Markelle Fultz tweaked his jump shot and it’s causing concern

The Sixers had an open scrimmage over the weekend, and one of the big storylines was that Ben Simmons looked dominant (and while Joel Embiid danced around the court he did not play).

But watch the video and you notice something else — Jerryd Bayless and other Sixers defenders played off No. 1 pick, Markelle Fultz. I mean way off. As in “I dare you to shoot that jumper” off. Fultz shot 41.3 percent from three in college, he should be a threat from the NBA arc, at least enough for defenders to respect him out there. So why is Fultz getting the Rajon Rondo/Tony Allen treatment from teammates?

Fultz tweaked his jump shot and free throw stroke over the summer and it has raised some concerns. Brett Brown said he was not comfortable with it, as reported by David Murphy of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“No (he’s not comfortable with it), and so we’re gonna get back on track. His heart is in the right place. All by himself, he pivoted out over the summer and tried to make it better and tweak it, and he’s in a place right now where we’re gonna try to remind him where his shot was and try to bring that back into probably more a tighter shot, bring his release point down a little bit, bring the ball closer to his body. We have a Team Markelle all around him to help him, and he’s gonna be just fine.”

Fultz seems to have worked on a quicker release from a higher release point, but it’s not where it needs to be yet.

It’s a concern because when Fultz and Simmons share the court Fultz will work primarily off the ball, and he will need to show he’s a good spot-up shooter. This is from Brown again, talking to Jessica Camerato at NBC Sports Philadelphia.

“His percentages revealed that he’s a more-than-capable shooter,” Brown said. “I think right now him trying to figure out how to not overcomplicate things and maybe make over something that didn’t need to be made over as much as he might of thought is a challenge.”

Fultz also changed his free throw stroke.

Interesting how dramatically different Markelle Fultz's FT stroke looks here compared to @ UW (65%). Has lowered release point considerably. pic.twitter.com/6REIFX0qtR

— Mike Schmitz (@Mike_Schmitz) September 28, 2017

Fultz is a 19-year-old rookie who is going to have ups and downs, and that includes with his shot. There will be streaks and slumps. There also is a lot of time to work on the weaknesses in his game — even the ones that are self-inflicted. I doubt this is a long-term problem, but it’s all something to watch.