Brown indicates Fultz’s return is now up to Fultz
PHILADELPHIA » Brett Brown has said recently that, soon enough, the Sixers must make a decision on whether to activate Markelle Fultz again this season.
And Brown has been saying recently that his most immediate, pressing regular-season goal at this point is to secure a home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
So … would winning that first-round, home-court edge so complete Brown’s late-season checklist that, at that point, experimentation is more likely?
Are the Sixers waiting until the regular-season games have such relative insignificance to toss Fultz in, just to work up a sweat … and throw the fans into one?
Is one connected other?
“I understand the question,” Brown said Saturday, before a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. “And, no, it isn’t. It’s not that the playoff berth will trigger a bunch of other things that will make it easier for him to come back. It isn’t that at all. They are not interconnected.”
Fultz, the No. 1 overall pick in the last draft, played four early games as a rookie, then was shelved while undergoing what the Sixers have called “right shoulder rehabilitation.” Saturday, he missed his 68th consecutive game. With their recent history revealing a quick willingness to shut young players down, it has been odd that the Sixers have refused to declare Fultz out for the rest of the season.
Fultz has been shooting better in rare, no-defense, pregame exercises and appears fit. And Brown has said he is anxious to coach the 6-4 guard, possibly soon. But while the Sixers have hinted strongly at it, Brown was even clearer Saturday: Fultz will play only when to the he announces that he wants to play. Asked specifically Saturday if Fultz’s OK is where any return will begin, Brown replied, “Yes.” “Yes.”
With only 10 regular-season games to play, Fultz is running low on time to make that declaration. Technically, he could play in the playoffs, though that likely would only be in an emergency situation, were another Sixer to be injured. Even then, he might not be sufficiently seasoned to be a benefit.
Even with that clock about to expire, Brown does not know when Fultz will nod his approval to return to uniform.
Fultz has chosen not to speak publicly about his situation.
“Like I have said to everybody, we understand that the end of the regular season is close,” Brown said. “Every time we speak, it gets a little bit shrunk. But in relation to an exact date, that hasn’t happened.”
Brown dismissed one theory about the Sixers’ hesitance to scratch Fultz, denying that it is a way to encourage him to continue working toward a return, even if there will not be one until next season.
“No,” the coach said. “There is no clandestine, conspiracytheory motive. You know what I know. It’s fluid. It’s just something that when Markelle Fultz feels like he can go, when he really feels good about himself and his health, the shoulder, everything, and the medical people support that, he knows he has a coaching staff and a team that will welcome him in when he says, ‘go.’”
“He also understands the end of the season is around the corner. But that’s where it is at. I have nothing new to tell anybody.”
Brown believes Fultz is close to NBA readiness.
“I think he is quite close,” Brown said. “I think if we all watch the video, we would agree with that. But I don’t know.”