Once Markelle Fultz returns to game action, what do you think his role and production will be for the Philadelphia 76ers?
Jalen Rose: The amazing thing about the entire discussion surrounding the 76ers and trusting the process clearly applauds the potential greatness of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. What isn't discussed are the misses like Michael Carter-Williams, Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor. The hope is that Fultz doesn't fall in the latter category when you see how many rookies are performing so well. Just imagine the 76ers' front line had they drafted Jayson Tatum instead.
I anticipate him moving, cutting and playing off the ball while Simmons remains the primary ball handler. Fultz will most likely be coming off screens and spotting up for catch-and-shoot opportunities in the half court and transition. I don't anticipate him being a fantasy star from the beginning.
Kyle Soppe: Some rookies are good fantasy assets until proven otherwise while others need to earn our optimism: Fultz is very much the latter. While that doesn't mean he can't develop into a nice player, it does mean that I'm less likely to invest heavily in him until we see him prove it. In his four games (75 minutes of action), Fultz did not take a shot outside of 16 feet and very much looked uncomfortable at the NBA level ... nothing wrong with that for a 19-year-old kid, but we are in the production business and I'm not sure he has a clear route toward giving us what we need.
It is my belief that the 76ers view Simmons as their primary building block and are approaching building an offense around him similar to what teams have done around LeBron James and load up on court-stretching options. While Fultz may be able to create opportunities, he can't stretch the floor even a little bit right now, so I don't see a great fantasy ceiling in 2018. I mean, maybe he's T.J. McConnell, but with more 2-point buckets offsetting the occasionally triple that McConnell hits? That's not much optimism, as Fultz is rostered in nearly four times as many leagues as McConnell right now. I'll pass for this season and use the next couple of months as an evaluation period.
Jim McCormick: Fultz's eventual role in Philly's rotation will likely include taking a good bit of Jerryd Bayless's workload -- he's averaged 23 minutes and seven shots over the past eight games -- while moving Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot out of the rotation.
As a fan of the team, I envision an ideal outcome as Fultz approximating the efficient shot creation that earned him so much praise at Washington. As someone who has worked in sports reporting in Philadelphia over the past decade, I have a few pals who currently work the Sixers' beat and the current word is the rookie's jump shot remains troublingly inconsistent via practice snippets; thus a realistic expectation might be for Fultz to approach the shooting rates Dennis Smith Jr. has posted for Dallas amid a somewhat disappointing rookie campaign. For some context, Smith is shooting 39.4 percent from the field while hitting roughly a third of his 3-point attempts and is 43rd among point guards on the Player Rater when sorting by averages.
I am good with speculating on Fultz as a fantasy free agent in leagues of at least 12 teams to see if the potent pull-up offense he created in college and in the Utah summer league can resurface, but wouldn't rush to make space for him in 10-team formats. I still believe in Fultz's unique ability to create his own shot and would buy low in dynasty and keeper leagues, but think this season could continue to prove frustrating.
Joe Kaiser: Full disclosure here: I'm a Washington Huskies alum and watched Fultz play a lot in his one season of college. I know how great he was as a freshman in the Pac-12 last season. I saw why he was the No. 1 pick in the 2017 NBA draft.
That being said, at this point I think it's fair to wonder what is really going on with Fultz, and if it goes beyond the mysterious shoulder injury and involves some sort of other condition then it's difficult to expect the rookie to accomplish much on the court this season ... whenever he comes back. He's completely off my fantasy radar at this time, and when he returns I don't expect him to do much while playing around 15-20 minutes off the bench. It would take a complete turnaround in not only his body language and form on his broken jump shot, but also a 180-degree change in his confidence as well.