There’s a Chick-fil-A joke to be made here, but I’m not going to do it.

There is a very good possibility that 3-4 years from now, when Markelle Fultz is selected to his second All-Star team, we will look back at this weird start as a mere blip on the radar. Plenty of NBA stars have been late to develop, added a skill, or simply needed more seasoning before turning the corner.

However, Markelle Fultz’s shot is currently broken, and that is a problem because what separated Fultz from his peers in the draft was his ability to score from all three levels. Without a shot, Fultz is not the player the Sixers drafted. Not even close. He’s more like De’Aaron Fox, but only not as quick and athletic, and perhaps without the same motor. And if you’ll recall, Fox wasn’t a fit because the Sixers already have a ballhandler without a jump shot in Ben Simmons, who is good enough in other regards to have a successful career without fully developing a reliable jumper (if he does, look TF out). Fultz was worth the risk to move up precisely because he possessed all the skills the Sixers were looking for. He was the guard they needed, and he just happened to be the most talented player in the draft. But all of that is built around him being a reliable outside scoring threat. He doesn’t have to be a lights-out three-point shooter, but he needs to be consistent. It’s imperative that he’s a good shooter.

Right now, he’s not. He’s the furthest thing from it.

Why?

The Sixers have been wishy-washy in communicating what’s going on. Two weeks ago, Brett Brown told our own Kevin that we were all making too much of the shot thing. Last week, he admitted that shoulder soreness was impacting Fultz’s free throw form. And now teammates make it seem as though Fultz could be inside his own head:

This is a problem, but we’re not sure which problem it is.

Here’s the choose your own adventure version:

If it’s an injury problem and Fultz’s shoulder is more hurt than the Sixers are letting on, then skip to color BLUE.

If Fultz has more soreness than he’s telling team doctors, then skip to color RED.

If Fultz or the team decided to jack with his unbroken shot in an effort to make it even better, then skip to color WHITE.

 

BLUE

WHY IS HE STILL PLAYING? Sit him until it gets better. We’ll all be annoyed, but will ultimately understand.

 

RED

This requires honesty, Holmes. The same way the Sixers have reached an understanding with Embiid that he’ll be honest about how he’s feeling– they have to get that from their number one draft pick. The shoulder is supposedly structurally fine (we think?), so that usually means playing through pain won’t do any damage, but if it’s enough to crater the confidence of a young player, it’s not worth it. Fultz should acknowledge he’s in pain and tell the team doctors.

 

WHITE

This is where I think the truth lies. Perhaps the shoulder injury impacted Fultz to a degree, but obviously there’s a whole bunch of tinkering going on with his shot, either because the team is trying to undo whatever Fultz did over the summer, or so they can improve his stroke from the free throw line.

A YouTube shot coach does a good job of explaning why they might want to do that:

https://youtu.be/xQE3X7u9rlg

In short, Fultz never had a good free throw stroke and it needs to be rebuilt for the NBA.

What the video leaves out, though, is the admission that Fultz entered camp with a changed shot. It may not have been the Sixers who initiated the changes and that they’re left to pick up the pieces.

Remember, it’s the shot that separated Fultz from even Lonzo Ball. Again, this is just a YouTube video, but check the part about Fultz having a better release point for the NBA:

Without a shot, Fultz is not who we thought he was. Not only does it limit his scoring ability from the outside, but it also limits his ability to get into the paint since defenders don’t need to respect the shot. And the one thing he does appear to excel at, getting to the line, which he’s done 12 times in three games (somehow shooting at a 50% clip, which seems higher than it should), is hurt by the fact that he struggles shooting free-throws. Everything for Fultz is built around his ability to be a scorer at all three levels.

He’ll most likely figure out whatever is eating him. But make no mistake, for this to work and for him to be deserving of the number one pick, he has to figure it out.