NBA: Markelle Fultz's shot further breaks down throughout the 76ers game with the Heat.
YOU can actually pinpoint the second Markelle Fultz’s brain explodes.
The Philadelphia rookie’s sad struggles continued on Tuesday when he became the victim of a social media bloodbath during the 76ers’ 124-114 win over Miami in Florida.
In defence of the bloodthirsty Twitter trolls, the obscene level of shade thrown at the lost 20-year-old was almost certainly justified.
His latest shooting performance is indefensible.
Fultz showed off a nervous kink in his first trip to the line mid-way through the second quarter, but still knocked down his first shot from the charity stripe.
His second attempt was the stuff of nightmares.
From the second it left his fingers, Fultz’s papers were marked.
The former No. 1 draft pick has endured a year from hell.
His jump shot has dissolved into a panicked mess.
Opposition teams have treated him with overt disrespect — at times failing to even guard him.
He’s been singled out as the reason the 76ers offence has been unable at times to breakdown defensive structures that choke up the paint when Fultz and Ben Simmons run the floor together.
All of that negativity finally appeared to break Fultz when he stepped up to the line to shoot his second free-throw against the Heat.
His disjointed action left commentators stunned at how far the college phenomenon has fallen.
This is worse than we have ever seen Fultz's free throw form look. pic.twitter.com/FhCYpNpd5b — Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) November 13, 2018
His unnatural pump-fake after already stretching towards the release point was immediately set-upon by the internet’s jokers and meme-generators.
Many made the comparison with NBA legend Charles Barkley’s notoriously gruesome golf swing.
Others found Fultz’s slip into madness a truly sad story for the NBA.
Either way, it was as ugly as it gets.
But speaking after the game, Fultz offered a reasoning behind why his action looked so disjointed during his free throw effort.
“The ball slipped out of my hand, so I had to do what I had to do,” Fultz said.
“I had to do what I had to do, but I’m not really worried about it. I have to work on my game. The ball just happened to slip, that’s what happened.”
The former number one draft pick then stated he’s not worried about any of the feedback from social media as he doesn’t pay attention to it.
“I’m not really worried about it. I work on my game,” Fultz added.
“Everybody knows how hard I work. So it happens. The thing is I don’t really care about what people say or what people are going to say. I really don’t give a (freak) for real. I work on my game and that’s how it’s going to go.”
Markelle Fultz shoots free-throws like someone who has only ever heard them described in a book they read a long time ago. — Colley (@JamColley) November 13, 2018
More brutal form
Markelle Fultz -120
Charles Barkley +100 https://t.co/V6vH3o3PH9 — The Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) November 13, 2018
honestly, i feel pretty horrible for markelle fultz. people expected him to be an immediate impact player in the nba and instead he’s completely in his own head with his shot. the hyper-focus on every shot he takes is clearly exacerbating the problem.
dude looks lost. — joon (@joonlee) November 13, 2018
Watching Markelle Fultz is actually heartbreaking. The kid is a shell of himself — James McKern (@jLmcKern) November 13, 2018
Space Jam 2 is coming out...are the Monstars out here stealing Fultz's talent? 🤔 https://t.co/C9aBPCOdpI — FanDuel Sportsbook (@FDSportsbook) November 13, 2018
Fultz has the basketball shot equivalent of Charles Barkley’s golf swing. https://t.co/l10aEFjDf3 — Jeff Ratcliffe (@JeffRatcliffe) November 13, 2018
People tweeting this video out and making fun of it should reconsider. This is seriously sad and I can’t imagine what he’s mentally going through. I really hope Fultz gets a fresh start or a confidence boost. pic.twitter.com/O9YMplpoIe — Oliver Maroney (@OMaroneyNBA) November 13, 2018
Sixers need a healthy split from Fultz so he can figure things out. An elite floor spacer like John Henson is probably fair compensation. https://t.co/5GqpkapH6v — Travis Schlepp (@travischlepp) November 13, 2018
Perhaps the lowest moment of Fultz’s NBA career came in the second half when news filtered through that his partnership with former specialist shooting coach Drew Hanlen has been ended.
