Worst All Time Sports Franchise

The worst all-time sports franchise can be narrowed down to the Philadelphia 76ers pro basketball team, and can be narrowed down even more to the season between 72 and 73. This one season was bad enough to earn the title of worst all time franchise, but unfortunately for the team, there have been many bad seasons. When the 76ers lost their first 15 games of the season, they probably chalked it up to be just a tough year, and probably never dreamed that they would go on to live in infamy as the worst team in league history with a 9 -73 posting.

After beginning the season with a 15 game tailspin some of the players thought that they might be able to and end up with a somewhat respectable season. However at this point, they knew the championship was out of the question. The hopes of having a respectable season were crushed as they proceeded to go on a 20 game losing streak that placed them in dead last. The only good news for the whole season was that the 76ers won five of their final 20 games. Due to their dismal season record of 9-73, the press even stopped calling the team, the 76ers and dubbed them with a new name “The 9 and 73ers”.

There are many theories about why the team did so badly. People have blamed college coach Roy Rubin, who was competent at the college level, but no match for the demanding style of the pro games. Blame has also been placed on Billy Cunningham or the lack of Billy Cunningham on the team. Archie Clark had also been traded the previous year, and neither of these spots had been filled adequately. This franchise and team had such a miserable season that coach Roy Ruben was relieved of his duties and an active 76ers  player was named as coach since the team was unable to get a new coach right away. The sole notable player of this miserable season was Fred Carter, who wound up being the leading scorer getting in about 20 points per game, but sadly he accomplished that only by taking more attempts than he at any right to.

Some of these problems can be traced all the way back to when Wilt Chamberlain was traded a few seasons before.  The entire philosophy of the team had been changed by Jack Ramsay, who was general manager and named himself head coach at that time. The team's performance began a slow slide, culminating in the dismal season that has helped make the 76ers into the worst all-time sports franchise. There have been few seasons since that have been considered good seasons, the 76ers seem to maintain an average of average.

Whether it was due to poor players, bad coaching or fallout from the change in the leadership and direction  of the team there is no one thing that someone can point to, that makes the Philadelphia 76ers a terrible team. This result is a combination of many different things that over time have shaped the Philadelphia 76ers into the worst all-time franchise in professional sports

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