The Philly Fifty, #29: Billy Cunningham, Sixers

For the complete list and explanation of criteria and scoring, check out the Philly Fifty page Longevity – 4 Cunningham played 9 years here with two stints with the Sixers. He started off his NBA career with 7 years here, then took a 2 years hiatus to the Carolina Cougars of the ABA, only to return to the Sixers for his final two seasons. Peak – 4 Cunningham made first-team all-NBA 3 times as a Sixer. His best season was probably 1969-70 when he averaged 26.1 points, 13.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists. The only other players to have seasons of 26/14/4 are Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. At his peak, he was a top-5 player in the league. Popularity – 4 The city has a strong connection with Cunningham for several reasons. First, he was the type of scrappy player we (generally) love. Grabbing 10 rebounds per game for his career at 6’6” is impressive. Second, in addition to winning a championship in 1967 as a player, he came back and won o...