Markelle Fultz Discussion

[Winejk]

You guys maybe tired hearing about Ball, but what irks me more actually are Mavs fans proclaiming that DSJ is a better player than Fultz that should've gone 1 or 2

Mavs fans may be right. DSJ is more explosive than Fultz. His game should flourish in the NBA. I wouldn't say it's outlandish for people to expect DSJ to be the better player.

I was on the DSJ bandwagon when I thought we were still picking at #3. If DSJ reaches his potential he is going to be a impactful player in the NBA. My question, even before the Sixers traded up for #1, is whether you can win big with DSJ. He's a smaller guard with a ton of athleticism, but is his playing style conducive to winning basketball? Is he the next Isiah Thomas where he looks great on offense albeit by pounding the ball, but you have to hide him on defense? To be determined.

[LongLiveHinkie]

If the Sixers didn't have Simmons on the roster, Smith would have been my #2 guy in the draft and not too far behind Fultz. I was big on Smith since this time last year, always loved his game. I just think he's not an ideal fit with Simmons if he's going to have the ball in his hands as our primary playmaker. Smith has a chance to be great though, will never get why he fell to 9.

[Ericb5]

Calling Fultz's handle "below average for a starting PG" is just the latest in a long line of bad takes here of late. Or maybe I should say misinformation. His handle is one of his best attributes.

Agreed. Plus he is a secondary ball handler here, and not a primary ball handler. His handle is absolutely good enough to make plays for himself and others.




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[Ericb5]

If the Sixers didn't have Simmons on the roster, Smith would have been my #2 guy in the draft and not too far behind Fultz. I was big on Smith since this time last year, always loved his game. I just think he's not an ideal fit with Simmons if he's going to have the ball in his hands as our primary playmaker. Smith has a chance to be great though, will never get why he fell to 9.

If we didn't have Simmons my first choice would have been Ball. He is the only true point guard of the top players, and he is the type of player that makes everyone else better.

You can't win with Smith as your point guard. If the Thunder can't do it with Westbrook then nobody will be able to do it with Smith.

You can't have scoring guards at the point unless someone else runs the offense.

On pure talent, I had Smith 4th or 5th jockeying with Tatum. I love the kid.

Had we gotten the Lakers pick this year Smith was my dream pick.


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[Xpressure]

DSJ reminds me of Steve Francis, from his game down to his physique.

Was able to catch most if not all his games on NBATV and ESPN. I like that he's strong and explosive like Francis and can get to the foul line when he wants to. He also has a nice post up jumper as his go-to move. Negatives are is that he tends to force a lot of things leading to charges and getting the ball turned over, or holding the ball for a long time and settling for jump shots.

Time will tell if he's a top 2 pick. Ask me next year, but for now I'd still take Fultz and Ball ahead of him.

Fultz just has that fluid scoring mentality of being able to weave through any kind of defenses to get his shot up, ANY defense, he's a better shot creator than Smith who probably is better at getting to the foul line, but definitely not a better shot creator than Fultz.

Ball is just a generational passer who sees a play develop 2 steps ahead and has showed that he can impact a game and let his presence be felt like a true floor leader. Speaking of floor leader... watching that LAL/DAL game I've also noticed a few occasions when DSJ's teammates sometimes turn the ball over, he gives this kind of disappointed look. But when a teammate of Ball turns the ball over, you see Ball go up to talk to him and pat him on the chest like "it's okay". Little details like that can actually learn a lot from.

[eagereyez]

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Someone's missing

[Unbreakable99]

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Someone's missing

No they arent. DWade already knows. Lonzo is top dog. Wade knows what's up. Notice Ball's name was first. Actually he is missing someone. How could I forget. He left Mitchell off.

[Simmons25]

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Someone's missing

No they arent. DWade already knows. Lonzo is top dog. Wade knows what's up. Notice Ball's name was first. Actually he is missing someone. How could I forget. He left Mitchell off.

You really think Wade purposefully left off Fultz? and doesn't even rank him top 6 in this draft.

Wishful thinking from the "We shouldn't have picked Fultz" camp. More than likely forgot about him or didn't mention him because he only got to see him play 1/2 a Summer League game in Vegas.

[LordCovington33]

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Someone's missing

No they arent. DWade already knows. Lonzo is top dog. Wade knows what's up. Notice Ball's name was first. Actually he is missing someone. How could I forget. He left Mitchell off.

