Why Markelle Fultz should still begin this season as a starter
Despite early struggles, Markelle Fultz should remain the Philadelphia 76ers‘ starter come Oct. 18.
Should Markelle Fultz remain in the Philadelphia 76ers starting lineup to start the 2016-17 regular season?
Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: Absolutely yes.
In all seriousness though, his preseason debut was more than a little concerning. 2-for-13 shooting from the field? Not too great. 0-for-3 shooting three-pointers? Also not good.
But that’s okay! I mean, it’s not at all ideal. But at the time of writing this, he’s got 8 points after the first quarter of the Sixers game against the Boston Celtics.
Philadelphia 76ers
Everyone, including me, was head over heels with Markelle when the 76ers traded up to get him. After free agency, he was immediately penciled into the starting lineup next to Ben Simmons, J.J. Redick, Robert Covington, and Joel Embiid. He didn’t get to play a ton during Summer League due to a sprained ankle. Even after that, he was still assumed to be a starter?
So what was it that changed?
One preseason game.
Admittedly, it was a subpar game. There were things that Markelle did that were encouraging and there were things that he’ll need to improve on. His defensive tools are certainly there. As long as he brings the effort on that end, he’ll have a tremendous impact of the game. He had a nice connection with Ben Simmons on the very first play of the game and got out and ran with Ben on the fast-break a little bit.
I’d choose to wait till we see the Sixers entire cavalry out on the court before we jump to too many negative conclusions about anyone. By that, I mean, I want to see how Markelle plays with Joel Embiid on the court. Putting Fultz off-ball while Simmons and Embiid draw defensive attention in a pick-and-roll should give him some more open looks. Throwing him with Embiid into the pick-and-roll should allow him to draw a mismatch, giving him the chance to score with some confidence.
A huge part of what made Markelle Fultz such an exciting prospect for the Sixers was how his game would fit with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons and as far as I can see, everything is still there that made him such a great fit. He definitely had shooting woes in the first game but the full, healthy Sixers lineup should allow Fultz even more open jumpers and looks at the rim.
Listen, I know we live in a hot take universe now. There’s 24 hour sports coverage and sports is very much a “what have you done for me lately?” entity. But we’ve got this far with patience. We’ve got Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz on this team by being patient. We’re going to need a little more patience for a 19-year old kid who’s got no NBA games under his belt.
Next: Why Fultz should start the season on the bench
As he gets more experience, I truly believe he’ll be fine and needs to remain as a starter.