The 1996–97 Philadelphia 76ers season was the 48th season for the Philadelphia 76ers in the National Basketball Association, and their 34th season in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Season summary

Off-season Before the beginning of the season, the 76ers won the NBA draft lottery, and selected point guard Allen Iverson out of Georgetown University with the first overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft. After two seasons at Georgetown, Iverson quickly established himself as one of the premier point guards in the NBA. During the off-season, the 76ers signed free agents Don MacLean, Mark Davis, Lucious Harris, and Michael Cage, and hired Johnny Davis as their new head coach. The team also moved into the new 20,000 plus seat CoreStates Center, after calling The Spectrum home from 1967 to 1996.

Regular season Under Davis and with the addition of Iverson, the 76ers played around .500 in winning percentage with a 7–8 start to the regular season. However, the team struggled and lost 23 of their next 24 games, including 10 and 13-game losing streaks posted respectively, and held a 12–34 record at the All-Star break. The 76ers lost ten of their final eleven games of the season, and finished in sixth place in the Atlantic Division with a 22–60 record; the team missed the NBA playoffs for the sixth consecutive year.

Iverson had a successful rookie season, scoring 30 points in his NBA debut in the 76ers' 111–103 home loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, at the CoreStates Center on November 1, 1996, and finishing the regular season averaging 23.5 points, 7.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game, and also leading the team with 155 three-point field goals; he was named the NBA Rookie of the Year, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. In addition, second-year star Jerry Stackhouse finished second on the team in scoring with 20.7 points per game, and 102 three-point field goals, while Derrick Coleman averaged 18.1 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game, but only played 57 games due to a finger injury, and Clarence Weatherspoon provided the team with 12.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Off the bench, MacLean contributed 10.9 points per game, but only played just 37 games due to a hip injury, while Davis provided with 8.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, Rex Walters contributed 6.8 points per game, starting center Scott Williams averaged 5.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, Harris contributed 5.4 points per game, and Cage provided with 1.8 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, Iverson was selected for the NBA Rookie Game, as a member of the Eastern Conference Rookie team. Iverson scored 19 points along with 9 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks, and was named the Rookie Game's Most Valuable Player, as the Eastern Conference defeated the Western Conference, 96–91. In addition, Iverson was also selected to participate in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, but withdrew due to injury, and was replaced with Darvin Ham of the Denver Nuggets. Iverson finished tied in 17th place in Most Valuable Player voting, while Davis finished tied in seventh place in Sixth Man of the Year voting.

The 76ers finished 26th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 610,974 at the CoreStates Center during the regular season, which was the fourth-lowest in the league.

Notable highlights Iverson also set a rookie record of scoring 40 or more points in five consecutive games in April, plus scoring a season-high of 50 points in a road game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, at the Gund Arena on April 12, 1997, despite the 76ers losing all five of those games.

Aftermath Following the season, Davis and General Manager Brad Greenberg were both fired, and MacLean, Harris and Cage were all traded to the New Jersey Nets.

Offseason

NBA draft

Round Pick Player Position Nationality School/Club team 1 1 Allen Iverson PG/SG Georgetown 2 31 Mark Hendrickson SF Washington State 2 32 Ryan Minor (from Toronto) SG Oklahoma 2 48 Jamie Feick (from Detroit) PF Michigan State

