Jimmy Butler makes the NBA mountain Markelle Fultz must climb a whole lot steeper

https://sports.yahoo.com/jimmy-butler-makes-nba-mountain-markelle-fultz-must-climb-whole-lot-steeper-014057199.html



Jimmy Butler makes the NBA mountain Markelle Fultz must climb a whole lot steeper



Ben RohrbachYahoo SportsNov 13, 2018, 5:40 PM
Yahoo Sports



Philadelphia 76ers guard Markelle Fultz is left alone to his own shooting devices. (Getty Images)




The Philadelphia 76ers began the season trying to strike a balance with Markelle Fultz, starting the former No. 1 overall pick to help rebuild his confidence and moving him to the bench after halftime in an effort to actually win games. It took a month for the business of basketball to win in a landslide.

The Sixers pulled the trigger on a trade that sent Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Jerryd Bayless and a second-round pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for All-Star wing Jimmy Butler over the weekend. It is a move that raised expectations for everyone in Philadelphia, except Fultz, who fell to a new low.

Publicly, the organization has not given up on Fultz, whose mental response to a physical shoulder ailment resulted in a broken jump shot and a waste of a rookie season after the franchise traded two lottery picks to select him first in the 2018 NBA draft. Sixers coach Brett Brown has spent a year honing his responses to incessant press conference questions on the subject, and this week was no different:

“It’s so much deeper than, like, the responsibility of being the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers in 2018,” Brown said when asked about it in the wake of the Butler trade, per ESPN.com’s Tim Bontemps. “It’s growing him and his confidence and his spirit and his game, and helping him navigate through a completely bizarre period earlier in his life, where he’s trying to get through injury and figure it all out. That’s on my mind more than, ‘Do I play him 18 minutes or 12 minutes?’ It’s not that at all. It’s not that at all.

“And, so, along this path, we’ll figure this out together.”

Reading between the lines, though, Fultz has never been more alone as an NBA player.

Questions about his mental and physical condition resurfaced on Monday, when he double-clutched a free throw in the ugliest example of just how broken his jumper is. This was compounded by the news that he and shot doctor Drew Hanlen “are no longer working together or on speaking terms,” a development that occurred somewhere between Hanlen telling Yahoo Sports, “He’s going to figure it out,” and the trainer tweeting (and deleting) the suggestion that Fultz is still batting a shoulder injury.

Butler’s arrival surely ends the experiment of starting Fultz, no matter how coy Brown played when questioned about the expected lineup change. J.J. Redick’s shooting is catered to playing alongside three top-20 players who need space to create and aren’t as exceptional at creating it for each other.

Landry Shamet and Furkan Korkmaz offer similar benefits to lesser degrees, and T.J. McConnell is likely a better change-of-pace backup point guard than Fultz at this point. Rookie Zhaire Smith, battling an odd allergy of his own (this one to sesame seeds instead of shooting), will surely be heard from again.

The hole Fultz has been digging himself out of almost since the moment he was drafted just caved in on him. The Sixers can’t willingly accept on-court growing pains from Fultz any longer, not while they’re also trying to incorporate Butler into what they already expected would be a Finals-contending team. Fultz will have to shovel his way out of this on his own, earning playing time based on his ability rather than his draft status, and even if he reaches flat ground by the time Butler signs an extension with the Sixers, the role the franchise carved out for him if and when he was ever ready for it is gone.

You could almost hear it in new Philly general manager Elton Brand’s response — and the lengthy pause before it — to questions about Fultz’s status post-Butler trade, via the Inquirer’s Sarah Todd:

“I still think it’s the best place for him to develop because we love him and we care. He’s with us. He’s a part of us. If he goes somewhere else, I don’t know what that looks like. But for him to develop, it may be the best place for him still.”

That is one heck of a non-committal response from the GM of a team that drafted the 20-year-old with a No. 1 pick just 17 months ago. (We should point out that Brand was not calling the shots when the Sixers traded the pick that became Jayson Tatum and Sacramento’s 2019 first-round pick for Fultz.)

Unless Fultz becomes a floor-spacing threat instead of the player who has taken seven shots outside 15 feet (and made one) in seven games since the calendar turned to November, he doesn’t fit with Philadelphia’s triumvirate of stars. If the Sixers re-sign Butler and Simmons to max extensions in the next two summers, as they are now expected to, that transformation is the only path forward for Fultz in Philadelphia between now and the time Brand must decide on his future. The clock started ticking the moment they acquired Butler, and NBA pressure has been enough on Fultz without a timer.

It can’t help that Butler — the 29-year-old established star who embodies everything the Sixers wished they had drafted in Fultz (a player who can both complement and spell Ben Simmons) — is openly discussing the mental state of the player whose playing time and investment he just took.

“He is a talented young player,” Butler told reporters at his introductory press conference on Tuesday. “From what I can tell, a lot of things are mental. In this league, 90 percent is mental. If you think you can do something, you can. I know some of the people who know him and they tell me how great he wants to be. So, as long as he’s going hard and giving his all every day, the guy has my respect.”

We found out in Minnesota how Butler treats young players who don’t grind the way he demands, and you can be sure he won’t hold Fultz’s hand the same way the Sixers have this last year. The balance has shifted in Philadelphia, and a weight has been added to Fultz’s already burdened shoulders.



bob



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And we were inches away from picking him....

db

dbrown4 wrote:And we were inches away from picking him....

db

db,

"We", as in you and me and a lot of other people, were inches away.  Danny?  Not with a 10' pole.  It's hard reading that sphinx but his body language with Fultz wasn't good.  He took him to Chipotles for lunch, talk about a cheap date.  The two of them stood there and stared up at the menu board above them.  




