The Philadelphia 76ers will enter 2017-18 with high hopes for the team. What are five goals for top pick Markelle Fultz during his rookie season?
The Philadelphia 76ers were at the center of the first NBA offseason shocker, before the league knew there would be many more. They traded the third overall pick and a protected future pick for the first overall pick, trading places with the Boston Celtics in the 2017 NBA Draft pecking order.
Although other names were passed around in rumors, the frontrunner in the class had been Markelle Fultz for most of the season and all of the offseason. Lacking a true lead guard and staring at diminishing returns in point guard classes over the next two years, the 76ers added their guard of the future.
While both Fultz and 2016 first overall pick Ben Simmons will be playing their first NBA seasons this year, the 76ers still have hope that they will make the playoffs. In a weakened Eastern Conference, a healthy Joel Embiid could lead them to the postseason.
Balanced with a desire to finally win games is the reality that Fultz will need plenty of time on the court with the ball in his hands to grow as a player. How can the team expect him to grow this year? He is not going to suddenly be an MVP candidate, but what can he do this season to prepare him for the brightest future?
Bearing all this in mind, here are five goals for Philadelphia 76ers point guard Markelle Fultz during his rookie season.
5. Avoid serious injury
Four seasons ago the Philadelphia 76ers took a major step in the dismantling of a playoff team, flipping former All-Star guard Jrue Holiday for Kentucky big man Nerlens Noel and a first round pick. Noel would miss his entire rookie season recovering from knee surgery to repair a torn ACL.
The next year, firmly in the midst of a rebuild, they took Kansas center Joel Embiid with the third pick. Embiid would go on to miss not one but two seasons to start his career, and appeared in only 31 games last year.
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Last year the injury bug hit again, sidelining top pick Ben Simmons in training camp with a broken foot. Hope that the former LSU Tiger would return by the end of the year faded into a cautious approach that will see Simmons debut alongside Markelle Fultz in October.
The 76ers have taken their time with rebuilding the team, and they are stocked with young talent because of it. But they want to compete this year, and that will require a healthy rookie star.
Fultz does not have a history of injury concerns, but neither did Simmons before he went down last fall. The organization — and Fultz — will hope the first-year guard makes it through the year in relatively good health, so fans can see this young core on the court together.
4. Develop off-ball game alongside Ben Simmons
When Ben Simmons first became a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, the buzz around the No. 1 pick was what position he would play. With the playmaking skill of a point guard with the frame of a power forward, how would the team deploy its new star?
The point was rendered somewhat moot when Simmons went down with a foot injury that turned into a missed season. But head coach Brett Brown has said on multiple occasions that he plans to deploy Ben Simmons as a point guard on offense.
Enter Markelle Fultz, the best point guard in a draft class loaded with elite point guard talents. While any good offense can use two strong playmakers, Fultz is accustomed to having the ball in his hands most of the time. It will be adjustment for him.
That doesn’t mean he cannot adjust, as many of the best point guards in the league play with another dominant ball-handler. Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving and Isaiah Thomas, to name a few, spend time racing around the court off the ball.
Fultz will also have plenty of time to run the show himself as Simmons is eased back into basketball. Both will probably start, but there will be significant chunks of time with Fultz playing point and Simmons on the bench. Likewise, T.J. McConnell will play off of Simmons while Fultz is on the bench.
The natural balance will sort itself out as both Simmons and Fultz develop into their full potential. For now, their rookie seasons will serve as ball-sharing 101 as the two players figure it out.
3. Shoot above league-average on three-pointers
Markelle Fultz is dynamic with the ball in his hands, and all throughout his freshman year he carved up opposing defenses in transition, at the rim and in the midrange. Defenses across the Pac-12 and the country failed to slow down the best offensive player in the draft.
While Fultz shot a solid 41 percent from beyond the arc, he rarely pulled up from NBA distance. His transition to the NBA three-point arc could go easily, or it could be a major growing pain. Fultz’s love of pull-up midrange jumpers doesn’t play well to a league increasingly moving away from general inefficiency.
At Washington, Fultz was not often playing off the ball. When he was, he rarely caught passes and moved immediately into a shooting motion. More often he would attack off of the closeout, getting past the defender to pull-up from inside the arc.
Playing alongside Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, Fultz will have many opportunities to receive a pass out beyond the arc. Attacking closeouts is a valuable skill, but NBA athletes have better speed and balance than college players. If they don’t respect his shot, they will contest in a stance that allows them to snuff out his drives.
Philadelphia’s latest draft pick has the tools to develop into a knockdown outside shooter. If he can develop his shot from the jump, his future will be that much brighter.
2. Win Rookie of the Year Award
Always the goal of every rookie, winning Rookie of the Year is a reasonable goal only for a handful of players. While some years an outlier swoops in to steal the title — such as Malcolm Brogdon last season — the winners tend to be lottery picks in situations that guarantee playing time.
Since Derrick Rose won Rookie of the Year in 2008-09, all but Brogdon have been lottery picks and five of the nine have been the top overall pick. In fact, the last non-lottery pick before Brogdon to win the award was Mark Jackson in 1987-88. Thirteen of the past 30 winners have been the top overall pick.
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That sets up Markelle Fultz well to make a run at the award, as he will see plenty of playing time with Philadelphia. Not only will he see time by virtue of his draft slot, but the 76ers don’t have a plethora of options to soak up minutes.
If Philadelphia can make a run at the playoffs and Fultz can rack up counting stats, he stands a good chance at winning the award. His stiffest competition may come from within, as last year’s top pick will be eligible for the award as well. Ben Simmons has the skills and size to accrue points, assists and rebounds – the three categories that most often translate to winning the Rookie of the Year.
But Markelle Fultz has the opportunity, the pedigree and the skill-set himself to win the award, and as one of the draft’s cadre of point guards, will be surfing on the crest of the narrative. But the competition will be fierce, around the league and in his own locker room.
1. Start a playoff game
The Philadelphia 76ers and their fans have been relegated to the deep lottery for years as “The Process” ran its course. Philly put up the fourth-worst record last year, which was their best finish relative to rest of the league in five seasons.
This year, all of the future hope throughout the rebuild is going to come crashing onto the shoulders of this young roster. When Joel Embiid took the court last season, the 76ers played like a playoff team at a playoff pace. Now he is joined by two top picks in Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz.
The organization has signaled a change in thinking as well, signing veterans J.J. Redick and Amir Johnson to one-year deals. While Philadelphia, with its incredibly young stars, is planning to add real star talent next offseason en route to contending in 2018-19 and beyond, they have their sights set on the postseason as early as this year.
In a weakened Eastern Conference that goal is no longer foolish. If Fultz and Simmons can step up from day one, this team has the pieces and the opportunity to make a run at the 7- or 8-seed.
Teams don’t usually make the playoffs when trotting out such young and inexperienced stars. This team’s core — Embiid, Simmons and Fultz — has played a grand total of 31 games in the NBA. That’s not the stuff of postseason contenders.
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But this team is loaded with talent, they have a smart coach, and their variability is high. They could be so young they need another season to put things together, like last year’s Minnesota Timberwolves. Or things could fall into place, and Markelle Fultz could be a major part of leading the Philadelphia 76ers back to the playoffs.