By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
When the Philadelphia 76ers officially used the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft to select Markelle Fultz Thursday, many Sixers fans were quick to thank former general manager Sam Hinkie for setting the team up for success. They apparently weren't the only ones with Hinkie on their mind.
Sixers head coach Brett Brown says that since the team acquired the No. 1 pick from the Boston Celtics, a trade which became a official Monday, he reached out to Hinkie to thank him for setting the team up for success:
Brett Brown said he has been in touch with Hinkie since the trade. "Just a random text, basically saying thank you."
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) June 23, 2017
While detractors of the process would lead you to think that any general manager could have set the team up for prolonged losing, they completely miss the point. Without Hinkie's July 2015 trade with the Sacremento Kings, which included the pick-swap provision, the Sixers would have had the No. 5 pick in this year's draft, rather than the No. 3 pick. In addition, Hinkie acquired the 2019 Kings' pick in that trade and what will become the 2018 Lakers' pick in the Michael Carter-Williams-the-Milwaukee-Bucks trade, meaning his hands are all over this trade.
Current general manager Bryan Colangelo executed a fine trade to help complete the team's young core, but he was clearly set up very well by his predecessor.
Related: Even while they collect pageviews, history won't forget pundits of "The Process"
Brown, whose tenure as the team's head coach began in Hinkie's first year as general manager in 2013-14, has certainly seen the ugly side of the process. Rather incredibly, he has survived both 75-253 record in four years and a regime change, meaning he will now get to be part of the next phase of "The Process." When you consider that the next phase is set to include Fultz, Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid and Dario Saric, Brown's .229 winning percentage is likely to drastically increase.
That he thanked Hinkie, and publicly said so, was a classy move by the 56-year-old.
