In 2001 we witnessed one of the more lopsided NBA Finals.
The Eastern Conference champions Philadelphia 76ers were facing off against the champs from
the West - the Los Angeles Lakers.
Somehow, someway behind Allen Iversons’ 48 points they managed to win game 1 of the
Finals, but after that, it was over.
There was only one man who could generate any type of offense for the Sixers and against
Kobe and Shaq, it just wasn’t enough.
The strategy of the 76ers was pretty obvious.
Let Iverson get his, and surround him with defensive stoppers.
Yet, nobody mentioned that majority of them defensive stoppers were aging.
And, basketball has never been a one man’s game.
Your offense has to come from somewhere.
In the end, with all due respect to Allen Iverson and Dikembe Mutombo, what we got was
one of the worst teams in the NBA Finals.
Hey guys.
Purple Prince here and today, let’s look at the 2001 Philadelphia 76ers and what happened
to all of their players after the 2001 NBA Finals.
George Lynch George Lynch was the 76ers starting Small
Forward during the 2001 regular season and in 32.3 minutes per game was able to contribute
with only 8.4 points.
He barely played in the finals.
In 2 games he scored only 1 basket and grabbed a total of 5 boards.
After the 2001 season George went to Charlotte Hornets for a year and then played in New
Orleans for 3 more years, never averaging more than 4.8 points per game.
For his career in the NBA, George Lynch holds averages of 6.6 points and 5 rebounds.
Rodney Buford Back then, the 23 year old Small forward wasn’t
more than a deep reserve player.
During the regular season he played just 12.2 minutes per game and in the Finals, in 3 games
was able to collect a total of 13 minutes, 2 points and 6 rebounds.
Next season he had an opportunity to start some games for the newly established Memphis
Grizzlies and that was his best season actually.
In 28.1 minutes per game he averaged 9.4 points and 4.3 rebounds.
His best season didn’t result in a new contract in the NBA,
so instead, he went to Greece for a year.
After 1 season in Europe he returned to the NBA and played 2 more seasons - one for Sacramento
and one for New Jersey Nets.
He was out of the NBA at age 27.
For his career, Buford averaged 6.4 points and 2.6 rebounds.
Kevin Ollie If you haven’t heard his name before, shame
on you, as during his career, Kevin Ollie played for 12 different franchise.
As impressive as it is, it also means that nobody really wants you that bad.
During the 2001 regular season, Ollie averaged just 3.8 points, and in the finals he was
around in all 5 games, but played a total of 14 minutes and collected 5 points and 1
assist.
The journeyman point guard then, in a span of just 3 years played for Chicago, Indiana,
Milwaukee, Seattle and Cleveland before settling for 4 more seasons with Philadelphia.
Then, at age 36 during the 2009 season he played for the Timberwolves, before going
to OKC for his final season in 2010.
If you’re wondering why I didn’t mention any stats, well, that’s because there’s
nothing to mention.
For his career, that actually spanned 662 games, which I guess is an accomplishment
in itself, Ollie averaged 3.8 points and 2.3 assists.
Jumaine Jones The 2nd year Small Forward was a small contributor
during the regular season and in the Finals his contributions became even smaller.
During the regular season, Jones was able to average 4.7 points, while in the Finals
that number plummeted to only 2 points.
A guy who averaged 2 points actually started 4 out of 5 Finals Games.
Let that sink in.
His career did have better moments though.
After the 2001 Finals, Jones joined Cleveland where he got more minutes and contributed
with 9 points and 5.6 rebounds.Then a useless stop in Boston, then the Lakers and Charlotte,
where he had his best season averaging 10.5 points and 4.9 rebounds.
His last season in the NBA came at age 27, in Phoenix, when in 18 games he averaged 2.2
points.
For his whole career, Jumaine Jones holds averages of 7.1 points and 4.2 rebounds.
Todd MacCulloch Big Mac was a 7 foot center who played sparingly
during the Sixers 2001 run.
