As the 2017-18 regular season approached, there was a lot of interest surrounding the Philadelphia 76ers and their intriguing young core.
The Process has delivered many important assets to Philadelphia over the last few years and this season can finally represent the beginning of the Sixers’ new rise towards success.
Unfortunately for Sixers fans, the season has begun with some significant concern around Markelle Fultz, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft. He was expected to make an impact right away in the NBA as he has the right tools to succeed and be an NBA-ready prospect, but his physical conditions have obviously limited him so far this season. His shoulder soreness has given him serious problems in terms of shooting, which will definitely be very important to solve.
In two preseason games, the rookie out of Washington shot just 29 percent from the field on 12 attempts per game and didn’t make a single 3-pointer. Over his first four regular season games in the NBA, Fultz averaged six points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game, shooting 33.3 percent from the field on 6.8 attempts coming off the bench while his free-throw percentage saw a 15 percent decrease compared to his lone college season at Washington.
But what’s even more serious is that his shoulder pain has forced him to change his shooting mechanics, which is now aesthetically unpleasing and inefficient.
Furthermore, it’s important to note that Fultz’s troubles with his shooting could affect him negatively, not only from a physical point of view — he could aggravate the situation by staying on the court despite the injury — but also from a psychological perspective. By the way, he hasn’t attempted a single shot from 3-point range yet in the regular season, which could signal of lack of confidence in his shooting ability.
And here comes the question: hey 76ers, why did you let him play?
This situation reminds me of the way the Sixers handled Joel Embiid’s knee injury during the 2016-17 season, when they let the center play a game on national television against the Houston Rockets although they knew he had a torn meniscus in his left knee. The injury then got worse as he was forced to sit out the rest of the season.
Aside from this event, it’s pretty safe to say the Sixers had been one of the most cautious and patient teams when it came to young players whose health was crucial for the future of the franchise.
Former 76ers center Nerlens Noel missed the entire 2013-14 season as he recovered from a knee surgery and used that season as an opportunity to work on his body, his shooting and his game in general. Ben Simmons didn’t play a single game last season after fracturing the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot, but now appears fully recovered as evidenced by his first career triple-double after just four games. Embiid himself did have to wait two entire years before he made his official NBA debut and the 76ers have still been cautious with him, using minutes restrictions and not letting him play back-to-back games (even if Embiid doesn’t fully agree with it).
With that being said, it sounds even more out of character that the Sixers have not been as cautious as they were with the other young players.
Fultz’s injury became even more of a mystery when General Manager Bryan Colangelo had the courage(?) to say that Fultz caused his pain by changing his shooting mechanics during the summer.
“We spent some time with him throughout the summer, but sometime during the month of August, I think, he might have worked on his shot a little bit — could even be the cause of the irritation and inflammation in the shoulder,” Colangelo said of Fultz. “New mechanics, new shooting mechanics, sometimes puts your shoulder in a different position.”
With those words, Colangelo has basically blamed his rookie for causing the injury and the optics of such an insinuation are troubling, especially because the GM seemed like he didn’t want to take any responsibility regarding this event.
But things for Colangelo got worse when Fultz’s camp denied that assertion, as the rookie’s longtime trainer and mentor, Keith Williams, told USA Today that his new shooting form didn’t cause the pain, but it was just a way of avoiding the pain.
On Tuesday, Fultz’s agent, Raymond Brothers, told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski “he literally cannot raise up his arms to shoot the basketball.”
“He had a cortisone shot on Oct. 5, which means fluid was put into his shoulder — not taken out,” Brothers told Wojnarowski. “My intention earlier was to let people know that he’s been experiencing discomfort. We will continue to work with (Sixers General Manager) Bryan Colangelo and the medical staff.”
We can’t know for sure what Brothers’ intention was by talking to the media about his client’s physical conditions, but it’s very plausible that he used a high-profile sports journalist like Wojnarowski to send a message to Philadelphia, saying “please let my client rest and recover from his injury”.
Ironically, on Oct. 25, just one day after Wojnarowski published that story, the 76ers announced Fultz would miss the next three games. On Sunday, Oct. 29, the Sixers released an update on Fultz, saying the rookie will be out undefinitely and reevaluated in approximately three weeks.
Sixers update on Markelle Fultz. He’s out indefinitely. pic.twitter.com/grteF5z7nt
— Jessica Camerato (@JCameratoNBCS) 29 ottobre 2017
So, it took an entire week for the Sixers to understand that they should have sat him out. A week when Fultz played through an injury that forced him to change his shooting form, with the risk of aggravating the situation. After preaching patience for the past half-decade and cautiously approaching various injury situations, the Sixers definitely could not handle Fultz’s shoulder issue any worse.