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76ers Fans Who Trust The Process Are All Smiles

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Spike Eskin, Program Director of 94 WIP, helped popularize the phrase "Trust The Process" among Sixers fans.

"It's really tough in the NBA to convince a really great player to come to your team if you're not already really good. So it creates this conundrum in which the only way to get good is to be really bad to attract the good players," Eskin said.

Related: Bill Simmons: 'Going To Be Hard For Me To Root Against 76ers'

As the losses piled up for the Sixers for the last four or five years, the ability to get young potential superstars in the draft increased.

The Sixers, with the pick they acquired from the Boston Celtics, are projected to take top prospect Markelle Fultz out of the University of Washington Thursday night. Fultz would join last year's number one pick Ben Simmons and Rookie of the Year candidate Joel Embiid.

Related: Joel Embiid Blasts Howard Eskin During #RTArmageddon

"It's enormous. For the first time in five years, six years - we have an actual basketball team where all the pieces seem to fit together and the guys can play together and they're all good, probably. I don't even know how to handle it," Eskin said.

There are concerns because the Sixers have been injury-plagued. Simmons did not play last season after breaking his foot at the end of training camp. Embiid only played in 31 games last year due to injury after missing his first two seasons because of his health. Detractors of "The Process" say there's no guarantee it will work.

"If there is a way that's guaranteed, please let me know," Eskin said. "The best player in the NBA is LeBron James. The Cleveland Cavaliers had the best player in the NBA and they got wiped off the floor in the Finals. So, if you can't have a guarantee with LeBron James then nobody has any guarantees."

Going into Thursday night's draft, Eskin is hopeful that patient fans, who never lost their passion, will be rewarded.

"There's clearly something wrong with us," said Eskin. "For the last four years, being one of the worst teams in the NBA and sticking our chest out like, 'We know better than you and everything's gonna be fine.' I've never seen a group of fans have so much resolve over such a bad period and come out smiling the whole time."

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