During regular season, in 9.5 minutes per game MacCulloch averaged 4.1 points and 2.7
rebounds.
In the Finals however he was barely on the court.
In 5 Finals games, he accounted for a total of just 31 minutes and averaged 2.6 points
and 1.4 rebounds.
AFter the Finals he went to New Jersey Nets where he became the starting center for the
team and was able to carve out his best pro season averaging 9.7 points and 6.1 boards
in 24.2 minutes.
After his breakout season with the Nets, he returned to Philadelphia for what would be
the final season of his NBA Career.
As a starting center, he averaged 7.1 points and 4.7 boards.
For his career, MacCulloch averaged 6.1 points and 4 rebounds.
Raja Bell The 2001 season was Bell’s first gig in
the NBA.
He played in only 5 regular season games for an average of 1 points, and he played 5 games
in the NBA Finals as well.
In extended minutes he managed to shoot just 30% from the field and average 2.6 points.
He spent one more year in Philadelphia, with no meaningful contributions and then moved
to Dallas for a season, also, with nothing really worth mentioning.
His career really kicked off in Utah where he was trusted more and ultimately got to
even start some games.
In 2 seasons there Raja Bell averaged double digit points both seasons.
Then he moved to Phoenix where he enjoyed the prime of his career.
He became a 3-point shooting machine and even made 2 All-Defensive teams.
Phoenix fast play style really benefitted him, but after 3 seasons there he was traded
to Charlotte.
Soon after he was traded to the Warriors but played only 1 game for them.
In 2010, he signed a 3-year contract to return to Utah, but after 2 seasons was waived by
the team.
Bell retired in 2014.
Matt Geiger The 7 foot Center was already on the downside
of his career when he joined Philadelphia for the 1999 NBA season.
He slowly lost his starting spot and by 2001 was only a deep reserve.
During the regular season Geiger averaged 6.1 points and 4 rebounds, but in the Finals,
he was limited to just 10.7 minutes per game in which he averaged 5.2 points and 1 rebound.
Geigers career was pretty much over right after the NBA Finals as he played just 4 more
games next season.
Knee injuries forced him to retire in 2002.
Throughout his career, Matt Geiger averaged 9.2 points and 5.7 rebounds.
Tyrone Hill Ok, now we get to the TOP 5 contributors.
One of which was the 6 foot 9 power forward, Tyrone Hill.
He had a good regular season for the Sixers averaging 9.6 points and 9 rebounds and was
supposed to be one of the players to help Sixers win the title.
In the Finals though, he was underwhelming.
Just 6.6 points and 6.6 rebounds and a 39.4% success mark from the field.
He continued his strong rebounding next year, for the Cleveland Cavaliers averaging double
digit rebounds for the 4th time in his career, btu after underwhelming start to the 2003
season
he was sent back to Philadelphia.
At 34 years of age he just wasn’t the same player anymore.
He finished the 2003 season in Philadelphia before moving to Miami for the 2004 season,
where he played only 5 games.
In total, he played 801 games in the NBA, was a 1x All-Star and averaged 9.4 points
and 8.6 rebounds.
Aaron McKie Aaron McKie was Philadelphia’s go-to option
from the bench during the 2001 regular season.
He was a versatile player and averaged 11.6 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds which was
enough to win the 2001 Sixth man of the year award.
In the finals though, he was a starter that disappointed.
In a whopping 41.3 minutes per game, he was able to contribute with only 8 points, 6 assists
and 5.4 rebounds and an atrocious 31.4% shooting from the field.
He stayed in Philadelphia for 4 more seasons filling up the sixth man role, but never returned
to his glory days.
After the 2005 season Mckie went to the Los Angeles Lakers where he mostly sat on the
bench participating in only 24 games throughout 2 seasons.
For his Career Aaron Mckie averaged 7.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists.
