Nobody knows what’s going on with Markelle Fultz

By Christopher Kline | Feb 12, 2018

PHILADELPHIA,PA - FEBRUARY 9 : Markelle Fultz #20 of the Philadelphia 76ers warms up prior to the game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Wells Fargo Center on February 9, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images) /

At this point, it’s tough for Philadelphia 76ers fans to know what’s going on with their prized rookie.

The Markelle Fultz saga has been one of the weirdest occurrences in recent NBA history. The reigning No. 1 pick — somebody who many expected to emerge as a franchise corerstone — has seemingly forgotten how to shoot.

We’ve seen the reports about his shoulder, although no obvious conclusion can be drawn. Some have stressed a potential mental block, but we have no way of knowing where the 19-year-old’s head is at. The Philadelphia 76ers‘ lack of transparency, on top of everything else, makes it hard to gauge the situation as a whole.

Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice dropped one of the best pieces of journalism this season, going in-depth on what has been a hectic six months for Fultz and the franchise that drafted him. And yet, after a thorough report with numerous sources and plenty of research, the answer still isn’t clear.

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We don’t know what’s going on with Fultz or how exactly this issue started.

Neubeck’s piece paints a troubling picture. Fultz, just last month, was going through a workout in a locked high school gym without the Sixers’ organization knowing. He was working with Keith Williams, the personal trainer who has guided Fultz since he was seven.

It turns out that Williams was also the trainer who worked with Fultz in between Summer League and training camp, when his mysterious shoulder injury first developed. Nobody knows whether the shot change or the soreness came first, but something developed during a period in which Fultz wasn’t under the Sixers’ watch.

A lot of crap has gone down since then as well. Fultz’s agent misreported information to ESPN, stating that Fultz had fluid drained from his shoulder in an effort to deal with the pain. It wasn’t until Brothers and Bryan Colangelo sorted things out on the phone that ESPN was able to correctly report the procedure, which was merely a cortisone shot.

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Fultz has been in and out of the media’s view, with videos of his shot emerging in plentiful fashion. Most of those videos were problematic, while some have shown minor improvements. None of it is consistent, though, with marginal growth offset by significant regression on a regular basis.

Bryan Colangelo has labeled Markelle’s shooting range as “in the paint“, while Brett Brown compared the approach he takes with Fultz’s shot to the one he took with Nerlens Noel.

According to Neubeck, nobody around the team can pinpoint what exactly caused this issue, and there isn’t a clear path towards a solution either. Fultz has a lot of control over when he’s ready and how his progression is handled, which would explain the lack of clarity regarding his inevitable return to the court.

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Again, it’s highly recommended that you read Neubeck’s report here. This is awesome journalism, and gives you a substantial ammount of information that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. It’s not exactly a confidence-builder, but it’s something every Sixers fan needs to read.