Every week this season, we’ll be taking a look at Markelle Fultz and how the 2017 No. 1 overall pick is progressing through his second NBA season.
Fultz is still very much an enigma for the Sixers and really the entire NBA.
His preseason was up and down. After flashing what made him the No. 1 overall pick in home games against Melbourne United and the Magic, Fultz struggled somewhat vs. the Mavericks in China. The hope is the long flight and time difference just threw the 20-year-old off and that he’ll be just fine when the season kicks off Tuesday in Boston.
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The most encouraging thing we saw from Fultz was his jumper. Sure, it’s not where it was when he shot 41 percent from three at Washington, but it’s progress.
More important than the shooting percentage is the fact that Fultz felt comfortable rising up and shooting. Fultz was just 2 of 7 in the game in Shanghai, but his one attempted three looked fine form-wise — it just didn’t fall. He also took a jumper around the elbow that went in and out.
It’s going to be interesting to see how Brett Brown uses Fultz. Brown talked about how he would continue the preseason trend of having Fultz start the game but JJ Redick starts the second half (see story). His reasoning was to give Fultz more opportunity to play the point.
What it does is it lets me try to grow Markelle and bring him along at the start of a game. It’s five minutes — I think it’s not as dramatic as sometimes people do. So it’s five minutes. I’m doing that because I want to grow him. I want to grow us. Can that help us? And I believe that it can.
And I believe the decision of, ‘Well, why don’t you do that again in the second half?’ I’m trying to give him as many minutes as I can as a point guard, and I can better do that with the way I just spelled it out, if I’m committed to starting him, and I am. I want to see how this goes, and those are the reasons.
NBA
What it looks more like to me is an opportunity to protect Fultz and grow his confidence — which is a fine idea. Fultz will get the taste of being an NBA starter and play with the team's two superstars in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.
It also alleviates the pressure Fultz would have playing with Simmons too much. As my teammate Noah Levick alluded to in the piece linked above, Fultz’s shot has come along some, but not to the point where Brown feels comfortable playing Fultz with non-shooter Simmons for 30-plus minutes a game.
Fultz’s preseason is likely a microcosm of what his regular season will be like. He’ll show flashes of brilliance but will also make rookie-like mistakes with just 14 games of regular-season basketball under his belt.
Enjoy the roller-coaster ride while Fultz starts to figure it out.