Most Philadelphia 76ers players have lived up to or exceeded their expectations this season. Markelle Fultz is the rare exception.
Here’s a brief quote from an article I wrote following Markelle Fultz’s return to action on Mar. 26:
“I was happy when Fultz took his first mid-range jump shot and his shooting form looked good despite him air balling the shot. But the two mid-range jumpers he made, one that was assisted by the rim and the other nothing but net, showed that he truly has regained his elite ability to make pull-up jumpers with or without a hand in his face from at least 10 feet out.”
Watching him make a contested midrange jumper, made me believe that he was back to the players he was in college and worth drafting with the top pick in the 2017 draft. But watching him in the playoffs shows that he’s still far away from the players we all expected and hope he will eventually come.
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In hindsight, I probably let the high of the Philadelphia 76ers’ 16 game win-streak and Fultz’s passing being better than expected distract me from looking at his stats with an open mind. Fultz averaged 6.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.5 turnovers per game while playing 16.9 minutes, making 33.3 percent of his shots, and causing the Sixers to be 10.8 points worse when he was playing in the four games before he left for injury.
In the 10 regular season games Fultz played in after his return from injur, he averaged 7.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 1.1 turnovers per game while playing 17.7 minutes, making 42.9 percent of his shots, and the Sixers improved by 6.3 points when he played.
While he drastically improved from the way he played in the beginning of the season, Fultz ended the season making 40.5 percent of all the shots taken in the 14 games he played which is only better then Timothy Luwawu-Carrot’s 37.5 percent among players that averaged at least 15.5 minutes per game for the Sixers.
In Game 1 against the Heat, Fultz looked like he would be an asset and that T.J. McConnell might not get a lot of playing time in the playoffs when Fultz ended with five points, two rebounds, four assists, two steals, and zero turnovers. The first impression of playoffs Fultz turned out to be an illusion.
Related Story: Can Fultz help the Sixers against Boston?
Fultz didn’t score a single point in the series against the Heat after Game 1 and only got 8.59 minutes of playing time outside of the 13:57 minutes he played in Game 1. Watching the games, it was clear that Fultz wasn’t ready for the playoffs.
From missing rotations on defense to being less willing than Ben Simmons to take jump shots, he struggled against a team that could’ve been called for a foul every time a member of the Sixers had the ball, so I understood and accepted head coach Brett Brown’s decision to leave him on the bench after Game 3.
Next: 3 adjustments worth making in Game 2
While Fultz still has clear potential and there shouldn’t be any rush to trade him for an established star during the upcoming offseason, Brett Brown’s decision to give Jerryd Bayless playing time over Fultz in garbage time against the Celtics could mean they’re considering moving on from the rookie point guard.