Fultz ready to take his best shot

76ers need impact from second-year player

CAMDEN, N.J. » Before he could retrieve his jump shot, Markelle Fultz realized he first had to recover his confidence. Or was it the other way around? Did his shot go missing last season because he lacked selfassurance? Or did he leak confidence once his shooting form deteriorated into something of shotput tutorial?

“Everybody knows what happened last year,” Fultz said Friday, a day before the opening of the Sixers’ training camp. “So this summer was just about me working to get my mechanics back, my confidence back, my swagger back.”

Some knew what happened last season, when Fultz, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 draft, did a 67-game injured-list shift to correct a malfunction in his shooting shoulder. At least that’s how it was advertised. But he came back to play the final 10 regular-season games and three in the playoffs, jacking up a total of one threepoint shot. And after a 1-for-8 shooting start to his postseason, Brett Brown stopped putting him in the game at all.

So he was healthy enough to play. But his shot was not falling. And by the offseason, even Fultz’ personal coach, Drew Hanlen, was quoted as saying the guard had the “yips” last season, a hint that the shooting percentage had a deeper explanation than the shoulder malfunction.

“I think that was a mis-term of words,” Fultz said. “But me and Drew have talked. What happened last year was an injury. Let me get that straight. It was an injury that happened that didn’t allow me to go through a certain path that I needed to shoot the ball. And just like any normal person, when you are used to doing

WINSLOW TOWNSON — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Philadelphia 76ers guard Markelle Fultz controls the ball during the first quarter of a preseason NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics in Boston. Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown is expecting more out of guards Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz this season. The guards failed to hit a 3-pointer last season. Brown says the duo will have to be better from long range this season.