You really think Wade purposefully left off Fultz? and doesn't even rank him top 6 in this draft.

Wishful thinking from the "We shouldn't have picked Fultz" camp. More than likely forgot about him or didn't mention him because he only got to see him play 1/2 a Summer League game in Vegas.

Unbreakable bleeds purple and gold ... I thought that was obvious by now.

[76ciology]

No they arent. DWade already knows. Lonzo is top dog. Wade knows what's up. Notice Ball's name was first. Actually he is missing someone. How could I forget. He left Mitchell off.

You really think Wade purposefully left off Fultz? and doesn't even rank him top 6 in this draft.

Wishful thinking from the "We shouldn't have picked Fultz" camp. More than likely forgot about him or didn't mention him because he only got to see him play 1/2 a Summer League game in Vegas.

Unbreakable bleeds purple and gold ... I thought that was obvious by now.

Unbreakapurple

[CoreyGallagher]

The question was 'who's your favorite rookie so far?' - he was obviously basing his list on SL, probably primarily Vegas SL since that's still fresh in most minds and is by far the most watched (would explain him leaving off players that played well prior to Vegas). Fultz hasn't played in a while and, when he was able to play, he barely did.

Also, who cares?

...

Unbreakable, it does seem like this is becoming a shtick, like you're purposefully overreacting to every little thing.

[Misteclipse]

If the Sixers didn't have Simmons on the roster, Smith would have been my #2 guy in the draft and not too far behind Fultz. I was big on Smith since this time last year, always loved his game. I just think he's not an ideal fit with Simmons if he's going to have the ball in his hands as our primary playmaker. Smith has a chance to be great though, will never get why he fell to 9.

If we didn't have Simmons my first choice would have been Ball. He is the only true point guard of the top players, and he is the type of player that makes everyone else better.

You can't win with Smith as your point guard. If the Thunder can't do it with Westbrook then nobody will be able to do it with Smith.

You can't have scoring guards at the point unless someone else runs the offense.

On pure talent, I had Smith 4th or 5th jockeying with Tatum. I love the kid.

Had we gotten the Lakers pick this year Smith was my dream pick.


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And if you can't win with Rubio or Rondo how do you expect to win with Ball? Same logic applies.

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[Misteclipse]

Read on Twitter

Someone's missing

No they arent. DWade already knows. Lonzo is top dog. Wade knows what's up. Notice Ball's name was first. Actually he is missing someone. How could I forget. He left Mitchell off.

If you you needed any more evidence this dude is a Lakers fan, there you have it.

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[LongLiveHinkie]

Not sure what's been happening to this board lately. It's become contrarian city. You have SelfishPlayer telling us Josh Jackson is an average athlete leading up to the draft. You have Unbreakable drooling over Ball every chance he gets. You have Lloyd being furious about the trade up for Fultz when almost every Sixers fan desired Fultz badly all year leading up to the lottery calling him the perfect fit for the Sixers.

What's next, is someone gonna tell us Embiid isn't that tall and is a poor defensive player, JJ Redick is an average 3 point shooter, and TJ McConnell will be next year's slam dunk champ?

[LloydFree]

I wouldn't either, but he's the level Fultz should attain. I think the ceiling can be a Harden as they have similar length and game type (poor defenders out of college, 6'4ish with 6'10+ wingspan). I don't see him becoming Harden, but somewhere in the middle between McCollum and Harden is what I'm hopeful for.

If I thought Fultz resembled anything closes to Harden, he'd be worth three top 5 picks. He isn't nearly as skilled as Harden was at the same stage. Fultz's​ handle is below average for a starting NBA PG, and while he is a good passer, he doesn't have close to the creativity or awareness of Harden. Harden is an NBA anomaly. Every slow 6'4 player isn't going to become James Harden. Harden's skill level is on a different planet.

... And there is a Grand canyon sized gap in skill and awareness between CJ McCollum and Harden, too.

I don't know what point is being hammered home here. I didn't say I expected him to be Harden, I don't think Harden and McCollum are close in skill level, I don't think every 6'4 prospect is going to be Jame Harden (although if there ever was going to be one, they'd probably be the first pick in the draft...).

