A friend of Irv Kosloff recommended Roy Rubin, the head coach at LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds.
[6][7] The Sixers, whose roster included the likes of Manny Leaks, Jeff Halliburton, Mike Price, John Q. Trapp and Dave Sorenson, started the season 0–15 and later lost 20 consecutive games.
[8] Players criticized Rubin for his sloppy practices and the lack of meaningful comments during time-outs and breaks.
[8] In their 1st win of the season (a 114–112 victory over Houston), coach Rubin actually injured himself by pulling a leg muscle.
Before the 1972–73 season the previous mark for fewest wins in an 82-game schedule was 15, and no subsequent NBA team won fewer than 22 until the 1980 Detroit Pistons who finished 16–66.
Two and a half months after Philadelphia's collapse against the Boston Celtics in the 1968 NBA Playoffs, Wilt Chamberlain was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.
[8] The background of the deal can be traced back to Sixers owners Ike Richman and Irv Kosloff.
[8][9] On paper, the deal made some sense from the Sixers' perspective, since general manager Jack Ramsay was not willing to risk letting Chamberlain get away for nothing.
Luke Jackson, Chamberlain's intended successor, suffered a major injury in the 1968–69 season and was never the same player after that.
Selections such as Craig Raymond, Shaler Halimon, Bud Ogden, Harris Ahmad, Al Henry, Dana Lewis and Fred Boyd made no impact with the club, while Philadelphia passed on drafting future stars such as Nate Archibald and Calvin Murphy.
That number dipped into the 40s for the next 2 seasons, and sunk even further to 30 in 1971–72—the 1st time they had missed the playoffs in franchise history (dating back to their tenure as the Syracuse Nationals).