Hanlen, who has previously worked with Celtics star Jayson Tatum and Sixers centre Joel Embiid, is reportedly no longer even on speaking terms with Fultz — their relationship ending as messy as it gets.
Markelle Fultz and Drew Hanlen are no longer working together or on speaking terms, according to league sources. No word on why the two parted ways, but their relationship deteriorated about three weeks ago. Prior to this falling out, Fultz spent the summer training with Hanlen. — Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) November 13, 2018
For the record, Drew Hanlen WILL continue to train Joel Embiid. https://t.co/dSlyu7wZU8 — Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) November 13, 2018
Incredible. Markelle Fultz shot a free throw so bad that within minutes his ex-shooting coach had already let media know he wasn't responsible https://t.co/l3aAnOwEBj — Rodger Sherman (@rodger) November 13, 2018
Just as consequential for Fultz is that his blunder comes just days after the 76ers dramatically landed shooting superstar Jimmy Butler in a high-profile trade.
In a move which is expected to choke up Fultz’s time on court, some commentators have interpreted the signing of Butler as an indication Philadelphia has given up on Fultz.
Butler, a four-time All-Star forward, is now officially a member of the 76ers, after they and the Minnesota Timberwolves received approval from the league office Monday on the terms of the trade that was agreed to over the weekend.
Butler will be introduced by the 76ers on Wednesday (AEDT) and is expected to debut with
his new club at Orlando on Thursday (AEDT).
Butler has averaged 21.8 points per game since the start of the 2014-15 season, the 13th highest clip in the NBA over that span.
Despite Butler’s threat to his position, Fultz welcomed the former Bulls star’s signature earlier this week.
“I think he’s going to bring toughness, scoring ability, a veteran,” Fultz said.
“Just going to compete on both ends of the floor and I hope he pushes this team to a higher level.”
— with AP
A lot of positive things happened for the Sixers in Monday night’s 124-114 win over the Heat (see observations).
The dominant Joel Embiid had his ninth 30-point game of the season, posting 35 points and 18 rebounds; after breaking his nose and suffering a facial laceration Tuesday, a masked Mike Muscala returned to action; Furkan Korkmaz scored a career-high 16 points and looks like he may be able to provide the shooting the Sixers need off the bench.
Markelle Fultz’s second free throw with 6:09 left in the second quarter does not fall into that positive category.
After making his first free throw, Fultz pump faked on his second. He jerked the ball out as if he was going to shoot, then lowered it a few inches before releasing it (see video).
Speaking to reporters in Miami after the game, Fultz had an explanation for the odd shot.
"I mean, the ball slipped out of my hand, so I had to do what I had to do,” Fultz said, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “But I’m not really worried about it. I work on my game. The ball just happened to slip. That’s what happened."
The noticeable hitch in Fultz’s free throws over the last couple games makes that explanation seem implausible.
Brett Brown said he’s noticed the hitch on occasion.
“Every so often you’ll see it,” he said. “Then all a sudden he’ll come back and he’ll take rise-up, fadeaway jump shots and look like a real sort of fluid type of player, real fluid type of motion in his shot. … And then you go and see other ones and you wouldn’t have any idea that there’s any problem at all. I thought that his defense was exceptional. We’re going to keep encouraging him and try to shoot more of those shots that we saw where his fluid side was really impressive, rising up over bigger people.”
While Fultz’s free throws Monday night certainly weren’t fluid, other parts of his game continue to progress. As Brown noted, his defense keeps improving, and he’s looked more and more confident attacking the basket. He shot a season-best 7 for 9 in Saturday’s loss against the Grizzlies. Fultz has also taken care of the ball very well for a 20-year-old guard — after Monday’s five-assist, zero-turnover effort, he has a 2.79 assist to turnover ratio.
However, his shot has not progressed. He hasn’t attempted a three-point shot in the past seven games, and he’s made 4 of his last 12 free throws.
On Tuesday, the attention will shift from Fultz’s shot to Jimmy Butler, who will be introduced as a Sixer in Camden. But, in all likelihood, the unusual shooting form of the No. 1 pick in the 2017 draft will continue to be a major storyline for the Sixers.
