Andrew Toney (born November 23, 1957) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Ea ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA) from 1980 to 1988. A two-time

NBA All-Star The National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game is an annual exhibition basketball game. It is the main event of the NBA All-Star Weekend. Originally, the All-Star Game featured a conference-based format, featuring a team composed of ...

, he won an

NBA championship The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is a ...

with the 76ers in 1983.

Professional career

Philadelphia 76ers (1980–1988)

He was dubbed "the Boston Strangler" by

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

sportswriters during the 76ers' and Celtics' rivalry in the early 1980s because of his ability to single-handedly dominate games against the Celtics, including Game 7 of the 1982 Eastern Conference Finals when he scored 34 points in the game. He also scored 30 points in Game 2, 39 points in Game 4 and averaged 26.4 points per game in that series. Toney was drafted by the Sixers out of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) with the eighth pick of the

1980 NBA draft The 1980 NBA draft was the 34th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 10, 1980, at the Sheraton Centre Hotel & Towers, before the 1980–81 season. In this draft, 23 NBA teams took turns selecti ...

. He was named to two All-Star teams, in 1983 and 1984, and averaged 15.9 points per game for his career. Toney was an integral part of the 1982–83 76ers championship team averaging 20 points a game, alongside teammates Julius Erving,

Moses Malone Moses Eugene Malone (March 23, 1955 – September 13, 2015) was an American professional basketball player who played in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1974 through 1995. A cen ...

, Bobby Jones and

Maurice Cheeks Maurice Edward Cheeks (born September 8, 1956) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who serves as assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has also served as head coach of t ...

, but his career was cut short after seven seasons by chronic foot injuries; the team did not believe that he was hurting before it was revealed that he had stress fractures on both feet. This led to a few years of bitterness between Toney and 76ers management. Pat Williams, vice president of basketball operations for the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...

, shared an anecdote with Tony Rizzo while being interviewed on ''The Really Big Show'' on ESPN850 WKNR in Cleveland on February 11, 2010, while promoting his latest book about the late

Chuck Daly Charles Jerome Daly (July 20, 1930 – May 9, 2009) was an American basketball head coach. He led the Detroit Pistons to two consecutive National Basketball Association (NBA) championships in 1989 and 1990—during the team's "Bad Boys" era—a ...

. Williams said that when he was a general manager back in the days of their great rivalry with the Lakers and Sixers (c. 1980–1983), he asked

Danny Ainge Daniel Ray Ainge ( ; born March 17, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and former professional baseball player who serves as an executive for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A three-s ...

, the Celtics guard, what player he worried about the most come playoff time. "Not Magic or Dr. J, it's Andrew Toney that keeps me awake at night!" said Ainge. Williams went on to say that were it not for injuries Toney would have been a Hall of Famer.

Charles Barkley Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on TNT. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "Chuck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley played 16 seasons in the Nati ...

stated that Toney was the best player he ever played with.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

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, 77 , , 1 , , 24.8 , , .522 , , .424 , , .742 , , 1.7 , , 3.7 , , .8 , , .2 , , 16.5 , - , style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;", † , style="text-align:left;",

, 81 , , 81 , , 30.5 , , .501 , , .289 , , .788 , , 2.8 , , 4.5 , , 1.0 , , .2 , , 19.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 78 , , 72 , , 32.8 , , .527 , , .316 , , .839 , , 2.5 , , 4.8 , , .9 , , .3 , , 20.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 70 , , 65 , , 32.0 , , .492 , , .371 , , .862 , , 2.5 , , 5.2 , , .9 , , .3 , , 17.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 6 , , 0 , , 14.0 , , .306 , , .000 , , .375 , , .8 , , 2.0 , , .3 , , .0 , , 4.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 52 , , 12 , , 20.3 , , .451 , , .328 , , .796 , , 1.6 , , 3.6 , , .3 , , .2 , , 10.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 29 , , 15 , , 18.0 , , .421 , , .333 , , .806 , , 1.6 , , 3.7 , , .4 , , .2 , , 7.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 468 , , 246 , , 26.9 , , .500 , , .342 , , .797 , , 2.2 , , 4.2 , , .8 , , .2 , , 15.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", All-Star , 2 , , 0 , , 20.0 , , .625 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , .5 , , 5.0 , , 2.0 , , .0 , , 10.5

Playoffs

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1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

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, 16 , , , , 22.3 , , .428 , , .111 , , .815 , , 2.3 , , 3.4 , , .7 , , .4 , , 13.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

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, 21 , , , , 33.7 , , .507 , , .333 , , .796 , , 2.4 , , 4.9 , , .9 , , .1 , , 21.8 , - , style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba",

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

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, 12 , , , , 29.8 , , .470 , , .000 , , .754 , , 2.3 , , 4.6 , , .9 , , .1 , , 18.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

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, 5 , , , , 36.0 , , .519 , , .000 , , .767 , , 2.2 , , 3.8 , , .8 , , .2 , , 20.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

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, 13 , , 13 , , 34.0 , , .477 , , .429 , , .770 , , 2.5 , , 5.1 , , .9 , , .4 , , 16.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

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, 5 , , 0 , , 20.8 , , .382 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 1.8 , , 5.4 , , .4 , , .4 , , 5.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 72 , , 13 , , 29.8 , , .478 , , .235 , , .786 , , 2.3 , , 4.5 , , .8 , , .3 , , 17.4

Personal life

Toney's son Channing played

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

basketball at the

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a public research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established in 1936, the institution became a four-year campus in 1966 and a fully autonomous univ ...

and played few matches professionally in Poland with

Asseco Prokom Gdynia Arka Gdynia is a Polish professional basketball team, based in Gdynia. The team plays in the Polish PLK. The club's sponsorship name comes from the company Asseco. Historically the team is one of the most successful in Poland, mainly because of t ...

. He also won the second-tier Finnish Division I championship with

Bisons Loimaa LoKoKo Bisons Loimaa is a Finnish professional basketball club that is based in Loimaa. History The club was established in 1964 as Loimaan Korikonkarit. The team was renamed Bisons after it was promoted to the Korisliiga in 2011. The team won ...

. Today, he lives in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, working as an elementary school teacher.

References

External links

Where are they now? Andrew Toney
- NBA.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Toney, Andrew 1957 births Living people African-American basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Birmingham, Alabama Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball players National Basketball Association All-Stars Philadelphia 76ers draft picks Philadelphia 76ers players Shooting guards 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople