No news could be good news on Fultz shoulder
PHILADELPHIA >> No Markelle Fultz news is, well, neither good nor bad.
The second-year guard remained in New York to have his shoulder examined by a second round of experts, and mum was the word on a verdict, which was expected.
“We’re not going to know as much as we need to or are prepared to share right now because it’s so sort of not definitive until the end of the week,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said before Wednesday’s game with the Knicks. “I think that we said Friday that Elton (Brand, Sixers general manager) and the organization hopes to give information. It may not be Friday so I don’t want to be sort of pregnant with that day, but today there’s really nothing more to talk about.”
Fultz has missed the last three games since telling the team last week that he wasn’t going to practice or play until he had a resolution to his shoulder injury. Several of his teammates expressed support for the 2017 No. 1 overall draft pick after practice Tuesday.
Guard J.J. Redick said that he hoped Fultz gets healthy, and newly acquired swingman Jimmy Butler said the team had Fultz’s back. While there was no update on Fultz, there was news on firstround pick Zhaire Smith, who
has been out since having surgery in August to repair a Jones fracture in his left foot.
Brown said that Smith has been working out for the last week.
“It’s slow and it’s not anything that’s with us,” Brown said.
Brown said that Smith has been working out with an assistant coach late at night but did not give any timetable for when the 6-4 guard will return. The Sixers acquired the rights to Smith in a draft-night trade with the Phoenix Suns. The Sixers sent Villanova’s Mikal Bridges, who they had picked at No. 10, to Phoenix for Smith, the No. 16 choice in the 2018 draft, and a unprotected first-round pick in 2021.
Smith, who played his college ball at Texas Tech, averaged 7.7 points, 2.7 assists and 2.3 rebounds per game for the Sixers in the Vegas Summer League.
“My expectation at some point will be to integrate him a lot with the GLeague,” Brown said. “Let him practice and play and let him grow in that environment instead of kind of being stuck and a prisoner to this NBA thing where we don’t really practice that much nor will he play. But his path at the moment is something like that.”
Once again the subject of Ben Simmons’ jump shot, or lack thereof, came up prior to the game, and Brown was adamant that Simmons will develop a jumper in time.
“It will happen,” Brown said. “I think it’s going to happen more on his terms than the coaches’. He’s just got to feel comfortable. He didn’t really do it at LSU, either. He’s pretty good even without it. I do concede that he’s going to need it at some point, but I definitely don’t feel like it’s going to define him.”
NOTES >> The Sixers are in the midst of a three-game homestand. They host the Washington Wizards Friday (7 p.m.) and the Memphis Grizzlies Sunday (6 p.m.) before heading out on the road to take on the Raptors next Wednesday in Toronto. … Fultz and Smith weren’t the only players on the injured list. Jonah Bolden is still sidelined with a cortical crack in his right fibula. Center Justin Patton, acquired in the Jimmy Butler trade, is out following foot surgery.