As a Boston fan I can't even begin to tell you how good the 76ers were
for a 5 year stretch during the early 80's. Hands down these teams would
have won every year had they not had to deal with the great Bos/LA teams.
This team would absolutely obliterate this years GSW squad. Utterly
insulting the GSW warrior team was even mentioned in the same company as
this team as one of the greatest ever. Whoever came up with the ELO ratings
can ELO this.....clown. 83' 76ers, 86' Celtics and 87' were all so superior
to anything I've seen in decades and that includes SA's best. The Bulls and
Pistons best squads could have competed but I still put these 3 teams up
there ahead of them. Moses in his prime was one of the most gifted and best
C's to ever play. Without a doubt one the best pure rebounders ever.
Lakers may have dominated the 80s from a championship standpoint, but for
my money the '83 Sixers were THE best individual 80s team ever. As soon as
they got Moses Malone (who was pretty much the single most dominant force
in the NBA at that time), it was over for the rest of the league. Only team
I could see challenging them outright in that decade is the '86 Celtics
(arguably the most loaded Celtic team in franchise history) and maybe the
'87 Lakers. Other than that, they're right on par with the the '67 Sixers,
the '71 Bucks, the '72 Lakers, and the '96 Bulls.
+Edward Richardson Not sure. Even though that Pistons team ended up winning the championship that year, they did so without having to worry about Magic Johnson and Byron Scott (both succumbed to serious leg injuries due to Pat Riley going overboard with his practices just prior to the Finals, NOT a wise move on his part). Both the '89 Pistons and '83 Sixers were some of the best defensive teams ever, so I guess it comes down to which of those Detroit big men (Laimbeer? Mahorn? Salley? Edwards???) ends up with the daunting task of slowing down a PRIME Moses Malone. That said, I still pick the Sixers. Pistons resort to hacking Malone, he'll just knock 'em down from the line at a 70+% clip. Makes a huge difference in my eyes.
The Best NBA Team assembled !!! The 76'ers were unstoppable.
Erving,Malone,Toney,Cheeks,Jones,etc. The team weren't selfish and worked
as a team. Earlier,When the 76'ers had George McGuiness they lost because
of ego. But this team was the best I ever saw.