When the Sixers traded up in the 2017 NBA Draft to land the No. 1 overall pick and take point guard Markelle Fultz, it was with the expectation that this would be the last time Philadelphia is selecting at the top of the lottery for some time — at least with their own pick. After taking risks with high-ceiling players dealing with injuries in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons and a high-upside draft-and-stash in Dario Saric, Fultz was supposed to be able to play immediately to create a formidable young core.
However, Fultz is apparently dealing with a right shoulder injury, the severity of which we don’t really know much about. On Monday night, Fultz debuted his new free throw shooting form, which stunned pretty much everyone since it looks like the form you’d see out of a big man that struggles mightily from the stripe.
After seeing Fultz’s motion, there were many that wanted to know why he made such a dramatic change that seemed to be a regression from his old form. Fultz wasn’t a good free throw shooter in college, but his form at least looked like a normal shot and appeared to be something that could be tweaked. This new stroke is a significant departure from his old form and is one that even Sixers coach Brett Brown is concerned by.
Biggest problem with Fultz free throw is that he starts it at shoulder height. Needs to start at waist level for rhythm and POWER pic.twitter.com/CExnUgao4r
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) October 9, 2017
As you can see in the video, Fultz’s shoulder is taped up with K-tape and according to The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor, that is the reason for the new shooting form.
After Fultz left the locker room, I asked him if the shoulder issue motivated him to revise his free throw mechanics, to minimize the pain he feels when he raises his arm. Fultz said, “Yeah, for the most part. I’m just trying other things to make free throws. At the end of the day, that’s not an excuse for me. I’m just out there hooping.”
Sixers coach Brett Brown also confirmed to O’Connor that he felt the shoulder injury was bothering Fultz more than he was letting on and that it was effecting not only his free throw form but his willingness to shoot from the perimeter.
“I think [his shoulder] is affecting him more than he lets on. You can tell with his free throw, trying to get that ball up. It’s far out from his body. He’s been working on trying to get that thing rehabilitated,” Brown said. “And the lack of the quantity of his 3-point shooting may be a sign that it’s hurting a little more than he’s letting on.”
This would seem to raise a very significant question: Why is Fultz playing at all? I get there being pressure on the Sixers to follow through with the next step in The Process this season, and they really want to have Fultz, Embiid, Simmons, and Saric all in the starting lineup together on opening night because it will get the fans pumped. This season is supposed to be their time to make the leap into playoff contention in the East, but if Fultz’s injury is causing him to completely change his shooting form just to make himself comfortable, that’s the type of thing that can have negative effects long-term.
O’Connor said Fultz isn’t sure when the shoulder pain started and when it bothers him the Sixers’ training staff works on it and when it’s not, he’s great. For a team that’s investing millions into Fultz and traded up in the draft to get him, you would think they’d want to do a little more than simply managing the pain of an injury to his shooting shoulder. Maybe there’s nothing to do and that’s all it is, but if that’s the case, you’d think rest would be the biggest help and the preseason would be a great time to give that to him.
Hopefully, Fultz’s shoulder will get better and stop bothering him and he can get back to being his normal self, both in his willingness to shoot and in his shooting form. That would be ideal, but right now there has to be a little concern that the start to the Sixers’ new era will be once again delayed by a lingering injury.
