Maurice Cheeks will always be one of the all-time great draft steals for Philadelphia 76ers

Friday was a special night for the Philadelphia 76ers and their fans when Maurice Cheeks was officially inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

As the Philadelphia 76ers continue to prepare for the 2018-19 season in which they hope to build from last year’s surprise success in which they finished with the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference, Friday was a chance for the organization to celebration one of their all-time greats.

After years of wondering whether his time would ever come, former Sixers star Maurice Cheeks spent Friday celebration his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame following 15 amazing seasons in the NBA.

Even though he spent the last five years of his career on four different teams, Cheeks spent the first 11 seasons of his career playing in the City of Brotherly Love after Philadelphia selected him in the second round of the 1978 NBA Draft.

Early on, it was tough to get a good feel over what kind of impact Cheeks would make in the NBA since nobody ever really knows what to expect from a second-round pick. But as Sixers fans know, the selection of Cheeks was one of the best decisions the organization ever could have made.

Cheeks didn’t start during the first three years of his career with the Sixers, but he did appear in all but three games over that time frame, and still played a major role in the team being a top contender in the league early on in the 80’s.

In fact, Philadelphia not only took home the NBA title in 1983 (their most recent championship), but happened to reach the NBA Finals three times in a four-year span beginning in 1980.

His coaching career may not have gone according to plan since the Sixers fired him in the middle of his fourth season back in 2008, but Cheeks will always be considered a favorite by the fan base. And seeing Cheeks provide the basketball world with an emotional speech on Friday while acknowledging all of the important individuals that helped him get to where he is just reminded Philadelphia fans even more why they love him so much.

At the time of his retirement in 1993, Cheeks ranked fifth all-time in steals (2,310) and 11th in assists (7,392), making it easy to see why it was only a matter of time before he would finally earn his place in the Hall of Fame.

One can only imagine how different that championship run in 1983 would have been if Cheeks wasn’t part of the picture. And when seeing the career this former-second round pick put together, it’s no wonder Cheeks deserves the honors of being one of Philadelphia’s greatest draft steals of all time.