Markelle Fultz needs to un-fix his jumper

Philadelphia 76ers rookie Markelle Fultz attempted to fix a jumper that wasn’t necessarily broken. Now it’s a concern.

The Philadelphia 76ers‘ scrimmage at the Palestra on Sunday was overwhelmingly positive. Ben Simmons looked like a stud, while Furkan Korkmaz and Amir Johnson made convincing cases for playing time with the regular season on the horizon. There was a lot of fun, free-flowing basketball being played, and Brett Brown was liberal in his experimentation — something that’s always nice to see with new pieces in training camp.

With that in mind, one issue did put a stain on the event. Markelle Fultz’s jumper — or lack thereof — could spark some serious concerns leading up to the Sixers’ opening night game against the Wizards on Oct. 18.

Before we get into mechanics and the issues Fultz may have going forward, it’s worth noting that he’s still the rightful No. 1 pick. He was slotted ahead of Lonzo Ball and Dennis Smith Jr. for a reason, and using this as justification for Danny Ainge‘s decision to trade back doesn’t have too much logic behind it. There’s still plenty of time for Fultz to right the ship, and the rest of his skill set is more than enough to hold his ground as the top prospect in this year’s class.

There is concern nonetheless, and Fultz will need to make some serious strides with his shot in the coming weeks. As somebody who shot 41.3 percent from deep during his lone season at Washington, making any major tweaks to his form — something he appears to have done — is less than ideal:

Quote via Jake Pavorsky at NJ.com.

We’ve seen a couple of videos this summer showing Fultz working on his free throw form. Considering the fact that he shot just 64.9 percent from the line last season, looking for a more consistent form in that setting is understandable.

An overhaul of his shooting mechanics in general, however, wasn’t needed. Fultz made his living in isolation last season, pairing a strong 3-point threat with college basketball’s most fluid three level attack. His 6-foot-10 wingspan has always allowed him to elevate over defenders off the bounce, with a high, fluid release point giving him plenty of space to work with.

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His new mechanics — which feature more of a push shot, with a lower release out in front of his face — allowed Jerryd Bayless, who played off of Fultz all game, to get a hand on one of his pull-up jumpers.

Quirky mechanics with a low release won’t bode well for somebody who relies on footwork and fluidity more so than explosiveness. It’s also a drastic shift from everything Fultz has done over the past few seasons, which will make his adjustment to the speed and style of NBA basketball even tougher. It’s normal for rookies to need an adjustment period out of the gates, but Fultz may have inadvertently extended his by a significant amount of time.

Habits, whether they be new or old, are always hard to break, so a new hitch that appeared prevelant in practice and in scrimmages won’t go away without constant work to reverse it. Brett Brown and the coaching staff are likely committed to putting in that work, but there’s a chance that Fultz will struggle to get his mechanics in line as next season gets underway.

It has the potential to become a real roadblock in his development, and that’s a disappointment when you consider just how well his projected fit is in Philadelphia, largely because of his shooting.

Fultz only hit one of several mid-range attempts in Sunday’s scrimmage (including the one that was blocked by Bayless). Even in his only make, you can see a noticeable hiccup in his release.

There’s no guarantee that this becomes anything major. Fultz himself said that he’s “having fun,” while the rest of his performance on Sunday was still impressive. His court vision, defensive upside and ability to work his way to the rim were all on display, and that alone should help him remain productive while he works out the kinks in his shot.

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Ideally, this blows over quickly and Fultz is able to relocate the proficiency he seemed to lose track of on Sunday. There’s still tons of promise in Fultz as a prospect, and overlooking that potential on the basis of a fixable concern wouldn’t be wise.