Philadelphia 76ers: Markelle Fultz is ‘close’ to returning
Philadelphia 76ers rookie Markelle Fultz is reportedly ‘close’ to returning; Brett Brown says it’s up to him whether he returns this season
The Philadelphia 76ers have been, over the last few weeks, one of the best teams in the NBA. Slowly, their young talent has begun to blossom into one of the most dangerous teams in the Eastern Conference.
Currently, the Sixers are a top 4 team in the East,12 games over .500 and just 1.5 games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third seed.
And as the NBA playoffs approach, there’s one secret weapon that could make the Sixers even more dangerous come mid-April and May.
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That’s none other than Markelle Fultz, who hasn’t played since the first month of the NBA season. The former first overall pick, is reportedly progressing well as he continues to recover from one of the strangest shoulder injuries in league history.
He’s progressed so well that Brett Brown believes that the rookie point guard is “close.” He also added that the decision to return is up to Fultz.
In other words, whenever Fultz believes he’s ready to play – whether that’s this season, in the playoffs or until next season – that’s when we’ll see Fultz again.
"[via NBA.com]“I think he is quite close,” Brown said Fultz, who has declined to speak to reporters. “I think if we’d all watch the video we’d all probably agree with that.”"
When he did play this season, Fultz never looked like himself. During his four regular season games played, Fultz averaged just six points on a putrid 33 percent shooting from the field. During Summer League, however, Fultz looked like a completely different player.
In three Summer League games, Fultz averaged 18 points on 41 percent shooting from the field. And while a good chunk of that could be attributed to more minutes and opportunity during Summer League, there’s no question that the Markelle Fultz that we saw in Summer League wasn’t the same Markelle Fultz that we saw at the beginning of the season.
Question is, is he finally healthy? And, if so, which Markelle Fultz will we see when he finally takes the court again?