You take the good, you take the bad. The bad? About a week ago, I mentioned that Markelle Fultz was working with NBA training guru Drew Hanlen, who had previously worked with Joel Embiid, Bradley Beal, Jayson Tatum, and Mo Bamba. In an appearance on the “Talking Schmidt Podcast“, Hanlen declared something that many have believed all along:

“Markelle Fultz had one of the most documented case of the yips of basketball in recent years.”

On a positive note, Hanlen noted that Fultz has made remarkable progress:

“He had forgotten how to shoot and he had multiple hitches in his shot. For me it was, “How do I get this kids who was #1 in last year’s draft back to where he was or better if not better? So, we’ve been working hard every day to rewire his body and get his stroke back in his shot. We’re way ahead of pace with where I thought we’d be. I thought it would take me six weeks before we had a serviceable jump shot. We already started to shoot with a jump in week 2. It’s not perfect yet, but I think by the end of the summer he’ll be perfect and showing why he was the #1 pick. Even though I do give him trouble on a daily basis and remind him that I think Jayson Tatum was the best player in that draft.

I knew [Fultz] because of Joel and work I’d done in Philly. Basically what I told him was, me being me, I said, “You’re going to make me really famous and you’re going to make me a lot of money when I fix your shot and could sell the program.” I said I can’t go down, because it can’t get worse. So, I said, “Give me a chance. Let me help you get back to where you were. He kind of laughed and nodded. I said, “Let’s do this for two reasons: 1. I wanna get you back rolling, kind of loving basketball and finding success. 2. I wanna be able to arrogantly tell everybody, ‘Yeah. That’s me right there. I fixed him.'”

I take this as a huge boost to Fultz’ stock. Lost in all of the LeBron/Kawhi/PG13 talk has been what a healthy, free-shooting Markelle Fultz could mean to this team moving forward.