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Jimmy Butler arrives to Philadelphia, signs some autographs and details what we can expect from the 76ers now that he has joined the team. (0:43)
MIAMI -- From the moment Markelle Fultz double-clutched the second of two free throws midway through the second quarter of Monday night's game against the Miami Heat, his shooting form once again became a blazing-hot topic of conversation.
Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown, however, had no time for such discussions. Instead, his focus is on something else: balancing his personal and emotional investment in trying to get Fultz back on track with his job to lead this season's Sixers to a credible challenge for the Eastern Conference title.
And now that the Sixers have acquired Jimmy Butler, who will join the team for Wednesday's road game against the Orlando Magic, Brown's already difficult task has suddenly become nearly impossible.
"It is [difficult]," Brown told ESPN.com after Monday's game, a 124-114 Philadelphia victory. "Because you've got a human side, and a responsibility to the individual, but mostly you've got a responsibility to the team, and somewhere in that pyramid of layers I've got to figure it out.
"There's no book that tells you how to do that. I use my gut feel and best judgement and just keep it very candid. When I feel something, or see something, and you can convey it to you, or the team, or whatever, that's when I feel comfortable.
"And so Jimmy is going to come in, we're going to make a decision on what that looks like, and we'll roll."
Markelle Fultz's continued shooting woes put the 76ers in a tough spot if they want to be a serious contender. Michael Reaves/Getty Images
The Butler trade -- which saw Dario Saric, Robert Covington, Jerryd Bayless and a future second-round pick go to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Butler and Justin Patton -- marked the end of "The Process," the much-discussed rebuilding plan the Sixers embarked on several seasons ago.
Fultz was supposed to be that final cornerstone piece, joining with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons to form a young triumvirate of stars who would lead Philadelphia into championship contention. But while Embiid and Simmons have more than lived up to their end of the bargain, Fultz's odyssey over the past 17 months has been one of an endless series of twists and turns -- and, along the way, him losing the ability to consistently shoot a basketball.
It is a trip that could be encapsulated by that second free throw he took with 6 minutes, 9 seconds remaining in the second quarter, and with Philadelphia trailing 46-44. Despite Fultz having just made the one before it, he practically pump-faked on the second attempt before letting it go. It clanged off the side of the rim and bounced away.
"I mean, the ball slipped out of my hand, so I had to do what I had to do," Fultz said, when asked what happened on the play. "But I'm not really worried about it. I work on my game. The ball just happened to slip. That's what happened."
Whether it was what happened or not, though, is irrelevant at this point. What matters is that Fultz has become a reminder of what The Process was at the beginning -- a long, slow ascent that required time, energy and patience to see it through.
These Sixers, though, have officially moved past that point by trading for Butler, a prime-aged star whose arrival is supposed to portend Philadelphia's place among the East's elite. That means trying to figure out what players fit around their new big three of Simmons, Embiid and Butler -- and it is difficult to make the case that Fultz can fit, at least right now, in anything more than a bit role.
"Maybe [Butler is] the first move in the new reality that our goal is to build for a championship, and play in the NBA Finals, and continue to be an annual -- and that's always the hardest thing -- contender," Brown said. "I think we are building a core, truly, with their ages, that is going to have the ability to do that. We are going to have the ability to do that for a while now.
"We'll be amongst royalty for a while now. So if you refer to that as sort of the first phase of the legitimate process, I think that's fair."
Even with Butler nowhere near Miami on Monday night -- he instead was some 1,200 miles north preparing for his introductory news conference at the team's Camden, New Jersey, practice facility Tuesday morning -- the Sixers offered some clues as to what they will look like once he joins them Wednesday in Orlando.
play 0:43 Butler on Philly arrival: 'We want to win a championship.' Jimmy Butler arrives to Philadelphia, signs some autographs and details what we can expect from the 76ers now that he has joined the team.
Before the game, Brown said he knows what his starting lineup will be when Butler joins the team, but that he didn't want to say. Given Simmons, Embiid and Butler all need the ball -- and none are elite shooters -- it would seem the experiment to have Fultz continue to start the first halves of games would have to come to an end. As if anyone needed more proof that JJ Redick was a far better fit next to Philadelphia's new big three, he scored 25 points on 11-for-20 shooting in Monday's win in Miami, providing exactly the kind of spacing the Sixers desperately need in their starting unit.
