MVN: Most Valuable Network

History buffs, this is your day. Enjoy this three part series of Philadelphia professional basketball. If Wilt Chamberlain played today, he would be considered the greatest player of all-time bar none. He played before basketball was mainstream. Russell won most of the championships primarily because of Red Auerbach. However, Wilt set the single game rebounding record of 55 caroms against Russell. Wilt got the best of him in '66-'67 when they won the world title. Wilt averaged 24 points, 24 rebounds and eight assists that year. He might have averaged eight blocks too, but those weren't recorded until 1973. They should have never traded him to the Lakers, no matter what.

Post-Wilt, the Sixers set the NBA record for losses in a season with 73 in '73. Things turned bleak in the Spectrum, but Dr. J arrived in 1976 to save the Sixers. They returned to being perennial contenders until finally winning it all in 1983. The difference was Moses Malone.

Dr. J's retirement is what got me interested in basketball as a young child. I saw this legend who seemed to transcend the game and the respect that he earned. I knew I would never be like him, but I could feel the passion for the game and that's what I wanted. I wanted to be passionate about life and live the way that Dr. J played basketball.

That passion carried on in Charles Barkley. He was one of the most unique players in history. Unfortunately, the Sixers failed to build a champion around him. The draft of 1986 was a night that lived in infamy as Pat Williams traded Moses Malone and the number one pick of the draft for Jeff Ruland, Cliff Robinson (before the most current one) and Roy Hinson.

It wasn't until the draft of 1996 that the Sixers would avenge their blunder from ten years prior. With the first pick in the draft, the Sixers selected Allen Iverson. They made it to the 2001 Finals and won Game 1, but Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal led the Lakers to win the next four games and take the title.

The third part of this video series ends with the Sixers acquiring Chris Webber in 2005. Unfortunately, that marriage didn't work out. Both players were gone by the end of the 2006-'07 season.

After trading Iverson in December of 2006, the Sixers struggled before making the playoffs last year. They signed Elton Brand and locked up Andre Iguodala this summer. As we enter a new era in Sixers basketball, take this opportunity to look back at the past. The future is bright.

Part One:
Part Two:
Part Three: