Sixers’ Markelle Fultz doubles down on playoff prediction

The Sixers have given a lot of fuel to haters of The Process.

A sense of confidence — perhaps over-confidence is beaming from the team’s practice facility in Camden, NJ and it seems as though everyone is buying in. Everyone who believes in the promise of Philly’s young core staying healthy and playing well in 2017-18. 

Not long after telling fans and media members that he expects the Sixers to make the playoffs next season, the soon-to-be rookie point guard repeated the same sentiment after tossing the first pitch before the Phillies-Braves game Monday afternoon.

“My confidence is high,” Fultz said. “It’s nowhere near cockiness, it’s just me having confidence. I believe in the team. I believe in what I can do, what the coaching staff can do. Everybody on the team’s goal is to make it to the playoffs and everybody believes we can make it.”

The same has been echoed by teammate Joel Embiid, who was sidelined after knee surgery ended his season last year — his first on the floor following two entire campaigns missed due to a foot injury. The same kind of injury that befell Ben Simmons, who will make his NBA debut alongside Fultz next year after missing 2016-17.

The positivity is contagious, and lured J.J. Redick to Philadelphia despite the veteran having longterm opportunities with teams much more established. And Fultz’s optimism is exactly what Philadelphia needs right now.

“The talent level that was here before I even got here and just being around the coaching staff,” Fultz said, telling reporters why he was so confident in his playoff-or-bust prediction. “Seeing their visions and what they can see and what they can draw up and what they see in the new players that just came in. We’re all on the same page and we’re going to work hard to get there.”

“Trust the Process” chants filled Citizens Bank Park, something that — if the Sixers achieve what Fultz says they will — won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

“Anywhere you go in Philly, you’re going to hear that,” Fultz said. “Embiid started that and you have to trust the process. It’s something I say, too. You won’t be surprised. You can go anywhere. You can be in McDonald’s. You can be walking down the street and you’re going to hear that.”