neither apply. It’s because of what he meant to the city, both as a basketball player and as a person. His name, of course, is Allen Iverson.
A.I. came to Philly as a No. 1 pick and gave everything to basketball’s hungriest fanbase. He never won a title, but he got close, and in getting close, he provided no shortage of highlight-reel plays and franchise-defining moments. The killer cross. The step-over. The practice rant. Few players are so well suited to the Philadelphia spotlight.
It was only fitting, then, for Iverson to emerge victorious in our impromptu version of March Madness. We ran a tournament to decide the Sixers’ all-time favorite player, working our way from the 64 to one. Iverson was — unsurprisingly — the last one standing.
He faced Joel Embiid in the championship round — a fresh-on-the-mind superstar who lifted Philadelphia from its lowest depths as a franchise. Embiid was able to beat Julius Erving and Maurice Cheeks before Iverson. It’s clear no one was going to truly challenge A.I.
Iverson received 63 percent of the vote, his slimmest margin of victory in the tournament, but not a particularly close win either. It was never in doubt, even after a late Embiid push. The tournament belonged to Iverson — the rest, merely a formality.
You can see the full bracket below.
To all who participated in this tournament, a big thank you. It was a blast on our end, and hopefully you found it enjoyable to spend some time swimming in Sixers history. We will have more articles, and maybe more games, to help fill the time as we endure the COVID-19 pandemic. You can count on us for a steady steam of Sixers — and NBA Draft — content.
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