By: Jesse Larch, Sports Talk Philly Staff 
The day after the draft, The Players' Tribune released a piece written by 2017 first overall pick and Sixers' new star guard Markelle Fultz.
In the piece Fultz chronicles his journey to becoming the first player taken, thanking the people who helped him get to this point. He also gives us incredible insight into his experience leading up to the draft, including the whirlwind that coincided with the Sixers' making the move from third to first overall to select Fultz.
Fultz opens his article with a hearty Philadelphia "yoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" He is clearly excited to make his dream come true, but as he goes on to explain, he equally as excited to be a 76er – something that has been rare to find over the past few seasons.
Fultz says that he does not like to celebrate because his mother taught him to stay humble when things are going well, but that this is a time where he cannot help but take in the moment. He downplays his excitement by comparing his feelings to his new teammate, Joel Embiid. "as excited as I am, Joel Embiid is 10 times more turnt right now," writes Fultz.
Fultz says that Embiid has texted him 75 times since his surprise visit to Philadelphia five days before the draft.
Fultz goes on to talk about not knowing where he would play. He said despite being considered the top prospect, he was not operating with any guarantees in his mind. He also said that any reports that suggested that he did not want to work out for the Sixers prior to the trade were false. "Where’d they get that info? Not from my family…But even more than that, I was like, They must not really know the real me," wrote Fultz.
Fultz said the first thing he asked when he found out that he was going to Philadelphia for a workout instead of Boston was if Philly had any Chick-fil-A restaurants. As silly as that may sound, their food helped the Sixers make a good impression on the 19-year-old:
"Anyway, guess what happened when I showed up to the Sixers training facility? They’d ordered Chick-fil-A. It was there waiting for me on a table. For real. A bunch of sandwiches. I don’t know how they knew, but they knew. And I know it’s not a big deal, but a little part of me was thinking, Respect. They did their research."
It was clear that the Sixers were rolling out the red carpet for Fultz, between having his own locker and bringing in the team's stars in Embiid and Ben Simmons to greet him. Again, the Sixers made a good impression on Fultz:
"The workout was pretty normal, but the really cool thing about it was that Joel, Rob Covington and Ben Simmons were all watching from the sidelines. That made a big impact on me that they wanted to be there. I really appreciated that."
Embiid walked up and said "Trust the Process" to Fultz. Embiid's personality made a great impression on Fultz, but not just because of how funny he can be. He talked about how Embiid wants to succeed and wants to see everyone around him succeed. "I want to be part of that kind of team," wrote Fultz.
Furthermore, Sixers' head coach Brett Brown impressed not only Fultz, but his mother as well:
"But the most important thing that came out of our meeting was that my mom liked Coach. The next day she told me that she had a good feeling about him because it seemed like he really cared about developing his players. He had told her that he really believes in his players. And my mom believed him. I know a lot of people have beat up on Philly because the team hasn’t been winning a lot. But Coach Brown seems like he believes in growth and development for his players. And when you have that from a coach, it makes the players wanna work that much harder I think."
Fultz wraps up his article by saying that he intends to come to Philly and take the process to new heights through his work ethic and buying into a team mentality.
From the front office to the players on the Sixers roster, Fultz gives them a great review. Every member of the Sixers franchise treated Fultz with class, respect, and dignity. Fultz is the closes thing the Sixers have had to a player who actually sees the team and wants to be a part of it. The Process has turned a corner, and after reading this article, one thing is clear: The Sixers are a franchise that is doing it right.
