A look at the massively underrated Andrew Toney.
Two-time All-Star and Finals Champion, Andrew Toney, is one of the most forgotten yet dominant basketball players of all time, and potentially the most underrated. Incredible work ethic, smooth consistent form, fantastic court vision, and a cold-blooded late game instinct propelled Andrew Toney to quick success. Given a window of space, Toney was a knockdown shooter and typically drew his opponents into committing defensive lapses, over pursuing on the dribble and playing on Toney’s hip despite his immense speed.
A lethal shooter and a seemingly irritating guard to defend, Toney averaged a mere fifteen points per game. Prior to Toney’s then misunderstood injury, his point scoring increased by at least three points per game over the course of three seasons. Although Toney plateaued around roughly twenty points per game at the peak of his career, his field goal percentage rarely fell below fifty percent before the devastating stress fracture of Toney’s tarsal navicular bone occurred.
Primarily, suspicion emerged when Toney blamed his somewhat underwhelming production of 1984 on nagging ankle pain. Bob Sakamoto of the Chicago Tribune detailed the anger of Toney, including a reflective quote in his 1985 article. Toney said “I’m very disappointed and very bitter. I don’t think it was handled right or correctly. I played five years, put in some good years. I got hurt and everybody wanted to second-guess me. I don’t think that was right at all.” Unfortunately, Toney’s rapid demise and short stint within the NBA clouds Toney’s true dominance and efficiency. Per 100 possessions, Toney averaged 28.2 points per game, while adding 1.4 steals, 7.4 assists, and nearly four rebounds. Toney’s minute per game average falls around 27, but his per 36-minute statistics translate to 21.3 points per game with the addition of 5.6 assists, 2.9 rebounds, and at least eight of his sixteen attempts from the field were successful. Throughout his first five seasons, Toney’s win shares rose well above 5 three times. Toney’s usage percentage throughout those five seasons, 26.32%, is comparable to Julius Erving’s 27.04%. Toney’s career True Shooting Percentage, a statistic that measures efficiency based upon two-point attempts, three-point attempts, and free throws, trails that of Michael Jordan’s by only 0.03 percent. Additionally, Toney’s effective Field Goal Percentage, adjusted for the fact that a three-pointer is worth more than a two-pointer, is just .20% less than Larry Bird’s 0.514%. Toney’s offensive rating per 100 possessions is just ten points less than LeBron James’, while his defensive rating is only roughly five points less than John Stockton’s.
Appearing in the playoffs six times throughout his eight-year tenure, Toney was presumably unguardable and a pivotal contributor offensively and defensively. Per 100 possessions in the playoffs from 1980-81 to 1983-84, Toney averaged at least thirty points three of those years, and about 27 in the fourth year, while attempting at least twenty shots from the field. In 1982-83, when the 67-14 Philadelphia 76ers swept the Los Angeles Lakers, composed of Hall of Fame caliber offensive juggernauts and stingy defensive players, Toney was second in scoring, behind Moses Malone. Elevating his points per game and field goal percentage during the postseason, Toney spent years tormenting teams such as the Celtics and Lakers.
For example, in Toney’s rookie season, his points per game in the playoffs rose 6.2 points higher than his regular season average. Additionally, Toney averaged 26 points per game in the 1981-82 finals, 9.5 more than his regular season average, and 22 in the 1982-82 finals, 2.3 more than his season average. In the 1982-83 Finals sweep, Toney scored twenty points in all but one game, where he scored nineteen, in a series where Michael Cooper, eventual defensive player of the year and 8x all-defensive guard, shadowed Toney. In both of Toney’s early Finals appearances, the guard averaged well over twenty points per game, among the top fifteen per game average in scoring.
The Sixers’ dependability on Toney offensively came to fruition early in his career, and the two guard frequently embraced the role. Although the game of basketball has greatly evolved into a perimeter offense, the three-point shot was neither emphasized nor regularly utilized. Regardless, Toney’s three-point percentage fell within the top ten in two of his first four years. Andrew Toney’s arsenal consistently grew, which created matchup nightmares for some of the most dominant teams.
The Boston Celtics, a victim of Toney’s vicious scoring eruption in the 1982 Eastern Conference Final, traded for 9x All-Defensive guard Dennis Johnson in 1983, presumably in an effort to suppress Toney. Larry Bird, regarded as one of basketball’s greatest players, admitted in an interview years ago that Toney was, “A killer. [The Celtics] called him the Boston Strangler because every time he got a hold of the ball we knew he was going to score. He was the absolute best I’ve ever seen at shooting the ball at crucial times. We had nobody who could come close to stopping him.”
Likewise, Toney was a staunch defender using speed, physicality, and quiet fierceness to defend well at the guard position. Despite the underappreciation of a widely forgotten star, Andrew Toney struck fear into opponents, took over and dominated games, closed games in the clutch better than most basketball players ever did, and possessed the potential to comfortably reside in the Hall of Fame.
