Markelle Fultz‘s NBA career is off to an unusual start. After playing through shoulder pain for the first few games of the regular season, Fultz has been shut down by the Sixers for at least the next three contests after comments made by his agent to ESPN.
Given how cautions the Sixers have been in recent years with top picks, it’s fair to wonder why Fultz was on the court at all to start the year. However, as Jessica Camerato of NBC Sports Philadelphia relays, president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo insists there’s no structural damage to Fultz’s shoulder and that he was medically cleared to play.
Colangelo also suggested that Fultz’s shoulder pain may have been caused by the changes the rookie made to his shot mechanics, a hypothesis rejected by Fultz’s trainer, Keith Williams. Speaking to Sam Amick of USA Today, Williams stressed that the Sixers guard altered his jump shot as a way of coping with his shoulder pain, and that there would have been no reason to change his mechanics otherwise.
It’s an odd situation, one that Derek Bodner of The Athletic spent more than 3,500 words trying to sort out. In Bodner’s view, the statements from the Sixers and from Fultz’s camp don’t make sense unless there are nuggets of truth on both sides — perhaps the No. 1 overall pick slightly altered his shooting mechanics and his shoulder issue made things worse, forcing further changes to his form.
While we wait to see if Fultz can get healthy and recover his jump shot, let’s round up a few more Atlantic notes…
- Acquiring Eric Bledsoe would be a classic Knicks move, and that’s not a good thing, argues Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. Deveney, who says a trade for Bledsoe would be ill-advised, suggests the club appears satisfied to be patient with its rebuild and avoid a deal for now.
- Without Carmelo Anthony on the roster to provide “automatic offense,” the Knicks are struggling this season to adjust to Jeff Hornacek‘s new, post-triangle offense, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post.
- In a separate article for The New York Post, Berman explores what Willy Hernangomez has to do to get back into the Knicks‘ rotation. Berman also notes that Joakim Noah will certainly have a role when he returns from his suspension, further crowding the frontcourt picture.
- Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca takes an in-depth look at Delon Wright‘s path to the NBA and has development into a reliable bench player for the Raptors. As Grange notes, Toronto’s confidence in Wright – who will be extension-eligible in the 2018 offseason – allowed the team to trade backup point guard Cory Joseph to Indiana this summer.