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Season schedule Game Date Opponent Result 76ers points Opponent points Record Streak OT 1 November 1 Milwaukee Loss 103 111 0-1 Lost 1 2 November 2 @ Chicago Loss 86 115 0-2 Lost 2 3 November 5 Detroit Loss 81 83 0-3 Lost 3 4 November 8 @ Boston Win 115 105 1-3 Won 1 5 November 9 Phoenix Win 112 95 2-3 Won 2 6 November 12 @ New York Win 101 97 3-3 Won 3 7 November 13 @ Toronto Loss 98 110 3-4 Lost 1 8 November 15 Cleveland Loss 89 105 3-5 Lost 2 9 November 16 @ Miami Win 91 89 4-5 Won 1 10 November 20 Indiana Loss 92 103 4-6 Lost 1 11 November 22 @ Washington Loss 76 88 4-7 Lost 2 12 November 23 New York Win 109 92 5-7 Won 1 13 November 26 LA Lakers Loss 88 100 5-8 Lost 1 14 November 29 Orlando Win 100 91 6-8 Won 1 15 November 30 Vancouver Win 96 90 7-8 Won 2 16 December 4 @ San Antonio Loss 103 113 7-9 Lost 1 17 December 5 @ Dallas Loss 102 106 7-10 Lost 2 18 December 7 @ Houston Loss 108 123 7-11 Lost 3 19 December 9 Seattle Loss 94 118 7-12 Lost 4 20 December 11 Miami Loss 79 84 7-13 Lost 5 21 December 13 @ Charlotte Loss 75 84 7-14 Lost 6 22 December 14 @ Atlanta Loss 81 106 7-15 Lost 7 23 December 17 Charlotte Loss 84 93 7-16 Lost 8 24 December 20 New York Loss 103 110 7-17 Lost 9 25 December 21 Chicago Loss 105 111 7-18 Lost 10 26 December 26 @ Denver Win 118 89 8-18 Won 1 27 December 28 @ Utah Loss 84 110 8-19 Lost 1 28 December 29 @ LA Lakers Loss 102 115 8-20 Lost 2 29 January 2 @ Seattle Loss 82 96 8-21 Lost 3 30 January 3 @ Golden State Loss 114 122 8-22 Lost 4 OT 31 January 5 @ Sacramento Loss 106 107 8-23 Lost 5 32 January 7 @ Orlando Loss 88 109 8-24 Lost 6 33 January 8 Dallas Loss 93 111 8-25 Lost 7 34 January 10 Houston Loss 99 120 8-26 Lost 8 35 January 13 Utah Loss 96 97 8-27 Lost 9 OT 36 January 15 Golden State Loss 111 128 8-28 Lost 10 37 January 17 New Jersey Loss 103 105 8-29 Lost 11 OT 38 January 19 @ Indiana Loss 107 111 8-30 Lost 12 39 January 20 Milwaukee Loss 104 114 8-31 Lost 13 40 January 22 @ Boston Win 127 125 9-31 Won 1 OT 41 January 24 Sacramento Loss 92 107 9-32 Lost 1 42 January 25 @ Detroit Loss 95 104 9-33 Lost 2 43 January 29 Toronto Win 101 99 10-33 Won 1 44 January 31 Orlando Loss 99 109 10-34 Lost 1 45 February 1 @ Milwaukee Win 109 100 11-34 Won 1 46 February 5 San Antonio Win 113 97 12-34 Won 2 47 February 11 @ Cleveland Loss 94 105 12-35 Lost 1 48 February 13 @ New York Loss 92 107 12-36 Lost 2 49 February 15 @ Miami Loss 99 125 12-37 Lost 3 50 February 16 Denver Loss 97 112 12-38 Lost 4 51 February 18 Miami Loss 83 111 12-39 Lost 5 52 February 20 LA Clippers Win 101 84 13-39 Won 1 53 February 22 Portland Win 97 80 14-39 Won 2 54 February 25 @ LA Clippers Loss 93 98 14-40 Lost 1 55 February 26 @ Phoenix Loss 104 111 14-41 Lost 2 56 February 28 @ Vancouver Win 104 100 15-41 Won 1 57 March 2 @ Portland Loss 95 112 15-42 Lost 1 58 March 4 Washington Loss 106 107 15-43 Lost 2 59 March 6 Atlanta Loss 104 117 15-44 Lost 3 60 March 9 @ Washington Win 99 93 16-44 Won 1 61 March 11 @ Minnesota Loss 100 104 16-45 Lost 1 62 March 12 Chicago Loss 104 108 16-46 Lost 2 63 March 14 Minnesota Win 109 95 17-46 Won 1 64 March 15 Charlotte Loss 99 107 17-47 Lost 1 65 March 18 @ Toronto Loss 105 117 17-48 Lost 2 66 March 19 New York Loss 100 111 17-49 Lost 3 67 March 21 New Jersey Win 112 110 18-49 Won 1 68 March 26 @ New Jersey Loss 105 123 18-50 Lost 1 69 March 28 Boston Win 113 105 19-50 Won 1 70 March 30 @ Detroit Win 96 92 20-50 Won 2 71 April 1 @ Orlando Win 105 93 21-50 Won 3 72 April 2 Toronto Loss 90 112 21-51 Lost 1 73 April 4 Indiana Loss 103 114 21-52 Lost 2 74 April 5 @ Charlotte Loss 113 115 21-53 Lost 3 75 April 7 @ Chicago Loss 102 128 21-54 Lost 4 76 April 9 Atlanta Loss 101 116 21-55 Lost 5 77 April 11 @ Milwaukee Loss 118 126 21-56 Lost 6 78 April 12 @ Cleveland Loss 118 125 21-57 Lost 7 79 April 14 Washington Loss 110 131 21-58 Lost 8 80 April 16 @ New Jersey Win 113 105 22-58 Won 1 81 April 18 Boston Loss 113 119 22-59 Lost 1 82 April 19 @ Atlanta Loss 104 136 22-60 Lost 2

Player stats Note: GP= Games played; REB= Rebounds; AST= Assists; STL = Steals; BLK = Blocks; PTS = Points; AVG = Average Player GP REB AST STL BLK PTS AVG Allen Iverson 76 312 567 157 24 1787 23.5 Jerry Stackhouse 81 338 253 93 63 1679 20.7 Derrick Coleman 57 573 193 50 75 1032 18.1 Clarence Weatherspoon 82 679 140 74 86 1003 12.2 Mark Davis 75 323 135 85 31 639 8.5 Don McLean 37 140 37 12 10 402 10.9 Rex Walters 59 107 113 28 3 402 6.8 Scott Williams 62 397 41 44 41 362 5.8 Lucious Harris 54 71 50 41 3 293 5.4 Doug Overton 61 68 101 24 0 217 3.6 Michael Cage 82 320 43 48 42 151 1.8 Mark Hendrickson 29 92 3 10 4 85 2.9 Adrian Caldwell 27 111 7 8 7 72 2.7 Mark Bradtke 36 68 7 5 5 59 1.6 Frankie King 7 14 5 4 0 20 2.9 Joe Courtney 4 9 0 0 0 12 3.0

Award winners Allen Iverson, NBA Rookie of the Year Award Allen Iverson, NBA All-Rookie Team First Team

References

Philadelphia 76ers on Basketball Reference