Does it help Markelle Fultz that every time he gets the ball behind the arc that the home crowd begs him to shoot it? I bet it doesn’t. Imagine the pressure, when every soul in the building wants nothing more than for you to prove that you aren’t a bust by making a three. The cheers might feel good when it works out, but the jeers if it doesn’t would be way worse.
I know Philly fans have a hard time with being good and not throwing batteries at everything that moves, but I think the best course of action is for the entire arena to be completely silent whenever Fultz is in the game. That way he can pretend that he’s in his gym and it’s the offseason and he’s making shots while no one is watching. You want him to succeed, right? You want him not to be a bust? Then shut up whenever he’s playing. Or better yet, whenever he’s in the building. He needs to be handled delicately.
This might be his best game as an NBAer, unless you think his triple-double was better. This one had a great variety of scoring moves, inside, outside, plus he passed the rock nicely. He may be totally incompatable with Ben Simmons, but this is a game you can look at and say “he played pretty okay for a guy who had to relearn how to play basketball from scratch”.