5 reasons Washington Husky Markelle Fultz will thrive with Philadelphia 76ers

Markelle Fultz was a one and done with the Washington Huskies. He came, contributed, and cast his future into the NBA oceans. Here are five reasons why he will thrive as a Philadelphia 76er

Former Washington basketball star Markelle Fultz played a single season with the Washington Huskies. Then, as so many do, he aimed at the NBA. The initial belief was that, although coveted by Philadelphia as a perfect fit, Fultz was on a collision course to become the number one player selected in the 2017 NBA Draft.

Fortunately for both Fultz and Philadelphia, an 11th hour trade which sent the rights to draft first to the Philadelphia 76ers. The rest is history.

But an NBA team seldom trades up from three to one, unless there is a special value for the player. And such is the case with the special fit of Markelle Fultz to the needs of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Philadelphia fit forces focus to Fultz

Forward-focused-Philadelphia has gravitated towards big men with their top draft picks. From Nerlens Noel to Joel Embiid to Jahlil Okafor to Ben Simmons, the draft always seemed to produce the best value for the team with a big player.

Markelle Fultz comes in a 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds. He won’t be playing power forward for the 76ers anytime soon.  But will he be playing? You bet he will, right out of the gates.  But now for the moment of truth.  Five reasons why Markelle Fultz will thrive as a Philadelphia 76ers

1. Natural Talents on defense maximized
2. His off-ball ability creates offense triangle
3. He can drive the bus if needed
4. He puts small ball lineup into beastmode
5. He debuts with Ben Simmons

Now lets dive into each reason, shall we?

1. Natural Talents on defense maximized

The Washington Basketball team did not overly emphasize defense, particularly not with the offensive salvo applied by Markelle Fultz for the Huskies. The idea was deflect the opponent offense, and score more often.

That didn’t work very well in the wins-losses outcomes.

But the impact of less defensive strategy placed the defensive skillsets of Markelle Fultz into question.  He is fine at defense, and has a natural ability with his burst speed, instincts to the game, and lightning fast hands. Now he will be tested often on his defense.

Brown is defense sensai

Ah, but unbeknownst to some is the fact that Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown loves defense.

Markelle Fultz’s defense will be a work in process this season. But he will be starting from a good spot, and his training will happen at the hands of one of the best coaches in the league.

2. His off-ball ability creates offense triangle

Whenever Markelle Fultz is on the basketball court, his gears are whirring in the direction of how to score. And scoring is how teams win games, after all.  But Fultz is somewhat unique in this field of NBA rookie talent, in that he has incredible talent with the ball as a point guard. But he can excel just as readily without the ball moving to his “spot” on the court and awaiting a feed from the point man.

That point man happens to be Ben Simmons, one of the most innovative ball distributors in the NBA.

So we can expect the team to invest heavily in the transition game.  In short, that’s Markelle Fultz’s wheelhouse.

Fultz can fly and pass and score

Yes, the ball will be brought up the court by Simmons. But imagine the transition game of a quick pass to Fultz and then a quick pass to Joel Embiid (or Robert Covington or J.J. Redick) .  In short, the Philadelphia 76ers can pivot offensive plays off Simmons at the key, Embiid in the post, or Fultz practically anywhere else on the basketball court.

Markelle Fultz may be just one player. But he is not the only star of the Philadelphia 76ers. And as he learns how to set up the other players on the team, his own opportunities to score will magnify.

Team fits his strengths too

On one hand, he will have tremendous help at the post from Joel Embiid.  On the other hand, he will be set up beautifully by Ben Simmons. Furthermore, he will have shooting help at the perimeter from J.J. Redick. And finally, he will get plenty of help on defense from Robert Covington.

And then the bench will come in. Markelle Fultz is just one key to a championship team.

3. He can drive the bus if needed

Markelle Fultz manufactures his own shots. And he can play off-ball. But he can drive the offense as well. In fact, he can drive an offense very well. Unlike players who enter the NBA looking to score first, Fultz has the more mature perspective of how to best score as a team.

That means bringing the ball with a look to distribute it to an open shooter.

He loves to penetrate to the basket, draw in the defense, and then flip the ball out to the open shooter. Even as he scored 23.2 points, he tossed out 5.9 assists per game. Those are solid number on a team competing in the Pac-12.

Fultz was the featured scorer on the Washington Basketball team. But he drove assists anyways, because it gave his team the better scoring opportunity.

4. He puts small ball lineup into beastmode

The versatility of Markelle Fultz is his true NBA skillset. He is not slotted into a singular role, but rather can switch gears to exploit the situation. That type of versatility is deadly in a small ball lineup. Imagine the possibilities with the Philadelphia 76ers roster?

Busting Brackets

Adding Fultz gives the team better perimeter shooting, better opportunity for blocked shots, better opportunities to score, to generate assists, and to run a faster transition game.

Paired with virtually any other player on the team, and suddenly screens and pick and rolls become deadly effective.  So how does that small ball version look in 2017?

Well, our sister site at The Sixer Sense had a suggestion which looked like this:

2017 version of small ball

PG – Fultz
SG – Redick
SF–  Luwawu-Cabarrot
PF – Covington
C –   Simmons

Fultz in at point guard is defensive position only. While the offense would still run through Ben Simmons, the team ability to launch three-pointers is much better with the presence of Fultz and Redick.

If Dario Saric gets hot on threes, you can slide him in at the power forward slot.

After all, the idea is to create a lineup which can score a ton of points from three-point range to put pressure on the opponent.  Meanwhile, the faster bodies up the defensive pressure as well.

Look for a version of this in the upcoming season.

5. He debuts with Ben Simmons

The toughest part about being the top-picked rookie in the NBA is the tremendous level of scrutiny. For every promoting article, there is another queued up begging for that player to be a bust.

The best possible situation for Markelle Fultz played out. The Philadelphia 76ers called his name in the 2017 NBA Draft. Why is that the best situation? After all, the Philadelphia 76ers are not an historically good team.

Simply stated, he will not need to carry the team.  In fact, it’s best if he plays within his comfort zone initially.  The team debuts two top picks this year: Fultz and Simmons. It will be Simmons role to execute the team offense flawlessly. It will be Simmons role to push the ball to the open shooter.

Simple man, simple dream

Markelle N’Gai Fultz simply needs to defend, get open, and score. And he is very capable of all three talents. But the focus, the pressure, the media attention upon each play, each game, for all 82 games, is off.  There will be breathing room for the rookie from Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

The Philadelphia media can be tough. They have already focused upon Fultz’s shot mechanics in several featured stories.  By the way, the young man is 19 and the season has not started yet.

Next: Woof! SF Jamal Bey commits to 2018 Washington Basketball

But the true scrutiny will be deflected. The series of articles covering “Why trading for Markelle Fultz was not worth two first round picks” stories have been placed back into the file cabinet. There is simply too much going on with the 76ers to attract much attention to hypothetical situations.

Yes, Markelle Fultz, you are the ideal fit for the Philadelphia 76ers.  And the Philadelphia 76ers appear to be the ideal NBA team for a player of your caliber.