Philadelphia 76ers Tickets : The 76ers Picked Evan Turner With The Second Overall Pick Of The Draft

The Philadelphia 76ers are a professional basketball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Originally known as the Syracuse Nationals, they are one of the oldest franchises in the NBA. After their move to Philadelphia, a contest was held to decide on their new name.

The winning name, chosen by Walter Stalberg, was the "76ers", after 1776, the year the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia. The nickname was quickly shortened to "Sixers" by headline writers, and the two names soon became interchangeable for marketing purposes.

The Sixers have had a rich history, with many of the greatest players in NBA history having played for the organization, including Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Charles Barkley, and Allen Iverson. They have won two NBA championships. The first title came in the 1966-67 season, a team which was led by Chamberlain, and is regarded as one of the best NBA teams ever assembled. The second title came in the 1982-83 season, won by a team led by Erving and Malone.

They have only been back to the Finals once since then, during the 2001 campaign, led by Iverson, only to lose to the Los Angeles Lakers, 4-1. Although they haven't had much success since the 2000-01 season, they continue to be remembered as one of the league's most well known and successful franchises.

On July 9, 2008, the 76ers signed power forward Elton Brand to a 5 year, $79.795 million-dollar contract.They were able to sign him after trading Rodney Carney, and renouncing their rights to all their unrestricted free agents.

Brand had originally opted out of his contract with the Los Angeles Clippers, looking to re-sign with them.But Elton saw that the 76ers offered him more money (he regarded their offer as the "Philly-Max"), and a better chance at winning an NBA Championship playing in the Eastern Conference. This move has been the subject of controversy since there were rumors that he and Baron Davis had made a friendly agreement to play together for the Clippers.

Later on the team signed free agent point guard Royal Ivey of the Milwaukee Bucks, Kareem Rush from the Indiana Pacers, and then signed former Sixer Theo Ratliff after Jason Smith's injury. Donyell Marshall was signed on September 2, 2008 after he stated that he wanted to go back home to his agent and end his career in the city of brotherly love.Rush, Ivey, Ratliff and Marshall were all paid the veteran's minimum wage because of their one-dimensional play, but they were to be contributors to a team on the rise.

During the offseason they also re-signed valuable restricted free agents Louis Williams for 5 yr/$25 million and Andre Iguodala for 6 yr/$80 million.For the 2009 offseason, the Sixers drafted UCLA point guard Jrue Holiday with the 17th pick. The Sixers also traded power forward Reggie Evans to the Toronto Raptors for a three-point specialist, small forward Jason Kapono, who had won back-to-back three-point shootouts in 2007 and 2008. This offseason also marked the return of the 1977/1997 76ers logo, along with a redesigned court and new uniforms updating the 1982/83 jerseys.

On May 18, 2010, the NBA Draft Lottery was held. With the 76ers holding the sixth-best odds at receiving the top pick, they managed to land the second pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, beating out the Warriors, Kings, Timberwolves, and Nets, who all had better odds. Two days later, Doug Collins was named head coach of the 76ers. Collins previously played for the Sixers, and coached the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, and the Washington Wizards. On June 24 they picked Evan Turner with the second overall pick of the draft.