Philadelphia 76ers: A look back at the Pre Brand, Pre-Iverson Season of 1995-96

Life Before Iverson Much Worse than Life After : Looking back at the '95-'96 76ers

Now that the Sixers have made a major step forward in their quest back to NBA elite status by nabbing Elton Brand, lets take a look back at the 1995-96 roster just for nice laugh.

One of the worst teams I can ever remember, the pitiful 1995-96 Sixers (18-64)...look at these names (sorted by total pts scored that year). Classic roster!

Coach AND GM: John Lucas - obviously on crack that year. Fired after the season from both jobs and replaced with the classic one year duo of Johnny Davis and Brad Greenberg.

Jerry Stackhouse- Sixers' third pick in the draft that year (passing on Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Garnett), leading scorer by default. Was a complete spaz trying to dribble. Traded away in '97 to Pistons after clashing with AI's posse. Currently on Mavs, but never amounted to what he was supposed to.
Clarence Weatherspoon - Sixers ninth pick in '92 draft. Poor man's Barkley, decent career, but nothing special. Traded to Knicks in '98, retired in '05.
Vernon Maxwell- John Lucas' sponsor, or was it vice-versa? After winning back-to-back titles with Rockets he brought his Mad Max routine to us for one year. Returned to us in 2000 and retired later that year.
Trevor Ruffin - fourth leading scorer? Is he still living? He played two seasons in the NBA, '94-'95 with the Suns and then this one. Goes from fourth leading scorer on this team to retired? Shocker.
Sharone Wright - Sixers' sixth pick in the draft in '94 draft, traded during this season to the Raptors, out of the NBA in '98. Total bust. He looked like Shirley from What's Happening, but she had a better low post game. MyMyMyMyMySharona.....
Derrick Alston - Who? Sixers second-round pick in 1994 (great draft of Wright and Alston). Followed up this season with a two game stint (yes two games) the following year in Atlanta and then never played again.
Sean Higgins - second-round pick of Spurs in 1990, Sixers were his 5th team in six years. Came to use from Nets as part of the Shawn Bradley trade. Played one season for us, skipped the '96-97 season and went to Portland for 2 games (must be a trend) in 1997 and retired?
Tony Massenburg- Also second-round pick of Spurs in 1990, but he ups Higgins as the Sixers were his eighth team in six years. Lone season here, acquired in Sharone Wright deal from Raptors. Finished his career in 2005 amassing 14 different jerseys. Classic journeyman who was a half decent player. I give him special props cause he went to Maryland (and didn't die).
Richard Dumas - I think this guy had crack issues too. Played two seasons for the Suns (banned from the NBA in 1994), then one for us and never heard from again. Good chance he's dead.
Greg Sutton - Where do we find these guys? '91 draft pick of Spurs, played a year, missed two seasons (probably overseas), half season with Hornets in '95-'96 and the other half with us (yeah!)—never played again.
Jeff Malone- Longtime shooting guard with Bullets (10th pick in '83 draft), later to went to Jazz. We acquired him from Utah in 1994 for Horny (Jeff Hornacek). He played two years and didn't do much for us. Went to Heat late in the season and then retired. Great trade.
Rex Walters- LOL. 16th pick by Nets in '93 draft. Came to us as part of the Bradley trade. Two seasons with us, he stunk. He took Tim Perry's 23 jersey when Perry was shipped to the Nets in that trade. He finished up his career with three more seasons in Miami, never amounted to anything. I'm sure Roy Williams was proud. He's now the head coach for the U of San Francisco (wow).
Ed Pinckney- 10th pick in '85 draft by Suns. Came to Sixers with Massenburg for Sharone Wright. Solid NBA career, went to Heat the following year then retired. Assistant to Jay Wright at Nova since '03.
Derrick Coleman - #1 pick in 1990 draft. Came here during the season along with Walters and Higgins in Bradley trade. Played just 11 games that year because of irregular heartbeat (yeah he had none). Played two more seasons with us, putting up solid numbers, but didn't coexist with Iverson's game. Returned to Sixers for three more lovely seasons from 2001-'04. Underachiever who often dogged it. Retired in 2005.
Shawn Bradley- #2 pick of Sixers in '93 draft. Highlight of the season was shipping his butt out of town (for Coleman and others). He invented "The Shawn," meaning a box score of less pts than fouls. Only contributed 12 games to the cause this season so he's fodder for another time.
LaSalle Thompson - Played 15 seasons in the NBA, just a half season with the Sixers at the end of his career....retired in 1997.
Scott Skiles- After nine seasons in the NBA, a few really good ones in Orlando dishing to Shaq, Skiles signs with the Sixers that year. Plays 10 games and then retires. How smart was he????
Greg Graham- Drafted 17th overall by the Pacers in the '93 draft and traded to the Sixers that year along with Dana Barros and for Hersey Hawkins. Played 2.5 yrs for us and then shipped to the Nets as part of the Shawn Bradley trade. Was a 12th man at best.
Greg Grant - Little 5-7 guy from Trenton played with six teams over eight seasons, this was his last in the NBA, for good reason.
Scott Williams- LOL...one of our worst free agent signings ever...He wins three titles with the Bulls (as a reserve) and we give him like an eight-year deal. He actually missed all but 13 games this year with a knee injury, so if he had played I'd have to think this team would have been worse. Eventually traded in 1998-99 to the Bucks (with Tim Thomas) for Tyronne Hill.
Mike Brown- who? Different Mike brown from current Cavs coach. Career backup, played just nine games, played six the following year for the Suns and then retired.
Trevor Wilson - five-year journeyman who signed to a 10 day contract with Sixers, played six games, never played another NBA game after that.
Tim Perry- Ah, one of John Chaney's finest. 7th overall pick in the '88 draft by the Suns, traded to Sixers in '92 in the Barkely deal. Played just eight games this season with the Sixers before being sent to the Nets in the Bradley deal, played 22 games for the Nets then retired. He wore 23 and tried to play like MJ but he was horrible, HORRIBLE.
Elmer Bennett- ???? Played eight games for the Sixers that year, four for the Cavs the year before, five for the Nuggets and four for the Rockets the year after and then never played again. Who cares?