After two second-round playoff losses to the Chicago Bulls in the first two years of the '90s, the Sixers threw in the towel and traded away their best player, Charles Barkley. It was as if they knew the Bulls would be the Beast of the East for the foreseeable future.

And, of course, they were right. Chicago went on to win six titles in the decade and, predictably, the trade of Barkley started the downward spiral of the Sixers that resulted in a seven-year postseason drought -- the longest in franchise history.

Philadelphia acquired guard Jeff Hornacek, forward Tim Perry and center Andrew Lang from the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Barkley, but none amounted to much in the Sixers' scheme. On the other hand, Barkley went on to lead the Suns to the NBA Finals in 1993 (Suns lost 4-2 to Bulls) and claimed the league's MVP award.

Philadelphia finally got back on its postseason feet in '99, thanks to the drafting of Allen Iverson No. 1 in the '96 draft. The long rebuilding process in Philly appeared to finally come together as Iverson and a young Sixers team made it to the East semifinals in the last year of the decade -- and the future seemed bright as the new millennium neared.

Memorable moments
Few picked the Sixers to beat the Orlando Magic in the first round of the '99 playoffs, but behind Allen Iverson's 28 ppg Philadelphia defeated the Magic in four games. …

Five-foot-11 guard Dana Barros became just the third player under 6-feet tall in NBA history to score 50 points -- on March 14, 1995. The Sixers point guard also led the league in 3-point efficiency that season (.464 percent).

Best year: 1989-90
With the 500-plus poundage of Charles Barkley and Rick Mahorn dominating the inside and the poetic backcourt of Johnny Dawkins and Hersey Hawkins, the Sixers won the Atlantic Division and moved into the second round to face the Chicago Bulls.

But the upstart Bulls took Philadelphia out in the second round, 4-1.

Worst year: 1995-96
It didn't rival the 1972-73 team that set the NBA mark for futility at 9-73, but the 64 losses were bad enough to plummet this team to the second-worst showing in franchise history. However, there was a silver lining. With the No. 1 pick of the '96 draft, the 76ers selected Allen Iverson. And he became "The Answer" to many of the team's woes.