 Toney in 2013 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 23, 1957 Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. |
| Listed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Listed weight | 178 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 career | 1980–1988 |
| Position | Shooting guard |
| Number | 22 |
| 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 at NBA.com | |
| Stats 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.
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]
| GP | Games 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 |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980–81 | Philadelphia | 75 | — | 23.6 | .495 | .310 | .712 | 1.9 | 3.6 | .8 | .1 | 12.9 |
| 1981–82 | Philadelphia | 77 | 1 | 24.8 | .522 | .424 | .742 | 1.7 | 3.7 | .8 | .2 | 16.5 |
| 1982–83† | Philadelphia | 81 | 81 | 30.5 | .501 | .289 | .788 | 2.8 | 4.5 | 1.0 | .2 | 19.7 |
| 1983–84 | Philadelphia | 78 | 72 | 32.8 | .527 | .316 | .839 | 2.5 | 4.8 | .9 | .3 | 20.4 |
| 1984–85 | Philadelphia | 70 | 65 | 32.0 | .492 | .371 | .862 | 2.5 | 5.2 | .9 | .3 | 17.8 |
| 1985–86 | Philadelphia | 6 | 0 | 14.0 | .306 | .000 | .375 | .8 | 2.0 | .3 | .0 | 4.2 |
| 1986–87 | Philadelphia | 52 | 12 | 20.3 | .451 | .328 | .796 | 1.6 | 3.6 | .3 | .2 | 10.6 |
| 1987–88 | Philadelphia | 29 | 15 | 18.0 | .421 | .333 | .806 | 1.6 | 3.7 | .4 | .2 | 7.3 |
| Career | 468 | 246 | 26.9 | .500 | .342 | .797 | 2.2 | 4.2 | .8 | .2 | 15.9 | |
| All-Star | 2 | 0 | 20.0 | .625 | .000 | 1.000 | .5 | 5.0 | 2.0 | .0 | 10.5 | |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Philadelphia | 16 | — | 22.3 | .428 | .111 | .815 | 2.3 | 3.4 | .7 | .4 | 13.8 |
| 1982 | Philadelphia | 21 | — | 33.7 | .507 | .333 | .796 | 2.4 | 4.9 | .9 | .1 | 21.8 |
| 1983† | Philadelphia | 12 | — | 29.8 | .470 | .000 | .754 | 2.3 | 4.6 | .9 | .1 | 18.8 |
| 1984 | Philadelphia | 5 | — | 36.0 | .519 | .000 | .767 | 2.2 | 3.8 | .8 | .2 | 20.6 |
| 1985 | Philadelphia | 13 | 13 | 34.0 | .477 | .429 | .770 | 2.5 | 5.1 | .9 | .4 | 16.8 |
| 1987 | Philadelphia | 5 | 0 | 20.8 | .382 | .000 | 1.000 | 1.8 | 5.4 | .4 | .4 | 5.6 |
| Career | 72 | 13 | 29.8 | .478 | .235 | .786 | 2.3 | 4.5 | .8 | .3 | 17.4 | |
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]