Eric Snow Philadelphia’s starting point guard averaged
9.8 points and 7.4 assists for the 2001 regular season.
In the playoffs, he improved to 12.6 points per game, but that just wasn’t enough.
If you’ve watched my first video on the worst Finals teams, you probably remember
that Eric Snow was also a member of that horrible 2007 Cavaliers Finals team.
Such is life.
After the 2001 Finals, Snow stayed in Philadelphia for 3 more seasons, averaging double digit
points in each of them.
Then he moved on to Cleveland, where his career essentially died.
In Cleveland he was still starting, but played much less and never even averaged 5 points
per season.
He spent 4 seasons in Cleveland before calling it quits because of a knee problem.
For his career, Snow averaged 6.8 points and 5 assists.
Dikembe Mutombo Mutombo was once one of the most feared rim
presences in the NBA.
Unfortunately, by the time he landed in Philadelphia, he was already 34, and on the downside of
his career.
He started his 2001 season in Atlanta, but at the trade deadline got traded to Philadelphia
where he finished strong averaging 11.7 points, 12.4 boards and 2.5 blocks in 26 games.
In the Finals, he was even better, just not the prime Dikembe anymore.
In 41.6 minutes he averaged 16.8 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks.
Even though it would seem that his career was almost over, it wasn’t.
Mutombo spent one more year in Philadelphia, before opting for more of a bench role through
the rest of his career.
He played 1 season in New Jersey and 1 in New York.
But Did he retire after that?
No.
He played 5 more seasons with the Houston Rockets and was still in the league at age
42.
Well, his name was, but Mutombo was only a shell of his former self.
He retired after playing just 9 games in the 2009 season.
Mutombo is the 2nd All-Time leader in blocks and For his career, averaged 9.8 points, 10.3
rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game.
And the superstar of this squad, obviously was Allen Iverson.
More of a shooting guard throughout his career, Iverson had a great 2001 regular season.
He led the league in points with 31.1 and steals with 2.5.
He also won the regular season MVP and All-Star game MVP.
In the 2001 NBA Finals Iverson played an average of 47.8 minutes.
47.8 minutes ladies and gentlemen.
He averaged 35.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists.
In the very first game, he scored 48 points and the Sixers won.
He was that good.
Video Game like numbers, although throughout the series, he wasn’t too efficient, shooting
40.7% from the field and just 28.2% from the three.
Still, he single handedly carried that team, but it just wasn't enough.
Iverson played for the Sixers up until 2006-2007 season when he got traded to the Denver Nuggets.
Denver had another great scorer in Carmelo Anthony, so Iverson wasn’t the number 1
option anymore.
Additionally, he was aging, and that just didn’t go well with him.
After just 135 games in Denver, Iverson was traded to Detroit.
Detroit was no fun either.
He lost playing time to Rodney Stuckey and eventually, after just 54 games, was sat down
for the remainder of the 2009 season.
Iverson signed with the Grizzlies for the 2010 season, but after just 3 games, his contract
was terminated by “mutual agreement”
Iverson returned to the Philadelphia Sixers, but played just 25 games for the team, before
leaving the 76ers indefinitely because of his daughter’s health issues.
He didn’t return for the 2010 season, and as a matter of fact, never stepped a foot
on the NBA court again.
Iverson tried to play some basketball in Europe, but that lasted only 10 games and after a
couple of years of not playing anywhere, in 2013, Iverson retired from basketball.
Allen Iverson played in 914 NBA games, is a 1x MVP, 4x NBA Scoring champions and 11x
NBA All-Star.
For his career, Iverson averaged 26.7 points and 6.2 assists.
So that was the 2001 Philadelphia Sixers Finals team.
Thanks for watching the video guys.
How bad was this team in your opinion and which player of this squad had the most disappointing
performance in the Finals?
Please leave your comment down below.
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Thanks.
I’ll see you soon.
This was Purple Prince, and I’m out!