The Philadelphia 76ers are 8-7 through 15 games of the regular season behind some tremendous play from two of their young stars in Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. While we knew what to expect from Embiid when healthy, Simmons’ play has been a revelation at the point guard position.
However, there’s a significant drop off when Simmons is off the court, compounded by the absence of top overall pick Markelle Fultz. Fultz has been battling a non-structural shoulder injury since the preseason and after four dismal games and one very concerning change to his free throw form, he was finally benched to allow his shoulder to heal and recover.
While rookie point guards tend to struggle to make a positive impact on the game (as evidenced by Lonzo Ball and nearly every other rookie point guard that’s not Ben Simmons this season), not having Fultz is a significant absence for the Sixers’ point guard depth as T.J. McConnell is asked to carry a much heavier load than one would expect at 23 minutes per game. On Sunday, we got our first official update on Fultz’s status and the news was relatively encouraging compared to the footage of him hoisting lefty three-pointers two weeks ago.
The Sixers announced Fultz would miss another 2-3 weeks before being evaluated again, but that he’s progressing and nearing resumption of full basketball activities.
Sixers announce that No. 1 pick Markelle Fultz is 2-3 weeks away from another revaluation as he recovers from his shoulder problem. pic.twitter.com/YngA2TlrEw
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) November 19, 2017
This is a good sign for Fultz and the Sixers, both in the diagnosis and that the Sixers are now taking a more careful approach with Fultz after the odd choices early in the season to let him continue playing despite his clear lack of comfort. This latest timetable puts a potential Fultz return to the court at early December at the soonest.
