The Washington Post has an excellent, lengthy profile on Fultz today. I can’t recommend it enough. The interview for the piece was conducted on lottery night in a steakhouse in New York. Fultz, then the consensus number one pick, seemed most interested in pressing the Wapo reporter on why he hadn’t been named the D.C area player of the year for his last two seasons in high school.

There’s so much good stuff here – from Fultz’s quiet demeanor and failure-driven success bordering on paranoia, to his emergence on the national scene after beating Jayson Tatum in 2014 – but there are a few tidbits worth calling out.

First, from a spinoff piece, the fact that Fultz at least considered signing with Big Baller Brand:

Williams: You sure you don’t want to sign with them?

Fultz: I was thinking about it, but then I would make him money, though.

Williams: Or lose them more money.

[Babb asks if there was serious consideration for Team Fultz to join Big Baller Brand]

Fultz: I don’t know, honestly.

Williams: I don’t think they’ve got money to sign nobody

There may be nothing I like more from this piece than Fultz’s trainer, Keith Williams, encouraging him to sign with BBB so LaVar could lose more money.

But the topic of playing in Philly also came up. Mind you, this interview was conducted over a month ago. The Sixers were a preferred destination all along:

An hour ago, he was in a Midtown Manhattan ballroom with Magic Johnson and Walt Frazier, wearing a bowtie as the Boston Celtics secured the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. Now Fultz, a versatile and physically gifted point guard widely projected to be that top selection, is in a dark steakhouse near Rockefeller Center, his face glowing as he reads excited texts from his mother. “YES!” says a Bitmoji of Ebony Fultz in her green Celtics jersey. Across the table, Markelle’s private coach and mentor, Keith Williams, is talking about how Boston might contend for a championship sooner — though a different franchise would have offered the young guard a quicker path to superstardom. “I kind of wanted Philly,” Williams is saying, and indeed a month later, Markelle would visit the 76ers the same day Philadelphia finalized a blockbuster trade with the Celtics to acquire the No. 1 pick.

Remember when all those chucklefucks (myself included here) said that the Process would make Philly an undesirable spot for players? Seems something changed here.

More:

Boston, Markelle says, has cold winters but not much colder than the Washington, D.C., area. Los Angeles has glitz but too much traffic, he says. Philadelphia is close to home, and as Williams points out it could make him an overnight star, but … “Let me stop him there,” Williams says. “If he went to Philly, he would’ve gotten fat, because all he’d want to do is — what’s the steak and cheese spot?”

“Larry’s,” Markelle says, and now seeing how the run-up to the NBA draft has played out, the coach at his side might have a new kind of weakness to confront. Williams, always the lead-footed driver of Markelle’s basketball career, says on this night that Boston might be, like the University of Washington, the best overall fit. But he can’t keep his mind from thinking about how, in Philadelphia, a humble guard with a blue-collar mentality might become an overnight sensation. “Philly is the quickest opportunity,” Williams says, “to become a star alone on a team.”

It’s worth noting that Fultz’s two meals in Philly on Saturday were Chick-fil-A and a cheesesteak.

But joking aside, this piece offers fascinating insight into Fultz’s mindset. He’s driven by slights. After reading it, you come out with the opinion that he is going to destroy the Celtics for his entire career. Not so much because he wanted to play there, but because by trading the number one pick, they will have passed on him. Fultz truly believes he’s the best player. Not like LaVar Balls saying Lonzo is the best– Fultz actually believes he’s better than everyone. He wants to win league MVP this year:

https://youtu.be/kUwMKPkqQQg?t=51s

But hey, maybe we should all listen to the fatasses who never watched him play question his desire.

Read the full thing here.