![]() ![]() Julius Winfield Erving II was born on February 22, 1950, in Roosevelt, N.Y. He scored 30,026 points in his combined ABA and NBA career only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki have scored more points in the history of professional basketball. During his 11-year NBA career, Erving was an All-Star each season, the MVP in 1981 and a five-time member of the All-NBA First Team. In his five ABA seasons, Erving won three scoring titles, three Most Valuable Player awards and two championships. The 6-foot-7, 210-pound small forward also played for 11 years with the Philadelphia 76ers, leading them to the NBA crown in 1983. Widely regarded as the greatest player of his time, he is often considered to have been the main catalyst for the ABA-NBA merger in 1976. Julius Erving was 1 of the NBA's most exciting players ever who collected an NBA MVP and 11 All-Star nods in his career.Įrving began his professional career in the American Basketball Association with the Virginia Squires and the New York Nets. Julius was the first player I ever remember who transcended sports and was known by one name - Doctor.” “He understood what his role was and how important it was for him to conduct himself as a representative of the league. “As a basketball player, Julius was the first to truly take the torch and become the spokesman for the NBA,” said friend and former coach Billy Cunningham. He was the epitome of class, and no other player was more respected. Erving was one of the first players to make extemporaneous individual expression an integral part of the game, setting the style of play that would prevail in the decades to follow.Ī gracious, dignified and disciplined man, Erving was an ideal ambassador for the game. ![]() He was a wizard with the ball, performing feats never before like midair spins and whirls punctuated by powerful slam dunks. J,” was the dominant player of his era and an innovator who changed the way the game was played. Julius Erving, the great and wondrous “Dr. > Archive 75: Julius Erving | 75 Stories: Julius Erving Whether a superteam is defined by success, talent or how its best players were acquired, those 76ers check practically every box.Julius Erving revolutionized the game with his graceful-yet-powerful playing style that set the tone for future NBA greats. That team won 65 games and went 12-1 in the playoffs to win the championship. Bobby Jones was nearing the end of his career, but he was also a Hall of Famer. That gave the 76ers four All-Stars in Erving, Malone, Maurice Cheeks and Andrew Toney. His 1981-82 76ers reached the NBA Finals, and then, in the very next offseason, they signed reigning MVP Moses Malone in free agency. Ignoring the fact that James built his Miami roster to oppose another one that had been built in Boston three years earlier, it could be argued that Erving himself played for a superteam in Philadelphia. James was a pioneer in the player empowerment era, but to suggest that he alone led the charge on the creation of superteams is simply inaccurate. I'm not saying nothing bad about LeBron." So he can pick his own team, I'm not going to pick his team. When he put together the team in Miami, he put together that team in Cleveland as well and put together a team in Los Angeles. He's the guy who has led the charge in terms of superteams being put together. "When you look at LeBron and anybody he sort of picks with him. ![]()
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