Ever since the birth of the Process, fans have either loved or hated the idea and it’s mastermind — former GM Sam Hinkie. Basketball heads in the city of brotherly love were split on the plan because of it’s unmotivated nature (tanking), going for the best possible draft picks. Looking at current GM Bryan Colangelo, fans seem unphased by the curious moves and problematic approach with number 1 overall draft pick Markelle Fultz. Combine that with our controversial medical staff and once again our team has some big issues to attend to. My biggest quarrel is why do our fans seem to pass this by? Is it because we’re finally starting to compete and win? To be completely honest, at this point we’re bearing the fruits of Hinkie’s Process, with just one or two solid moves by B.C. Clearly, we need to figure out these issues before they affect our play on the hardwood.
Bryan Colangelo isn’t a terrible GM, but some of the questions he’s created as of late have been nothing less than concerning. The trade to acquire the number one pick from Boston has been criticized with the recent success of Jason Tatum and the questionable nature of the Markelle Fultz situation. Going into the draft Fultz was hands down the most gifted shooter, and maybe player available. The Sixers took him with the first pick of the draft and once he got to the facility questions started to loom. Somewhere in there, he was injured, or the medical staff tried to change his shot because of a recent injury or strain. When asked about it, they essentially say nothing and mention how he can play this year possibly or may be shut down soon. In my opinion, the way the Sixers have handled this situation is completely and utterly embarrassing. Whether he is injured or not shouldn’t matter. The staff should see if he needs to be shut down; don’t try to adjust his play to cater to an injury. Fultz was one of the best shooters I’ve seen come out in years, and that is clearly a huge need on this team. But somehow, injured or not, our staff had him out there changing his shot with no explanation and two sides to the story from Fultz and the front office. In any facet of life is something like this acceptable? Think about it, in most of our jobs we can’t just simply have no explanation for a situation similar to this one. The Sixers need to take a step back and think about who they have working on their players, because if he’s shut down he’ll be the FOURTH top pick to miss at least their first season in the last five years. It’s almost laughable but our medical staff is the most infamous in the league. People seem to act like it is now some sort of curse or something. Bryan Colangelo needs to figure this situation out and give the city the answers we deserve to hear. Our team is doing well, and adding a guy with Fultz ability would have helped us that much more. They need to give the city answers because, at this point, most of our success is because of players Sam Hinkie brought in. We cannot have questionable front office representatives if we want to be champions; one of the reasons people wanted Bryan Colangelo was because of his “transparency” but at this point it seems he has done nothing but lack that. I think I speak for all 76ers fans when I say we deserve answers to these questions, and soon.