With a little work, Fox thinks he can prove people wrong

CAMDEN, N.J. » He wasn’t part of the Malik Monk hype earlier in the week, and wouldn’t stick around long enough to be part of the Markelle Fultz Saturday night show at the Sixers’ practice facility on the waterfront.

De’Aaron Fox arrived earlier in the day, put his work in, then talked about proving people wrong.

The Kentucky guard thinks his one season there could have been better. He also thinks people should be paying a little to him.

“I felt good coming in, just attack the workout,” Fox said after he put on his own little show before the Sixers’ brass and coach Brett Brown. “Just show that I am able to shoot the ball, hit free throws, play the pick-and-roll and defend. Just kind of come in here and show my whole arsenal.

“I felt like it went well. I came here early this morning. I got in exercise. Just doing things that I did at Kentucky and just trying to show that I’m better than what people think.”

Of course, Fox then had to explain why he thought some people didn’t think more attention much of him.

“There are some people, but everyone has critics,” he said. “You could be the best player in the world; LeBron (James) has critics. Just show people, prove people wrong. I can’t really do that until I am drafted and get in the NBA. I’m just working, getting better and perfecting my craft.”

Even Fox knows some work to do game.

“I really shot well in high school, then struggled this past year at Kentucky, but I don’t know,” he said. “I just wasn’t making shots, then it started coming on at the end of the season. I kind of he on has his kept the same routine, kept getting in the gym. Getting my repetition and at the end of the season, it was just clicking. So I credit that for just staying in the gym. Sometimes, your shot isn’t going to fall, but toward the end, it started.

“I didn’t worry too much about it because I was getting to the rim whenever I wanted. I was making free throws. So that aspect of my game, as it came, I went along with it.”

Fox said he feels that with a little work, he could fit in with a team like the Sixers, the thinking being that he has a more well-rounded game than perhaps others might have.

“I can work without the ball,” he said. “I did it in high school. I didn’t do it much at Kentucky. I was pretty ball dominant at Kentucky, but I can do it. Actually, one thing people don’t know is me and Ben (Simmons) were actually on teams at LeBron’s camp. It was like my sophomore year, his junior year. So I’ve played with him before.”