Philly 76ers put The Process in the hands of FEDS
The Philadelphia 76ers have put The Process in the hands of Washington guard Markelle Fultz.
The 1.93m Fultz was selected No 1 overall in the NBA draft and joined former LSU guard Ben Simmons as consecutive top picks for the Sixers.
Widely reviled and also admired, Philadelphia’s plan to go from worstto- first by openly stripping the roster bare of talent to lose and gobble draft picks has resulted in Joel Embiid, Simmons and now Fultz.
Embiid and Dario Saric will finish in the top three when rookie of the year results get announced on June 26, and Simmons is expected to be ready for next season after recovering from foot surgery.
Embiid welcomed Fultz to Philly with a tweet where he proclaimed the new nickname was FEDS: Fultz, Embiid, Dario, Simmons.
“He used to tweet and retweet my stuff,” Fultz said.
“Once he figured out I had a chance to go there, he started showing more love and everything like that.”
Fultz averaged 23.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.9 assists in 25 games during his lone college season at Washington, excelling on a team that finished 9- 22 and lost their final 13 games.
Fultz led the Pac- 12 in scoring, fini shed No 6 among all Division I players and was the top freshman scorer in the country.
“Everyone knows what that level of talent is going to mean to us becoming a more competitive team,” 76ers team president Bryan Colangelo said.
“We are a team on the rise in so many different ways.
“We are an organisation on the rise in so many different ways.”
Could it be that Fultz’s arrival means The Process is finished?
“We’re going to try to make the right decisions to finish this project,” Colangelo said.
“We’re going to keep driving to get it perfect. “It’s well on its way there.” The Sixers went 28- 54 this past season, after winning 19, 18 and 10 games in the previous three seasons, starting a rebuilding campaign more commonly known as The Process.
Embiid had adopted the nickname as his own and was commonly intro- duced as “The Process” at home games this season.
The tease of the potential ahead has caused Philadelphia fans to react with their wallets: the team said they have sold a franchise- record 14,000 season ticket packages for next season.
Four years ago, the 76ers’ seasonticket base at this time of the year was at 3400.
“By adding a player of Markelle’s calibre to our promising roster, we believe we’re incredibly well positioned for the future,” team owner Josh Harris said. “This i s a tremendous night for the Sixers and our great fans.”
Fultz, wearing orange sneakers made of basketballs at the Barclays Centre, is a natural talent on the court that moves with fluidity and ease, and his abilities and tendencies have been dissected heavily heading into the draft.
Off the court, he i s exceedingly loyal to those that believe in him.
“I don’t think there’s one thing I can’t do.
“I think I do everything at least decent,” Fultz said.