Markelle Fultz missed his 64th game of the season on Friday, which means time is running out on the possibility of his return this season. The Sixers‘ first-round pick (first overall) has missed most of the season with a shoulder injury that seems to have inhibited his shooting ability.
Sixers head coach Brett Brown gave his most definitive answer about Fultz’s status for the remainder of the year, saying he is unsure if the young guard will be able to return, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes.
“I truly don’t know,” Brown said. “Here I am telling you that. It’s that whole truth and nothing but the truth. I really don’t know.”
While Fultz is out with a shoulder injury, the specific reason for his absence is to relearn how to shoot. Either way, the Sixers likely will not get a significant contribution out of Fultz until next season at the earliest.
Check out more notes out of the Atlantic Division:
- The Sixers have Ben Simmons listed as both a point guard and power forward and head coach Brett Brown can see a path for the Australian to play at the four exclusively. While Simmons does not mind playing the power forward, he prefers being a point guard, Pompey writes in a separate story. “Nah,” Simmons said. “I don’t want to play the four. I mean I’ll play the four, but I don’t want to be predominantly in the four position. I feel like I can do a lot more from the point-guard position as you’ve seen.”
- The injury bug has hit the Celtics hard in recently as Daniel Theis, Marcus Smart, and Jaylen Brown suffered season-altering injuries. In the wake of those health issues, Marcus Morris is the first Boston player to step up and take advantage of his new spot in the starting lineup, A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston relays. Morris scored 31 points on Wednesday vs. Washington.
- The Celtics are without Theis, Smart, Brown, and Gordon Hayward and it’s possible the team explores adding a player to offset the losses. Per Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe (Twitter links), if a league doctor feels Brown could miss two more weeks due to his concussion, the Celtics could be granted a 16th roster spot to add another player. However, Boston is optimistic Brown will return soon, which would make the team ineligible for the hardship provision.
They can draft Michael Porter Jr with the Lakers pick and sit him out next year. The redshirt pipeline never stops!
Porter won’t last to the 10th pick. He’s going top 5, likely top 3.
I don’t see porter going 3. He’ll definitely drop. I think missing almost the entire year hurt his stock tremendously
How did that work out for Irving? He missed nearly the whole season and was still drafted number 1 overall…
Hopefully, that pick goes to the Celtics and they get Bagley. Tatum and Bagley for Fultz. Sounds good to me.
Kenly0 Why would the Celtics ever do that deal
He is saying that’s what the BOS-PHI trade last year would amount to.
wow
I’m just interested to see who the 76ers take with whatever pick they have, and it’ll be more interesting if they somehow finish with the top pick. They don’t need a big with Embiid there (the insurance would be nice in case he gets hurt, his recent extension complicates that). They don’t need a ball-handler with Simmons there. I don’t imagine them giving up on Fultz yet so a “point guard” seems unlikely either. They could use someone at the 2 or 3/4 (depending on where you want to place Simmons), but Ayton, Bamba, and Bagley seem unlikely since they are all primarily 5s.
The Sixers wasted a #1 pick on a PG they didn’t need. The fact that he can’t shoot makes it even worse, since his trade value is next to nil.
Yup. Fire Colangelo. Now. Just do it. Send his dumb conventional idiocy somewhere else.
Bagley’s not a Center
Since when? He is at Duke!