Brett Brown says he thanked Hinkie by text after Sixers drafted Fultz

The Philadelphia 76ers brought The Process one step closer to fruition Thursday night, drafting point guard Markelle Fultz with the first overall pick in the NBA Draft.

While it was current general manager Bryan Colangelo who pulled the trigger on the trade for the No. 1 pick, it was erstwhile GM Sam Hinkie who put the pieces in place to make the deal possible. And after Fultz strode to the podium to make the pick official, Sixers coach Brett Brown told Derek Bodner that he texted Hinkie to thank him.

There's legitimate hope now in Philadelphia - the Sixers have already sold more season tickets for 2017-18 than any other team - and, after coaching the team through some of the leanest years for any franchise in NBA history, Brown had Hinkie on his mind.

"You can't help but go back and recognize how we arrived at the picks that we had this year," Brown said, according to CSN's Jessica Camerato. "I think you have to step back and really acknowledge the great work that Bryan did getting it over the line ... (but) you can't dismiss the position that the club and Sam helped put us in to get us to this level."

Brown isn't the first member of the Sixers organization to retrospectively appreciate the work Hinkie did before he was removed from his GM post in the spring of 2016. After the draft lottery last month, owner Josh Harris said: "I am going to text Sam Hinkie a big kiss tonight."

Maybe the Sixers could've appreciated Hinkie more while they had him, but better late than never.