And I said I'm hoping Fultz can land somewhere in between that Harden and McCollum threshold. If Harden is "worth three top five picks" and McCollum is worth none, Fultz will land slightly in the middle with one and a half (don't think Lakers will be a top five pick next year; questionable if the Kings will still be this bad the year following) valuation and we can all be content, no?

The #1 pick has a different standard. Being a bit better than CJ McCollum isnt good enough. I don't see a perennial All-star talent with Fultz. So if he's not better than the players picked behind him, and he's not a perennial All-star, I don't know how to be content with what the 76ers did to get him.

If the Lakers fall outside​ of the top 5 and the Kings pick somehow falls in the back of the lottery in 2019, that certainly​ mitigates some of the "lopsidedness" of how the trade looks now. But that wouldn't be the deciding factor in being content. The player's performance ultimately dictates whether we should be content. If Fultz is better than everybody else, it doesn't matter what they traded to get him. If Fultz is a perennial All-star, it doesn't matter that they traded up. That is all you can ask for when you draft. You get a player of that caliber, then you can't worry about what you passed up. You get an Iverson, you can't be worried about not getting Kobe. You don't trade up to #1, to get a CJ McCollum/Eric Gordon level player (unless everybody else in the draft is somehow a lesser talent than that).

[76ciology]

You really think Wade purposefully left off Fultz? and doesn't even rank him top 6 in this draft.

Wishful thinking from the "We shouldn't have picked Fultz" camp. More than likely forgot about him or didn't mention him because he only got to see him play 1/2 a Summer League game in Vegas.

Unbreakable bleeds purple and gold ... I thought that was obvious by now.

Unbreakapurple

UnbreakaBALL

[Ugly Duckling]

Shoulda picked Lonzo. He was clearly the better prospect

Clearly better after a handful of summer league games? Against players who wouldn't be in the league next week. OK.

Was, as in prior to the draft

[Ericb5]

If the Sixers didn't have Simmons on the roster, Smith would have been my #2 guy in the draft and not too far behind Fultz. I was big on Smith since this time last year, always loved his game. I just think he's not an ideal fit with Simmons if he's going to have the ball in his hands as our primary playmaker. Smith has a chance to be great though, will never get why he fell to 9.

If we didn't have Simmons my first choice would have been Ball. He is the only true point guard of the top players, and he is the type of player that makes everyone else better.

You can't win with Smith as your point guard. If the Thunder can't do it with Westbrook then nobody will be able to do it with Smith.

You can't have scoring guards at the point unless someone else runs the offense.

On pure talent, I had Smith 4th or 5th jockeying with Tatum. I love the kid.

Had we gotten the Lakers pick this year Smith was my dream pick.


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And if you can't win with Rubio or Rondo how do you expect to win with Ball? Same logic applies.

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No it doesn't because neither Rubio nor Rondo can shoot. I'm certainly not saying that if you have a true point guard then you will win. I'm saying that if you don't have a true point guard then you won't. Its a necessary condition of winning, but not a sufficient one.

You can win without a true point guard as long as someone else is running the team though, like what Lebron does for Irving, or what Jordan and Pipped did.

I'm not saying that you can't win with Smith. You just can't win with him running the offense.

[Chris76]

If we didn't have Simmons my first choice would have been Ball. He is the only true point guard of the top players, and he is the type of player that makes everyone else better.

You can't win with Smith as your point guard. If the Thunder can't do it with Westbrook then nobody will be able to do it with Smith.

You can't have scoring guards at the point unless someone else runs the offense.

On pure talent, I had Smith 4th or 5th jockeying with Tatum. I love the kid.

Had we gotten the Lakers pick this year Smith was my dream pick.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

And if you can't win with Rubio or Rondo how do you expect to win with Ball? Same logic applies.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

No it doesn't because neither Rubio nor Rondo can shoot. I'm certainly not saying that if you have a true point guard then you will win. I'm saying that if you don't have a true point guard then you won't. Its a necessary condition of winning, but not a sufficient one.

You can win without a true point guard as long as someone else is running the team though, like what Lebron does for Irving, or what Jordan and Pipped did.

I'm not saying that you can't win with Smith. You just can't win with him running the offense.

It should be exciting watching Simmons and Fultz taking turns running the offense. Teams will have a tough time game planning against the Sixers.

[WMDman]

Unbreakable bleeds purple and gold ... I thought that was obvious by now.

Unbreakapurple

UnbreakaBALL

UnbearaBALL