2017 NBA Draft: Players who were the biggest winners and losers in the draft

Winner: Markelle Fultz joins “The Process”

After trading up to the #1 overall pick, the Philadelphia 76ers selected the consensus top prospect in point guard Markelle Fultz to fill out their young roster. This is an outstanding fit on paper due to the other young stars already with the 76ers. Fultz’s ability to play both on and off the ball will slide in nicely with Ben Simmons (last year’s top pick) and his court vision and self-creation will impress Rookie of the Year candidate Joel Embiid.

The 76ers already had a fun core of Embiid, Simmons, Robert Covington, and Dario Saric, but they were missing that elite lead guard. If Fultz can be that and the 76ers add a top-notch three-point threat in a free agent shooting guard, watch out for Philly to make some serious movement up the Eastern Conference rankings.

Of course, the chance of injury is high with the team that has seen their two “stars” (Embiid and Simmons) only play a combined 31 games so far in their careers. Fultz will take some of the pressure off of them to succeed and by having so many young players, having two or three of them launch themselves into stardom quickly would be a success.