FINDING FULTZ
SIXERS PLACE THEIR FUTURE IN YOUNG GUARD
The Philadelphia 76ers have put The Process in the hands of Washington guard Markelle Fultz.
The 6’4” 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, the Sixers’ plan to go from worst-to-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 — what else ? — 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 its final 13 games. Fultz led the Pac-12 in scoring, finished 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 more competitive team,” team president Bryan Colangelo. “We are a team on the rise in so many different ways. We are an organization 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.
They’ve got a good one in Fultz. /