One of the stories of the nascent NBA season has been Philadelphia 76ers guard Markelle Fultz’s shooting motion. The no. 1 pick in the 2017 draft was a subpar foul shooter but an excellent jump shooter in college. His form looked good. Now, it looks bad and sort of silly.
Markelle Fultz free throw shot is still….there. pic.twitter.com/cc7FjunQMa
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) October 18, 2017
It’s been a hot topic of conversation. Is he hurt? Does he have some massive mental block? Did he try (and fail) to tweak his jumper and then just forget how to shoot altogether?
On Wednesday, 76ers General Manager Bryant Colangelo shifted the blame for the injury slightly to Fultz, saying that “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.”
Fultz’s camp denied this allegation.
Fultz’s trainer and mentor Keith Williams tells USA Today that Colangelo is wrong:
“The shot was never changed (before the shoulder pain),” Williams – who trained the New Orleans Pelicans’ DeMarcus Cousins in his college and early pro years, among other NBA clients – said by phone. “He’s a great shooting point guard. There haven’t been many point guards who shot the ball as well as him coming out of college, off the dribble and off the catch. I never changed the shot. Why would I?”
Agent Raymond Brothers told ESPN that Fultz had a cortisone shot on Oct. 5.
On Tuesday, Brothers told ESPN that Fultz “literally cannot raise up his arms to shoot the basketball. He decided to try and fight through the pain to help the team. He has a great attitude. We are committed to finding a solution to get Markelle back to 100 percent.”
