Daily News | Before Marc Iavaroni became a Sixers trivia question, he slept in a van and dreamed of his chance
One in a series of stories remembering the 1982-83 76ers, one of the NBA’s best teams ever.
He had a spot in the L.A. Summer League and believed he would finally grab the attention of an NBA team.Iavaroni spent a week on a buddy’s couch before deciding to just sleep in his van and take showers at a health club in Hermosa Beach. He was just a 25-year-old with a dream in his van. Ten months later, he was a rookie starting for the 1983 world champion Sixers.
The 6-foot-8 forward provided a spark for the team and played with an edge. After everything he went through to get there, it’s hard to blame him.Julius Erving was the ideal Philly superstar — right up until he wasn’t.“We go up to Novella, Italy, which is up in the north,” Iavaroni said. “They have a guy named Mel Davis. They also called him ‘Killer Davis.’ He played at St. John’s and with the Knicks. We’re going for a rebound, I’m on offense, and he just turns around, ‘Baaaam.
He called some of his supporters and they found him a place in the L.A. Summer League. Greg Newell, the son of legendary coach Pete Newell, said he could sleep on his couch. Iavaroni loaded up his van and headed out. Iavaroni left his van in L.A. and flew to Philadelphia. He played with confidence and found himself at training camp in the starting lineup. Iavaroni told Jack McMahon, one of the team’s assistant coaches, that it was fun to start but he’d rather come off the bench in the next scrimmage so he could get ready for the role he planned to play during the season.
“Mark played those early minutes, banged around out there and did what he did and then Bobby Jones would come flying off the bench,” Williams said."A big, strong guy. He didn’t need to score. He didn’t need the ball. He did whatever the team needed and ended up being the starter on a championship team because Bobby Jones was so valuable coming off the bench.”
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