Picture a player in the presence of The Doctor(Julius Erving), a Leader(Moses Malone), the Secretary of Defense(Bobby Jones), and the floor General(Maurice Cheeks).

But among these legends is one who doesn’t have the notoriety, the big school background or the big-time salary. He does however possess big game ability and the heart of a killer. He is The Boston Strangler… he is Andrew Toney.

Before there was Michael Jordan and his dominance; Andrew Toney may have been the best two guard in the NBA. The 8th pick in the 1980 draft out of S.W. Louisiana, Toney at 6′3″ 185lbs. possessed a first step that was lethal - once he was by you, it was only a matter of how he was going to score. He had long range accuracy that many players of today lack. Toney would come off of a screen and fire in the same fluid motion that Rip Hamilton does now or how Reggie Miller used to. He teamed in the backcourt with Maurice Cheeks to form one of the best defensive backcourt combos in the NBA during the early 1980’s.

Although he was on a team that featured Doc, Moses, Mo, Cheeks Bobby Jones and later on Charles Barkley; Toney was the guy that the opposition knew they had to stop in order to beat the 76′ers. Since most of the great players in the NBA then were forwards or centers Toney was a matchup problem for most teams night after night.

We live in a society where we love to give nicknames around, I have found few to be as true to form as The Boston Strangler.

During the early 1980’s - few rivalies in sports could measure up to the 76′ers-Celtics matchups. In 1981 the 76ers blew a 3-1 series led that opened the door to to Larry Bird and the Celtics winning the NBA Title. In 1982 things would be different…sort of the 76ers would once again blow a 3-1 series lead and would face Bird and his gang in a Game 7 in fabled Boston Garden. Toney who averaged 29 points for the series was the catalyst who pushed the 76ers past the Celtics in Game 7. Even the Celtic faithful paid homage with the chant, “Beat L.A.!” “Beat L.A.!” But the 76ers would be denied that elusive title for another season.

In 1983 the puzzle was completed with the addition of Moses Malone as the 76ers would go on to a 67-14 record, with one loss in the playoffs and a three game sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers.

It seemed from there things would go south in Toney’s career.

In spite of a career best 20 ppg. in the 83-84 season the Sixers would be ousted in the first round by the New Jersey Nets, many of the teams reserves would leave via free agency or trade, the following season Moses Malone was traded. Toney last productive season would be the 84-85 campaign where he averaged 17 ppg.

From that point on Toney was not the same explosive player that we came to love. Stress fractures and nagging bone spurs hampered his game to the point of retirement. The sad part in his story is modern science today wasn’t that modern in the mid-1980’s - Toney would’ve missed maybe a few weeks instead of parts of 2 1/2 seasons. He is one of a few guards that shot 50% for his career, that is outstanding considering that he played in an NBA dominated by big men and relied heavily on his outside shooting.

In recent years his relationship with the organization has been strained largely because of former owner Harold Katz. The only reason Toney’s jersey isn’t hanging from the rafters is because there’s no guarantee that he’ll commit to an appearance.

And you thought Billy King screwed things up?

Looking at the who’s who of 76er greats - Toney’s name may not jump out at you. Unless you’ve sat through some of those spring afternoons and nights against the Celtics and Lakers you can’t put a price tag on what he meant to the franchise and to us as fans.

Those who played with him and against him certainly have not forgotten:

 Charles Barkley, former 76ers teammate - “Toney was amazingly strong, he and Moses were the only ones that could post me up!” Charles continued, “I thought he was the best player on the team when I got here. We had Bobby Jones, Moses Malone and Julius Erving but the only one I was in awe of was Andrew.” Taken from Barkley’s book “Outrageous!”

Pat Riley, Former Coach of the Los Angeles Lakers - “He’s the greatest clutch player I’ve ever seen. The hell with Jerry West.”

The highest honor may have come from a man who saw The Strangler first hand.

Larry Bird, Former Boston Celtic Great - “Do I remember Andrew Toney? The Boston Strangler? Yeah. I remember him. I wish we had him. He was a killer. We called him the Boston Strangler because every time he got a hold of the ball we knew he was going to score. He was the absolute best I’ve ever seen at shooting the ball at crucial times. We had nobody who could come close to stopping him. Nobody.”

And that’s coming from a player that’s probably broken my heart more than any woman has.

Quotes taken from NBA Draft.net

Andrew Toney is so obscure that I’m having trouble finding a photo. Please bear with me while I search but feel free to post

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 7th, 2008 at 9:26 pm and is filed under Blogroll, Boston Celtics, Charles Barkley, Julius Erving, LA Lakers, Larry Bird, Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers, blog roll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.