Observations from the Philadelphia 76ers’ 2018 preseason action

Markelle Fultz

Drew Hanlen, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

The play of Markelle Fultz thus far in the preseason has been encouraging to say the least. Of course the one thing everyone wanted to see was the almighty jump shot. It’s something we’ve been nitpicking and obsessing over for the last year-plus. And so far, it hasn’t looked too shabby. It may not be very appealing to the eye, but he looks like he has all the confidence in the world in it, which is the most important thing.

As a result, he’s looked more and more like a willing shooter. A majority of his jump shot opportunities have been mid-range pull-ups  off screens, so clearly there’s been a concerted effort to get him looks. Plus, he hasn’t been afraid to let it go from deep, and it can’t be overstated how huge of a development that is. Markelle being even somewhat of a threat from deep opens up so many things for this team.

Jump shot aside, he’s been very impressive in other facets of the game. He’s been distributing the ball well especially on drives to the basket and he’s been very active on the defensive end. He clearly brings a source of explosive athleticism this team can tap into on both ends of the floor. It’s still going to be a little while before he becomes the player the Sixers thought they drafted over a year ago, but he’s definitely on the right track.