Fultz can perhaps carve out some minutes in the second unit, playing as a backup to Simmons -- as he did when he returned late last season after sitting out for all but the opening four games. But doing that will mean Brown has to cut the minutes for T.J. McConnell, who has become a steady hand off the bench for Philadelphia -- and helped the Sixers win playoff games last season.
Both rookie guard Landry Shamet and forward Furkan Korkmaz, meanwhile, staked their claims to remain in the rotation once Butler arrives. The two combined to score 26 points and go 5-for-10 from 3-point range -- offering Philadelphia the kind of spacing and scoring punch off the bench the Sixers got from Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova during last season's late surge that propelled them into the playoffs.
Both are currently better fits to play with Philadelphia's stars, thanks to their shooting ability, than Fultz is.
But Brown made it clear that he isn't about to give up on Fultz -- even as Butler is set to arrive, and the pressure to win on these Sixers is about to increase yet again.
"I mean, it's so much -- for me, it's so much deeper than, like, the responsibility of being the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers in 2018," Brown said of trying to help Fultz through this. "It's growing him and his confidence and his spirit and his game, and helping him navigate through a completely bizarre period earlier in his life, where he's trying to get through injury and figure it all out. That's on my mind more than, 'Do I play him 18 minutes or 12 minutes?' It's not that at all. It's not that at all.
"And, so, along this path, we'll figure this out together."
From Brown to Embiid and right on down the line, the Sixers have -- right from the very beginning -- done a remarkable job of defending Fultz through all of his trials and tribulations. It's a credit to the organization that they've taken the care to try to shepherd him through this, and see him to the other side.
But the arrival of Butler changes everything. No longer are these the young Sixers slowly ascending through the Eastern Conference with a maturing core. Instead, these are the Sixers with three of the NBA's top-20 players -- something only the Golden State Warriors can claim among the league's 30 teams -- and with every reason to think they can challenge for supremacy in the East.
Doing so, though, is going to require hard choices -- both about how to deploy the players they currently have, and about future moves that need to be made to fill in around the core the Sixers have put together. And, now that Butler has arrived, it is hard to look at Fultz, just a year-and-a-half after being taken with the first overall pick in the draft, as being part of it.
Need to Reprocess The Philadelphia 76ers have been trying to make things work with SG Markelle Fultz in the lineup with C Joel Embiid and PG Ben Simmons. The results have been mixed at best, and new acquisition Jimmy Butler figures to make the fit more complicated. 76ers with Simmons/Embiid on floor With Fultz Without Fultz Minutes 111 198 Off. Eff. 99.2 102.9 Def. Eff. 98.4 96.3 Net Rating 0.8 6.6 3% 26.2 32.1 AST-TO ratio 1.38 1.57 Source: NBA Advanced Stats
That second-quarter free throw summed up Fultz's entire journey. It's now up to Brown, as Butler gets set to arrive, to figure out where Fultz -- and the Sixers -- go from here.
"We have a tendency to zoom in on something, and beat it up in social media," Brown said. "And so be it. We move on.
"He's got insulation around him, and he's got a coach that believes in him, that will continue to play and develop him, and that's that."
Getty Image
The strange and sad saga of Markelle Fultz continues in Philadelphia as the former No. 1 overall pick from 2017 looks to find his way as an NBA player.
Fultz has found himself starting for the Sixers this season, but that will likely change with Jimmy Butler coming to town. That move puts Fultz’s role in Philadelphia in question as it has become evident he was not capable of taking them to the next level as they hoped when they stood mostly pat this summer.
It hasn’t all been bad for Fultz, but his inability to shoot continues to be an issue despite a full summer of work to rehabilitate and rebuild that shot. Most of that work was done with trainer Drew Hanlen, who has a number of star NBA clients, but their relationship has apparently fractured to the point of them not only no longer working together but not being on speaking terms anymore, per Alex Kennedy.
