Breaking down Mareklle Fultz’s performance against the Utah Jazz

All eyes have been on Markelle Fultz at the Utah Jazz Summer League. Wednesday allowed for a second look at the No. 1 overall pick.

Like Ben Simmons a year ago, Markelle Fultz is under the microscope this summer. Thanks to trips to both Utah and Las Vegas, Fultz will get a few games under his belt before the end of July. The Philadelphia 76ers wrapped up play in Utah against the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday and will now head off to Sin City for some more Summer League fun.

While Fultz did not play in the Utah Jazz Summer League finale against the Spurs, he showed some impressive flashes in the team’s first two contests. On Monday against the Boston Celtics, he put up 17 points and recorded three blocks. The soon-to-be rookie from Washington shot just 6-for-16 from the floor, though he did connect on two of his five attempts from three.

Those scoring and shooting trends would continue Wednesday night against the Utah Jazz. The Jazz were a great matchup for Fultz going up against Donovan Mitchell and Dante Exum. Exum guarded Fultz and was his own man on the other end of the floor.

One thing that became evident all night long was how much work Fultz has to do on the defensive end. For a 19-year-old rookie, especially given what we saw of him at Washington, this wasn’t a surprise.

Exum blew by Fultz at will and abused him in the pick-and-roll. Summer League is not the time to make determinations of players off a small sample size, but getting blown by by Exum shows how much room Fultz has to get better on the defensive end.

While he struggled on the defensive end, Fultz was constantly hustling back, attempting to challenge shots at the rim and showed overall positive body language. Early on, Fultz looks like a more visible teammate than what we saw when he was in the Pac-12.

He also started the game slow offensively and had some pretty bad turnovers. At one point he dribbled right into three Jazz defenders, but he would show better decision-making as the game went on. It was a strong improvement from the game against Boston. Still, it didn’t take him long to make Sixers’ fans jaws drop in awe.

Fultz’s Offensive Explosion

This above play came in the first quarter and showed Fultz’s potential on the ball as a scorer. He torched a decent defender in Exum with a legitimate All-Star move. Despite the slow start, he would come on strong in the fourth quarter. One other observation about Fultz, and this isn’t to say that numbers are that important, but his teammates for the second straight game missed a flurry of shots off great passes from him.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the Sixers trailed by 14 points. Fultz’s team had already blown a big lead against Boston, so were they capable of closing the gap? No statements have to be made in Summer League, but a Fultz-led comeback would help address some people’s concerns that he “can’t win.”

That sentiment is of course ridiculous, given Fultz is a FIBA gold medalist, but this was another chance to see what he was made of. He didn’t disappoint.

This move capped off an impressive fourth quarter by the No. 1 pick. Fultz hesitates to lure in his defender and bend him one way, setting up a perfectly executed step-back three. Rookies aren’t supposed to be able to do that. Having the audacity to attempt that is rare for a teenager. That three made it a one possession game.

Earlier in the quarter, Fultz attacked the rim on two memorable occasions. He drove with ferocity to the hole and finished off glass with his left hand, while absorbing contact. Later in the fourth, Fultz extended the ball to his right, protecting it from Tony Bradley, and scored over the big man from UNC.

He finished the fourth with 13 points and shot a much better 9-for-16 from the floor overall. Fultz finished the contest with a line of 23-5-5 and kept his team in the ball game. Were it not for two long heaves, Fultz would have been 4-of-6 from deep.

Conclusion

In addition to the above notes on his turnovers (again, more of a youthful thing) and defense, Fultz showed a tremendous understanding of how to move deceptively off the ball. For two of his made three-pointers, he wiggled away from his man to get an open look. That is an extremely positive sign, especially given how the Sixers will want him to be able to do that around Ben Simmons.

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There’s plenty of room for improvement after poor defense, six turnovers and a -11 night on the court. He’s already shown the ability to make defensive plays, but his defensive growth will be a long process. It’s important to note, however, that that will be the case for every single rookie. It’s still the case for many players who are in their second, third and fourth years.

At this juncture, Fultz isn’t ready to run an NBA offense, but not many 19-year-olds are. Rookie seasons like that of Chris Paul and Magic Johnson are extremely rare. One of the best-case scenario trajectories for Fultz is becoming like James Harden.

Harden wasn’t truly a lead guard until Mike D’Antoni came to Houston. What this all means is that it’s a great thing he’ll share that duty with Simmons. It will help his development rather than being relied on as the sole initiator.

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While we don’t want to read too much into what Fultz did in Utah, he showed flashes that back up comparisons made to Harden. His ability to glide through defenses with a slow, but deadly dribble and hit big shots late in games has Sixers fans gushing. It’s only been two Summer League games, and maybe that’s a disappointing sentiment, but Fultz looks like who we thought he was, and that’s not a bad thing at all.