Over And Back: Stories About Nba History

We look at how Julius Erving’s game and persona evolved during the late 1970s and early 1980s years with the Philadelphia 76ers, where they reached the NBA Finals three times before finally winning a championship in 1983 with Moses Malone. We are joined by frequent guest and pro-basketball historian Curtis Harris @ProHoopsHistory of ProHoopsHistory.com.We discuss how Erving personified ‘70s cool from his personal style to his flare on the court, how he saw himself as an artist on the court and how he tried to blend the playground game with team basketball, how the Nets were unable to afford his contract after the NBA-ABA merger and ended up trading him to the Sixers just before the 1977 season, how the Sixers were “the team that won't shut up” and how they were seen as a group of playground players, how Erving tried to fit himself into a star-laden Sixers team (with George McGinnis, World B. Free, Doug Collins, Darryl Dawkins, Joe Bryant, Henry Bibby and Caldwell Jones), how Erving had to prove himself al