After moving to a bench role in 1994, Wheeler again became the 36ers starting centre in 1995 and remained there until the end of 1997. He actually became the starting centre almost by accident. In 1995 he was set to play centre and power forward off the bench with 6'11" Willie Simmons to be the starting centre. However, only a couple of games into the season Mike McKay took a charge and when falling back, fell on Simmons' leg which forced him out for the season after needing a knee reconstruction. Wheeler then moved into the starting role and began to play some of the best basketball of his career to that point.