The NBA sidekick Hall of Fame
By Bryan Harvey
Andrew Toney
Philadelphia drafted Andrew Toney out of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1980. The team was in its second year with former player Billy Cunningham as its coach and had just lost in the NBA Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers and their do-everything rookie Magic Johnson. The Boston Celtics were building around a young forward named Larry Bird. The 76ers, on paper, were oldest of the three teams. They were trying to gain and hold off a generation of younger stars. They hoped Toney could help. He was, to borrow a phrase, just what the doctor ordered.
In Toney’s rookie year, he was fourth on the team in scoring and eighth in minutes played. The team lost in seven gams in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics. Toney would score 19.1 points per game off the bench — only fractions of a point less than resident superstar Julius Erving would produce in 78 more minutes played. In short, Toney had a knack for lighting up the Celtics.
In 1982, Philadelphia bested Boston in the conference finals, but lost in the championship round to the Lakers. Despite a mix of veteran stars and young role players, disappointment was becoming the end of season expectation. Toney, however, averaged 22.1 points per game against Boston and 26.0 a night against the Lakers. He also shot over 50 percent. Playoff Toney was better than Regular Season Toney.
In 1983, Moses Malone made promises and Philadelphia kept them. In the team’s sweep of Los Angeles in the Finals, Toney backed up Malone’s 25.8 points and 18.0 rebounds per game with 22.0 points per game of his own, as well as 5.8 assists. Erving helped the cause with 19.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game, while Maurice Cheeks did his part too.
In 1984, the team stumbled in the first round against the New Jersey Nets and would draft Charles Barkley in the offseason. The challenging for titles should have continued, but it didn’t. The team would lose in the 1985 Eastern Conference Finals to Boston and then disintegrate.
By 1987, Toney was seventh on the team in scoring and 10th in minutes played. His production was returning to the norm and, with it, so was the team’s. They missed the playoffs in 1988, and Toney’s career ended after only seven seasons.
Even as he was slowed by undetected stress fractures, he left behind these words from Charles Barkley: “Andrew Toney is the best player I ever played with.”