PHILADELPHIA – Julius Erving said the Los Angeles Lakers traded the Philadelphia 76ers "damaged goods" in Andrew Bynum, called analytics "turning basketball into rocket science" and predicted the San Antonio Spurs would defeat the Miami Heat for the NBA championship while speaking Wednesday at Xfinity Live in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex.
Erving spoke before a special premiere of The Doctor, a documentary produced by NBA TV on the life of the Hall of Famer and former 76ers great, who helped lead Philadelphia to a sweep of the Lakers in the 1983 NBA Finals, the organization's most recent title. He also helped the Sixers reach the finals in 1977, '80, and '82.
The 90-minute movie, narrated by Public Enemy's Chuck D, will air at 9 p.m. June 10 on NBA TV.
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Erving used the dunk to revolutionize pro basketball and pave the way for the NBA-ABA merger in 1976. He is a four-time league MVP, a three-time league champion and was named an All-Star in every season of his 16-year Hall of Fame pro playing career, including 11 spent in a Sixers jersey.
"You know you see these super heroes where they're like Clark Kent and they take their glasses and suit off and put on their cape and they're a superhero," former Sixers coach and Erving's teammate, Doug Collins, says in the movie. "He'd put on his uniform, got the 'fro ready to go and it was almost like he was putting on the outfit to be Dr. J."
In addition to his playing career, the film addresses three tragedies in Erving's life, which he speaks publicly about for the first time – the deaths of his father when he was 9 years old, his brother Marvin when he was 19 and his youngest son, Cory, after an automobile accident.
"From an emotional standpoint, it's very draining, very taxing to try and recall and recount things that were part of your past that you really just don't deal with in your current life," Erving said. "You don't deal with on a day-to-day basis. … They found some stones to look under and stories to remind me of and question to ask, that were sometimes gut-wrenching. … Some of those things you know and you say, 'I'm taking to the grave,' they find a way to flush them out and get them into the documentary. And I'm OK with that now."
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Erving, 63, who had yet to see the film in its entirety, said he can still dunk. He said that while he's primarily known as a 76er and is cognizant of and humbled by his legacy, today's NBA players are known more as mercenaries and that now basketball fans tend to follow players more than teams. He illustrated his point by saying that one of his sons' favorite players is LeBron James, while another son's favorite is Derrick Rose – and that if Rose joined the Sixers, his son would still like the point guard but wouldn't be a Sixers fan.
Erving also said he only disliked two players over the course of his career – Bernard King and Adrian Dantley.
His memoirs are due to come out in November.
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Erving said he enjoys his role as a special consultant to the 76ers ownership group led by Joshua Harris, which is entering its third season and recently hired former Houston Rockets assistant general manager Sam Hinkie as president and GM. He said he believes the owners will turn the 76ers into a championship contender, but cautioned that it will require a degree of shrewdness and common sense to make it happen, alluding to the team's ill-fated acquisition of Bynum, whose knee injuries prevented the center from playing last season, as a major misstep.
"When you talk to the Lakers, when you talk to the Celtics, when you talk to – well, those two in particular – the guy on the other end of the phone has his fingers crossed," Erving said. "So whatever he's telling you, he's not telling you the truth. He's working a deal for him. And what happened to us last year with getting damaged goods hopefully will only happen once. And that's the extent of that learning curve."
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