Philadelphia 76ers: Markelle Fultz quietly efficient from 3-point land

Philadelphia 76ers point guard Markelle Fultz has been one of the focal points early in the season and fans shouldn’t ignore his efficient 3-point shot.

There has been no shortage of story lines for the Philadelphia 76ers, such as: the slow start to begin the season, Joel Embiid‘s early dominance and the club’s injury woes to name just a few. That doesn’t include all the stories and narratives that have surrounded Markelle Fultz. He’s attempting to bounce back after a forgettable rookie year and is starting in the place of veteran sharpshooter J.J. Redick.

However, one story that has seemed to have gone under the rader is Fultz’s solid 3-point shooting to begin the regular season. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Fultz has a 3-point shot now that he has worked on this past offseason with shot guru Drew Hanlen. However, it’s a pleasant surprise for Fultz to be shooting 50.0 percent five games into the regular season.

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Now before fans get too excited, Fultz’s only attempted six 3-pointers thus far during the early season. Still considering that he only took took one 3-pointer last year and missed, he’s made tremendous progress thus far. While his efficiency has been good, he’s still been somewhat tentative in attempting 3-pointers as well. An example of this can be seen in this link here.

Fans should see Fultz’s passing up open shots from downtown less often as the season progresses and his confidence in those shots increase. The fact that he’s making the 3-pointers he is taking at such a high rate should do wonders for his confidence. He’s already shown improvement from the preseason to the regular season. During the preseason, he only shot 20.0 percent of his attempts from behind the arc and now he’s hitting them at a 50.0 percent mark early on in the season.

Head coach Brett Brown and the 76ers should be encouraged by what they have seen of his 3-point shot thus far, as well. Fultz ranks first on the team in 3-point percentage, even ahead of Redick. The second year point guard is also tied for sixth in total attempts with stretch big man Mike Muscala and is seventh on the team in attempts per game.

Philadelphia will eventually need for him to to increase his shot attempts down the road, but this is a great starting point for Fultz. The Sixers and their fans couldn’t have asked for a better start for the young point guard. He’s being selective in his 3-point shots, but more importantly is that he’s making them with consistency. Once he does increase his attempts per game, it should help Philly with spacing on offense.

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This is a great first step for Fultz in developing into a legit downtown threat. As long as he continues down this path of steady improvement, the Philadelphia 76ers should have a bright future. Fultz’s 39.6 field goal percentage has much to be desired, but at least it’s clear that he has the capability to knock down 3-point attempts.