The reviews are in, and they’re fantastic.

FOX Sports:

Grade: A+

I know we’re supposed to be critical of all things 76ers, but in one man’s humble opinion, they nailed this draft.

Not only did they get the best player available (Simmons), but also added an athletic running mate on the wing (Luwawu) and arguably the best shooter not named Jamal Murray or Buddy Hield in this draft (Korkmaz). Many mock drafts had him going in the mid-teens, so getting him 10 spots later was a steal.

Add these three to the core big guys Philly already has, and for the first time in a long time, the 76ers could be really interesting.

 

USA Today:

Grade: A

Analysis: Ben Simmons has as much upside as anyone in the draft, and he could wind up a perennial All-Star, but there were legitimate questions about his leadership at LSU. The last time the 76ers had the No. 1 pick they took Allen Iverson. That worked out pretty well. Trust the process, as they say.

 

SB Nation:

Grade: A+

Ben Simmons is a confirmed Australian. How very delightful! Timothe Luwawu’s last name reminds me of a Jimi Hendrix guitar solo. Furkan Korkmaz is both the 76ers’ second ever player named Furkan and its first to share a name with a League of Legendschampion. Well done, Sixers!

 

Liberty Ballers:

Grade: A

Colangelo checked just about every box on an ideal draft list. He got some of the best talent available, he selected players that fit alongside the star taken at the top of the draft, the talent pool he selected from was broad enough to include overseas players and he refused to get suckered into bad deals in a chase for more “premium” talent at the top of a weak class.

Every part of the process was sound in philosophy and executed with confidence. Having spent much of the last few months expressing trepidation about the team’s potential direction, Colangelo and his staff deserve full kudos. There’s a lot of work left to do, but they earned plenty of future confidence with just one night of work.


CBS Sports:

Grade: A+

This is essentially a home run draft for the Sixers. They get their guy in Simmons at No. 1, a franchise game changer who can become an all-star at the next level. They need to build around him by likely trading Jahlil Okafor and possibly even Nerlens Noel, but they should be able to get solid returns for them.

Equally as impressive was them going out and grabbing Luwawu and Korkmaz. Luwawu is a tremendous athlete who should slot into the wing situation and Philly and provide defensive ability and a high motor. Korkmaz is a bit more skilled but farther away from contributing. He’d be best off staying another year in Turkey and developing his body, but it’s unclear if that will be the situation. Regardless, Both players represented great value where they were picked — particularly Luwawu — and both could have a chance to succeed at a high level in the NBA. Especially when paired with the No. 1 pick in the draft, Ben Simmons.

 

SI.com:

Grade: B+

The Sixers couldn’t have had a better night. They still have Okafor and Noel, yes, but they also have Ben Simmons. I’ve preferred Ingram to Simmons for the past few months, but even so, Simmons immediately makes this team more exciting than it has been in three years.

More importantly, the Sixers didn’t mortgage half their team to trade for a point guard (Kris Dunn) whose skills would have been a bad fit next to Simmons. Philly’s interest in Dunn never made sense, and it gave the impression that the Colangelos really don’t understand what they have in Simmons, or how they’ll have to build around him for the next few years. But all that’s irrelevant now, because Danny Ainge turned them down, and the alternative was so much better.

 

Forbes:

Grade: A

The draft started off predictably when the Sixers took the 6-foot-10 Simmons, easily the best player available. Combined with Jahlil Okafor, Joel Embiid and a frontcourt that looks absolutely stacked right now, Philadelphia aced their selection at the top and should (hopefully) look forward to finally moving forward after years of futility.

 

The Ringer:

Declares Bryan Colangelo a winner

The new Philly general manager walked away with Ben Simmons, the very highly rated Timothe Luwawu, AND A DUDE WHO WON A DUNK CONTEST WHILE DRESSED AS DARTH VADER.

Almost 10 years to the day that the then-Toronto GM selected Andrea Bargnani with the first overall pick, Colangelo played every card right. He didn’t give up all of his assets for Boston’s pick. He wasn’t too conservative. He wasn’t too cute. He just nailed it.

The Process lives?

Just do it.