Danny has that freaking menu memorized because he eats there 4x/week.  He gets free meals at Chipotles and has his own card.


 

And yet he was staring at the menu board and not at what would be one of his biggest draft day decisions, the consensus #1 pick Markelle Fultz or trade down or trade for a veteran.


bob



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gyso wrote:I feel sorry for the young man, I really do.

At the same time, I do not feel sorry for the team.  After the obvious multi-season unpunished by the league tank job, anything that goes wrong with the 6ers is alright by me.

gyso

gyso

It certainly is one strange case. The Celtics dodged a bullet. How can a guy with so much swag turn into a mental case.

Philly and their tanking process was like trying to cheat the hangman. I remember all the intense debates that went on here about tanking and I am very happy to be a fan of a team that will not tank. In the end the rebuild that Danny orchestrated could very well serve as a template.

The Sixers have been in a state of denial. The fans have lost confidence in Fultz. The Sixers cannot just throw him under the bus because they will need to bolster his value down the road when they trade him. To admit a mistake of this magnitude is unlikely to happen. To miss on drafting a wing like Tatum which was a clear need and giving Boston another 1st round pick for a guy that plays like he just picked up a basketball for the first time is a blunder of historic proportions.

A lot of speculation in this story.

Time will tell if Fultz is a work in progress or a bust, but it doesn't look promising right now.

On the other hand, with or without contributions from Fultz, the 6ers are putting together a good looking roster. The East keeps getting better. The Celtics are not the only ones with some serious upside.

He's only 20 years old - Lets see how things pan out over the next 3 or 4 years.

swish

swish wrote:He's only 20 years old - Lets see how things pan out over the next 3 or 4 years.

   swish

I am sure glad that Boston is not the team that has to wait for that to happen.

A bit early to tell, but the Sixers as an organization have mishandled LOTS of players before Fultz.

Andrew Bynum was a disaster. Gutted the roster and then never gave them much of anything.
Joel Embiid lost two seasons (and played one on minutes restrictions) due to poor medical decisions.
Jahil Okafor one poorly managed one injury after another
Ben Simmons Drafted first - played on broken foot in pre season and missed whole rookie season.
Nerlens Noel high draft pick - that missed whole rookie season and they traded for peanuts a year later.

Then add the whole Colangelo Twitter scandal.

Just generally a really poorly run organization, so not surprised.

dboss wrote:

swish wrote:He's only 20 years old - Lets see how things pan out over the next 3 or 4 years.

   swish

I am sure glad that Boston is not the team that has to wait for that to happen.

dboss

Huge edge to the Celts right now - but who knows for sure what the future has in store for the two of them.

swish

Swish you are right about that except you did not mention the yet to be determined 1st rounder from the Kings. Seems the deck is stacked against Fultz unless he has an amazing turnaround and even then Tatum looks like the best player.

That Sacto pick is not looking very good right now. It is always interesting to look at draft picks down the road to see if they actually lived up to expectations. The Celtics have 4 1st rounders in play but at present none of them will make your toes curl up.

gyso wrote:I feel sorry for the young man, I really do.

At the same time, I do not feel sorry for the team.  After the obvious multi-season unpunished by the league tank job, anything that goes wrong with the 6ers is alright by me.

gyso

Ditto

If Fultz actually holds the ball like seen in the photo at the very beginning of this thread when he prepares to shoot there is no wonder that he cannot shoot well.

His shooting hand (right hand) wrist has far too much bend and his guide hand (left hand) has his fingers on top of the ball.  Watch any other NBA player shoot or watch some shooting instruction video and you will not ever see this technique anywhere.

I have never seen a guy shoot well when he has to corkscrew his hand into shooting position. Little kids sometimes do this to add some power to their shots, but Fultz is a full grown man with NBA athletic ability.   All shooters initiate a shot with the heel of their shooting hand facing directly at the basket.  And, good shooters never have to push the ball up through their fingers of their guide hand.  The ball just kind of fades away from the shooter's guide hand fingers as the ball is shot by the shooting hand.

Just seeing this kid hold the ball like he is in the mentioned picture makes me want to cry for him.

Every coach who has ever worked with this guy to date has completely cheated him if this is what they have taught or allowed.

wideclyde wrote:If Fultz actually holds the ball like seen in the photo at the very beginning of this thread when he prepares to shoot there is no wonder that he cannot shoot well.

His shooting hand (right hand) wrist has far too much bend and his guide hand (left hand) has his fingers on top of the ball.  Watch any other NBA player shoot or watch some shooting instruction video and you will not ever see this technique anywhere.

I have never seen a guy shoot well when he has to corkscrew his hand into shooting position. Little kids sometimes do this to add some power to their shots, but Fultz is a full grown man with NBA athletic ability.   All shooters initiate a shot with the heel of their shooting hand facing directly at the basket.  And, good shooters never have to push the ball up through their fingers of their guide hand.  The ball just kind of fades away from the shooter's guide hand fingers as the ball is shot by the shooting hand.

Just seeing this kid hold the ball like he is in the mentioned picture makes me want to cry for him.

Every coach who has ever worked with this guy to date has completely cheated him if this is what they have taught or allowed.

Maybe just get him one of those training balls with the hand print outlines on them.

Maybe Danny can pick him up for a 2nd rounder.