Through much of the preseason and the first few games of the season, there has been plenty of dialogue around the altered free throw shot form of Philadelphia 76ers rookie guard Markelle Fultz.
It has gotten to the point to where it has been a huge part of the criticism for his early-season shooting struggles. Following Monday's win over the Detroit Pistons, Fultz finally addressed the situation as he described as being a temporary thing due to injury, according to Dan Feldman of Pro Basketball Talk.
After answering a few questions about his shot, Fultz himself brought up that he’s aware of all the “rumors” about his free throws. Sounding comfortable and confident – working against a popular theory that he has the yips – Fultz explained a shoulder injury is still hindering him. As soon as his shoulder heals, he’ll return to the form he used at Washington, where he made 65% of his free throws.
The 19-year-old had previously referenced a shoulder injury leading to him changing up his shooting form over the last couple of weeks. His shot choice through the first four games has backed up that notion as he hasn't taken a shot further than 14 feet away from the basket.
On top of that, Fultz's agent Raymond Brothers revealed to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN that it is a shoulder injury that required fluid to get drained out in order to help alleviate the situation.
“Markelle had a shoulder injury and fluid drained out of the back of his shoulder,” agent Raymond Brothers told ESPN. “He literally cannot raise up his arms to shoot the basketball. He decided to try and fight through the pain to help the team. He has a great attitude. We are committed to finding a solution to get Markelle back to 100 percent.”
There has also been no decision made about Fultz missing time due to the injury at this point, but it's clear it's much more than what's been publicly let on. He had his shoulder drained prior to the start of the regular season last week that caused him to miss some preseason action.
All of this has made it certainly for the 76ers to monitor closely over the next few weeks if things don't improve with the injury.
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