Markelle Fultz completes the 76ers’ new Big 3

We’ve felt confident for months that Markelle Fultz would be the league’s No. 1 overall pick during this 2017 NBA draft. That he is — even though the team he’s headed to changed just days ago.

After trading with the Celtics last weekend, the Philadelphia 76ers have selected Fultz as the league’s top pick. The deal sent the 76ers’ No. 3 overall pick, plus the Lakers’ 2018 pick or the Kings’ 2019 selection, to the Celtics in exchange for the pick they nabbed after winning the lottery. All the speculation, all the expectations, and now it’s finally official. Fultz is a 76er.

Fultz is the first guard to go No. 1 overall since Kyrie Irving in 2011, and this is the second straight year that the top pick wasn’t on a tournament team. While Fultz was dominant individually with Washington this season, he wasn’t enough to help the Huskies win consistently. They ended up missing the NCAA Tournament, just like Ben Simmons at LSU last season.

Still, that’s no knock on Fultz, just like it didn’t hurt Simmons. Fultz played sensational basketball there last season, averaging 23 points, six assists, and six rebounds, and he has been rewarded with the top overall pick.

Fultz is a strong athlete standing 6’5 who’s a genius with the ball in his hands, making strong passes and possessing an excellent handle. He can create shots from anywhere on the floor and can easily play off the ball thanks to a steadily improving catch-and-shooting jumper.

He has excellent size for his position and has shown good defensive instincts throughout college, especially when he runs an opponent down for a chasedown block. Even in a losing season, Fultz never had any real questions about his attitude or work ethic. This isn’t to say Fultz is the next LeBron James, but as far as weaknesses go, he doesn’t have many.

Sure, Fultz will have plenty of growing pains, as any rookie would. But between his athleticism and polished game, Fultz will have no problem immediately scoring and making plays against NBA defenses, especially when you consider how much more spacing he’ll have in a modern NBA offense rather than his cramped Washington team.

Barring injuries or some other unpredictable event, Fultz looks as near a sure thing as you can get from a prospect. This doesn’t mean he’s a generational talent or a Hall of Fame lock, but it does mean that Fultz’s floor is probably a starting guard who at least makes an All-Star team or two. He has above-average size with excellent scoring and playmaking skills — even if other areas of his game don’t develop, those alone should make him dangerous for at least a decade.

I watched Fultz once last season and caught many of his highlights. If you had to define his game in a word, it’s “smooth.” This kid is a joy to watch with the ball in his hands, whether he’s easily circumnavigating a high pick-and-roll or spinning through the defense or even hanging under the rim until he can finish a sweet reverse layup. It’s impressive as hell and perfect for the 10-second highlight video era we’ve entered.

When we compare Fultz to James Harden, it’s meant to be complimentary. That’s how complete and dynamic an offensive player he could become.

However, there’s a chance Fultz carries over some of Harden’s bad defensive tendencies. As a defender at Washington, Fultz was clearly below average, along with the team’s defense as a whole. There are a lot of reasons for this — he basically ran the offense single-handedly while playing heavy minutes, he was on a team going nowhere, and he knew his draft stock would be fine no matter what. Fultz also showed plenty of positive defensive instincts, hopping passing lanes and chasing down players in the fast break to toss away a layup. (He averaged 1.6 steals and 1.2 blocks per game.)

However, Fultz will need to be more committed all around as a defender. He has the size and athleticism to do just that, and hopefully once he hits the NBA, he’ll have the willingness, too. It should improve, but if it doesn’t, Fultz will be an awfully one-sided player.

Fultz went to DeMatha Catholic but he couldn’t even make the varsity squad as a sophomore. After a growth spurt and a rapid ascent, though, Fultz forced his way to the top of his high school class and ended up as the NBA’s top pick. It was a remarkable rise into the NBA’s radar in basically 18 months.

“I always come out playing like I’m the underdog on the court,” Fultz told me last November. “I never want anyone to catch up to me. That’s just how I look at it.”

Philadelphia now has its core. It’s been a long half decade for those who trusted the process, but with Fultz in the fold, you can see Philadelphia’s path to contention with him, Joel Embiid, and Ben Simmons.

There are plenty of pitfalls on the way, of course. Embiid’s health is a huge concern, and we still haven’t seen how NBA defenses will treat Simmons’ poor perimeter shooting. Fultz fits with those two extremely well, though. He can share point guard duties with Simmons and should be excellent off the ball as a spot-up shooter and cutter, too. If Fultz can develop capably as a defender, Philadelphia has the makings of the best defense in the league.

Philadelphia’s still a ways off from even being a playoff team, much less ever reaching contender status. But you could see the three core players the Sixers have anchoring a championship team at some point, and that means they are on the right path. Finally.