Markelle Fultz Showed Flashes Of Why He Was The No. 1 Pick In His First Game Back

Expecting Markelle Fultz to come out in his first game back since October and be the same guy that earned a spot atop the 2017 NBA Draft would have obviously been silly. The list of basketball players who have gone 68 games without playing, taken to the floor, and looked like a finished product is incredibly short. Add in the fact that Fultz is still a teenager and there was no way on earth he was going to be a finished product when he took to the court on Monday.

Still, it’s hard to imagine Fultz’s, uh, re-debut (?) going much better. The talented combo guard played 14 minutes and put up 10 points on an admittedly not great 5-for-13 shooting. He also added in eight assists and four rebounds.

The biggest thing that happened, though, was that Fultz didn’t look as tentative as he did at the start of his career, when he was dealing with the shoulder ailment that kept him sidelined all this time. Fultz legitimately looked healthy, engaged, and willing to attack. It’s why the whole “he put up 13 shots in 14 minutes” isn’t a massive concern right now.

Things started off well for Fultz, who received quite the ovation and made his first basket during his first shift of the game. He also got some run in the third quarter, including this fantastic circus layup.
https://twitter.com/DimeUPROXX/status/978435861791543296

But as the Sixers ended up pulling away from the Denver Nuggets, the crowd in Philadelphia wanted to see him play in the game’s waning moments. Those in attendance took the Minnesota Vikings’ skol chant, but replaced “skol” with the last name of their young guard.

It was a pretty funny moment, largely because Fultz admitted after the game he had no idea what was going on.

Fultz showed off his ability to get to the rim, which was certainly welcome, but the thing everyone wanted to see was how his jumper looked. At the center of his struggles was his ability to hit jump shots, and fortunately for Sixers fans, Fultz showed down the stretch that he is looking pretty good.
https://twitter.com/DimeUPROXX/status/978443665340272640

The rookie guard was feeling himself a little bit, so he tried to hit another pull up jumper from the other elbow. This was a good decision, as the shot looked pure.

Obviously this game is not meant to be taken as a sign that Fultz is going to be an All-NBA player or anything. We still need to see hit shoot free throws and threes, which will be much better indicators of whether his shooting woes are behind him. But still, for his first game back, Fultz looked about as good as Sixers fans could hope.