Not a ‘smart’ idea to start Fultz
Brett Brown says top draft pick likely to come off bench
From the moment he was selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the last NBA draft, into training camp and through the preseason, Markelle Fultz has made one promise: To accept whatever role the 76ers feel is best.
That role, Brett Brown indicated after practice Sunday at the Sixers’ training center, will not be as a starting guard.
“I don’t believe so,” Brown said. And because the lineups are Brown’s decision, that means Fultz will begin his career as a backup when the Sixers open their regular season Wednesday night in Washington.
As recently as the start of the preseason, Brown and the Sixers were enthused about using the last two top overall draft picks together in the backcourt, with both Fultz and Ben Simmons having opportunity to handle point-guard responsibilities. But after starting the first preseason game, Fultz was troubled by knee and shoulder issues and played in only one more exhibition, Oct. 9 in Boston.
Fultz did practice fully Sunday and will be available for the Wizards game. For the opener, Brown is expected to stick with the lineup that started in a 11995 victory over the Miami Heat in the preseason finale in Kansas City: Joel Embiid, Robert Covington, J.J. Redick, Jerryd Bayless and Simmons.
“At the end of the day, it’s
what you do when you are out there on the floor,” Fultz said Sunday, “whether that’s 30 seconds or the whole game.”
Fultz started and played 23 minutes of a 110-89 loss to visiting Memphis in the preseason opener, shooting 2-for-13, including 0-for-3 from three-point range. He missed the second preseason game with an “illness,” with Brown stressing that every player on what was still a deep training camp roster would be given the occasional night off.
Fultz was improved in Game 3 when, in a bench role, he shot 5-for-11 in 24 minutes of a 113-96 loss to the Celtics. He did not play in either of the last two games.
Brown didn’t necessarily bristle when pressed on his decision to make Fultz a bench player, but he made a quick preemptive strike against the notion that it was connected to the rookie’s exhibition-game boxscore lines.
“He hasn’t played,” Brown said. “He hasn’t played much basketball in the preseason. He hasn’t been with our group. The decision is, ‘Do you put him in right away and have him start against NBA defensive players with the foundation that he has?’ I don’t think that’s smart.”
“Anything you do in life, you try to get better, in school, anything. And that’s what I am trying to do. I am getting better. I am breaking some habits that I had before and getting in the gym and working at it.” — Markelle Fultz
Brown has spent the offseason in a professional jam, insisting that the Sixers’ goal is to make the playoffs, yet realizing it remains his job to develop young players, particularly Fultz, the 19-year-old who played one season at the University of Washington. The coach’s apparent decision to surround Simmons with veterans Bayless and Redick in a three-guard set is a hint that victories, not development, have emerged as his leading mission.
“We’ll all figure this out,” Brown said. “You have a plan in your head. And it’s deviated from the summer, lots of it from his injuries and lack of availability. But we’ll all sort of see how I use him and how he uses himself. And it will all be driven out of, ‘How do we develop him?’”
That development was in the plan when Brown started Fultz in Game 1. That changed.
“He didn’t play,” he was injured. “Well that’s a good starting point then.”
Fultz, though, is fully healthy.
“But he’s just come back after several days off and not with the team,” Brown said, adding, “I hear your question.”
While Fultz believes his questionable 7-for-24 preseason shooting was connected to his sore shoulder, he believes he will show improvement.
“It’s getting better, day to day,” he said. “Anything you do in life, you try to get better, in school, anything. And that’s what I am trying to do. I am getting better. I am breaking some habits that I had before and getting in the gym and working at it.”
Brown was clear that the only way for him to develop Fultz is to, “play him,” and he intends to do that in regular-season games beginning Wednesday.
Fultz, who comes from Upper Marlboro, Md., in the D.C. area, says he is ready for the chance.
“Oh, yeah, I think I’m good,” he said. “I think both sitting out and playing, I learned a lot. Just sitting on the bench being able to watch the plays, I was able to see stuff at all of the positions that I probably wouldn’t see if I was on the court. I feel good.”