Andrew Toney

Last updated

Andrew Toney
Andrew Toney Philly HOF.jpg
Toney in 2013
Personal information
Born (1957-11-23) November 23, 1957 (age 66)
Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight178 lb (81 kg)
Career information
High school Charles B. Glenn
(Birmingham, Alabama)
College Louisiana (1976–1980)
NBA draft 1980: 1st round, 8th overall pick
Selected by the Philadelphia 76ers
Playing career1980–1988
Position Shooting guard
Number22
Career history
1980–1988 Philadelphia 76ers
Career highlights and awards
Career statistics
Points 7,458 (15.9 ppg)
Rebounds 1,009 (2.2 rpg)
Assists 1,965 (4.2 apg)
Stats   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg at NBA.com
Stats   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg at Basketball-Reference.com

Andrew Toney (born November 23, 1957) is an American former professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1980 to 1988. A two-time NBA All-Star, he won an NBA championship with the 76ers in 1983.

Contents

Professional career

Toney played for the 76ers from 1980-1988 AndrewToney1.png
Toney played for the 76ers from 1980-1988

Philadelphia 76ers (1980–1988)

He was dubbed "the Boston Strangler" [1] by Boston 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.

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, Bobby Jones and Maurice Cheeks, 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. [1]

Pat Williams, vice president of basketball operations for the Orlando Magic, 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. 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, 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 stated that Toney was the best player he ever played with. [1] Larry Bird praised Andrew Toney as one of two shooting guards of whom he was most afraid. The other was Michael Jordan. [2]

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GPGames played  GS Games started MPG Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage 3P%  3-point field goal percentage FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game APG  Assists per game SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game PPG Points per game Bold Career high
 † Won an NBA championship

Regular season

YearTeamGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG
1980–81 Philadelphia 75—23.6.495.310.7121.93.6.8.112.9
1981–82 Philadelphia 77124.8.522.424.7421.73.7.8.216.5
1982–83† Philadelphia 818130.5.501.289.7882.84.51.0.219.7
1983–84 Philadelphia 787232.8.527.316.8392.54.8.9.320.4
1984–85 Philadelphia 706532.0.492.371.8622.55.2.9.317.8
1985–86 Philadelphia 6014.0.306.000.375.82.0.3.04.2
1986–87 Philadelphia 521220.3.451.328.7961.63.6.3.210.6
1987–88 Philadelphia 291518.0.421.333.8061.63.7.4.27.3
Career46824626.9.500.342.7972.24.2.8.215.9
All-Star2020.0.625.0001.000.55.02.0.010.5

Playoffs

YearTeamGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG
1981 Philadelphia 16—22.3.428.111.8152.33.4.7.413.8
1982 Philadelphia 21—33.7.507.333.7962.44.9.9.121.8
1983† Philadelphia 12—29.8.470.000.7542.34.6.9.118.8
1984 Philadelphia 5—36.0.519.000.7672.23.8.8.220.6
1985 Philadelphia 131334.0.477.429.7702.55.1.9.416.8
1987 Philadelphia 5020.8.382.0001.0001.85.4.4.45.6
Career721329.8.478.235.7862.34.5.8.317.4

Personal life

Toney's son Channing played NCAA Division I basketball at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and played a few matches professionally in Poland with Asseco Prokom Gdynia. [3] He also won the second-tier Finnish Division I championship with Bisons Loimaa. [4]

Today, he lives in Atlanta, working as an elementary school teacher. [5] [6]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 MacMullan, Jackie (March 31, 1991). "Ex-76er Toney now fights pain, bitterness". baltimoresun.com. Archived from the original on March 24, 2020. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  2. ↑ Thomas, Mike (August 11, 2023). "Larry Bird Had No Problem Putting Andrew Toney In the Same Class as Michael Jordan". Sportscasting | Pure Sports. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Asseco Prokom adds two more to roster". Euroleague.net. October 14, 2010. Archived from the original on March 24, 2020. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  4. ↑ "Loimaa vei ratkaisevan divarifinaalin, nousi Korisliigaan". basket.fi. April 4, 2011. Archived from the original on March 24, 2020. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Elusive Sixers great Toney finally returns". January 7, 2012.
  6. ↑ "The greatness and reclusiveness of Andrew Toney". May 29, 2020.
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