76ers’ Erving Facing a Decision on His Future

Julius Erving has seen a lot of changes in his 15th season in professional basketball.

His team, the Philadelphia 76ers, has a new coach, Matt Guokas, and got off to its slowest start in years, hovering around the .500 mark for the first two months of the season.

A fixture at the small forward position, Erving found himself starting several games at the off-guard spot because of injuries to Andrew Toney and Sedale Threatt.

And now Erving has to decide on the biggest change of all--the end of his career as a basketball player.

Erving, whose contract expires at the end of this season, said during training camp that he would decide around the holidays whether to play another year. Now he says he plans to make his decision during the 76ers’ current West Coast road trip.

Maybe.

“There’s only two things to consider (retirement or coming back) and they are the things I’ve been considering,” Erving said. “I said that around this time of the year, all of the factors will be weighed and I’ll have some kind of announcement. That might be done by the time I get back. There’s a good chance, but I can’t guarantee it.”

Erving is certainly not the player he once was, but several times a game he gives a glimpse of the magic that was formerly routine--soaring high on a fast break or making an acrobatic move to the basket.

Even though he has slowed, however, Erving is far from being a liability on the basketball court and he knows it.

“I feel good,” the 35-year-old said. “I don’t have any doubts that I can play at this pace all year.”

More important, however, may be his mental outlook, and he said that is good, as well, and not hurt by his position change, which he said has not been all that difficult.

“I think the thing to do is try to think as a player,” he said. “The little intricacies of the forward position, obviously I know them a lot better. I can be a larger factor, a more significant factor, at the forward position because that’s my normal position.

“But wherever I have to play for our team to be successful, I’m going to do that. That becomes an attitude thing and mentally--the mental approach to the game is just as important as the physical, especially at this stage--so mentally I have been in tune.”

The decision-making process, and the uncertainty involved, might weigh on some people’s minds, but Erving does not have to worry about his future after basketball.

He has invested well and has many financial interests. He was recently introduced as one of the principal owners of the Coca Cola Bottling Co. of Philadelphia.

So that may explain why he’s not worried about not having a contract for next season, if he does decide to return.

“One reason there’s so much curiosity about it is that I don’t have a contract for next year,” he said. “But a lot of guys in this league don’t have a contract for next year. And a lot of guys won’t have contracts for next year.”

If Erving decides to play another year, however, he won’t be one of them.