Philadelphia 76ers Coach Brown “Markelle Fultz can take a deep breath”
By Bret Stuter
Re-eval
After this grace period, the team will reinvestigate Fultz’s status and determine his future. And for this, head coach Brett Brown sees this as a remedy for the young rookie’s desire to press hard to muscle through his issues:
Brett Brown on Fultz:”I feel like it’s a time where he can take a deep breath “.
— Jon Johnson (@jonjohnsonwip) October 25, 2017
And perhaps that is what the fans had hoped for all along. Giving top-pick guard Markelle Fultz some breathing room. Isn’t that the indirect by-product of shutting down Joel Embiid for two years, and Ben Simmons for a season? By the time they stepped onto the court, they had already matured into the NBA way of doing things.
Okafor and Fultz are similar stories
Of the last five top draft picks, only Jahlil Okafor and Markelle Fultz did not sit out a season. We know the struggles of integrating Jahlil Okafor, despite the lack of pressure to win on this team. Now, Markelle Fultz faces the pressure to win, plus the need to adapt, plus the normal set of issues which follow a top-pick into the NBA from the NCAA.
The difficulty with Markelle Fultz is the injury coincides to his NBA debut. How much of a normal rookie transition is delayed by the injury? With the Philadelphia 76ers having such passionate advocates facing off against equally passionate detractors, there is always a debate over did they, should they, had they, could they with each move.