Top draft prospects gather for a group photo before the NBA basketball draft, Thursday, June 22, 2017, in NY.
After speaking for a little more than one minute, it took the NBA commissioner less than four minutes to return to the podium and announce the worst kept secret in the NBA: That University of Washington guard Markelle Fultz is headed to Philadelphia.
Teams are assigned picks largely based on their win record in the previous season.
The Boston Celtics ultimately made a decision to take the Duke freshman, Jayson Tatum, with the third overall pick in the draft.
Markelle Fultz chats with National Basketball Association commissioner Adam Silver as Lonzo Ball (L) looks on.
The Bulls picked Creighton's Justin Patton at No. 16 and sent him to Minnesota in the Butler trade.
The Philadelphia 76ers took Fultz with the No. 1 pick and the Lakers followed by taking Ball, with the point guards from the Pac-12 Conference beginning a run of seven straight freshmen.
4B. Speaking of Brown, good for him: The Sixers head coach received the question of Ben Simmons and Fultz coexisting as primary ball-handlers, and we'll have all season to figure that one out.
"Right now it's unbelievable really", Fultz said.
From what I've seen of both players on tape, Fultz tends to look for his shot more than Simmons, who is unselfish nearly to a fault.
Markelle Fultz Makes Rookie Mistake With Unintentionally Hilarious Instagram
Sampson and Olajuwon, though, are the only consecutive overall No. 1 picks to play together for the team that drafted them. Joel Embiid and former Sixers big man Nerlens Noel also spent their first seasons nursing injuries.
And when you add facts like Jimmy Butler moving on to the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Indiana Pacers possibly trading Paul George, the East is losing top players rather than gaining them.
And, of course, the biggest blockbuster came earlier this week when the Celtics traded the first overall pick to the Sixers, who used it to get Markelle Fultz.
It was the second straight year the Celtics have chosen third overall.
The 19-year-old Fultz, who is the club's fourth top overall pick, averaged 23.2 points, 5.9 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals over 25 games last season for a Huskies team that was 9-22.
They didn't empty the store to get him, keeping either the Lakers' 2018 pick or the Kings' 2019 pick in the deal - an outright steal given where both those franchise projects are in the immediate moment.
So who shall lead the talented trio of Embiid-Fultz-Simmons, a trifecta of first- and second-year players.
"And I know our teams aren't happy either in part because they don't necessarily think that the players are coming into the league are getting the kind of training that they would expect to see among top draft picks in the league". LaVar Ball had said his son would only play for the Lakers, and it was clear that would happen when Lonzo got a phone call with the Lakers on the clock. "I can't wait to go and learn from coach (Brad) Stevens and Isaiah Thomas and just everybody on that roster". The Kings' first pick at number five was guard De'Aaron Fox of Kentucky and they selected Zach Collins of Gonzaga at No. 10 with the pick obtained from New Orleans for DeMarcus Cousins. "You really had no choice but to get better because they were so enthusiastic about it - that whole year, them developing me and my whole game, the mental side too".
The NCAA has never really liked it, and earlier this month, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the system as it's now constructed where players can enter the draft after a year of college is "not working for anyone".
The NBA champion Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers didn't have a pick in the two-round draft.
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