Bleacher Report Blasts Philadelphia Saying Markelle Fultz Couldn’t Stop the City “From Hating Him”
The Sixers are off until Sunday, but that won’t stop the national media from taking shots at the city and the team in the meantime:
“Sleep would provide a temporary escape from the gnawing reality that he could not lift his arms above his head, he could not shoot jump shots, he could not stop the entire city of Philadelphia from hating him, and he could not for the life of him figure out what was wrong with his shoulder.”
Yup, that’s a Bleacher Report article about how Markelle Fultz couldn’t stop Philadelphia “from hating him”.
The city of Philadelphia hated Markelle Fultz, huh? My memory must be fuzzy from bashing my head into a wall watching this years Sixers all the time. Because from what I remember, Markelle Fultz got treated like a Make-A-Wish kid during his time with team.
These fans cheered his every move, and there weren’t very many, and even less that really mattered. He rarely played valuable minutes, so he got huge ovations for garbage time buckets like a manager playing for the first time in Senior Night. They changed the SKOL chant to a ‘Foles’ chant, then adapted it to a ‘Fultz’ chant.
No athlete should endure this much hatred. Shame on you Philadelphia. pic.twitter.com/cbJwr6WDef
— Sixers Nation (@PHLSixersNation) February 28, 2020
When Fultz was drafted, the Sixers hosted an NBA Draft party at Piazza at Schmidt’s Commons. They had a marching band come in. They shot confetti off when his name was announced. We threw a fucking parade for a guy who quit on his team because he got rightfully benched for TJ McConnell. In hindsight, maybe this city didn’t hate on Markelle Fultz enough.
This is a team that benched JJ Redick, one of the best shooters ever, so Fultz could start. This is a city who treated his triple double against the Bucks in the regular season finale like it was winning the NBA Finals. Everybody loved Markelle Fultz and even more so, they loved the idea that he was the final puzzle piece. Another lottery star, the Pick Swap masterpiece to complete the Process the championship contender. Despite the sad reality that the Fultz/Embiid/Simmons core never even came close, fans understood the necessity to mutually split Fultz and the Sixers for the best of both.
The Orlando Magic and Markelle Fultz are a much better fit than he and Philly will ever be. He can hide in a lesser media market. He can revitalize his career and develop into what we all thought he would be minus the pressure of immediately competing for a title. And most importantly, he can have lazy journalists at Bleacher Report write fluff pieces on him to build his status up, even if it takes lying about his former fans in the Process.