Markelle's shooting woes are mental

[DERRENMATTS]

As I suspected, his shooting form was affected, not by any physical/structural reason, but by mental factors.

This might keep him from ever getting off the ground and soaring into stardom. Guys who are affected mentally in sports may find them constantly battling themselves. Rick Ankiel was a terrific pitching prospect for the Cardinals. But he was mentally affected to the point where he could no longer throw strikes, became too wild to be a pitcher, and is now an outfielder. Chuck Knoblauch, who was once a terrific fielding second basemen, couldn't even make easy routine throws to first -- and it was all mental.

Imagine Fultz, after missing a couple of shots in a row, might start to fret and become anxious, and doubt his shots -- it could spiral out of control again, to the point he can't shoot.

[jrmzt]

Its just so hard to believe that someone who hasn't been affected all his life, could come to the NBA and have a complete mental swap.

I do hope he finds a way to overcome it because he shouldn't be held back by this.

[DERRENMATTS]

It may seem to the Sixers that Fultz's mental shooting problems are not correctable -- and that's why they're already dangling him in trade talks. This is a kid with special athleticism, as well as a lot of NBA caliber skills. He could darn well be one of the best young guards in the game. But the shooting woes might be his demise.

[Roadrunner]

I am not surprised. I watched a lot of Fultz highlights, and one red flag stuck with me that he was taking/making shots when WAS was clearly going to lose (down big, and not to very good teams at all).

[eja117]

Fultz has improved a bit. He's having good practices and had an ok first night, and some reasonable preseason stuff. He's a shell of what they hoped for but he might salvage a career. Maybe he can head towards Andrew Wiggin type territory, but that is a ways away

[DERRENMATTS]

Oct 24, 2019 21:02:43 GMT -5 eja117 said:

Fultz has improved a bit. He's having good practices and had an ok first night, and some reasonable preseason stuff. He's a shell of what they hoped for but he might salvage a career. Maybe he can head towards Andrew Wiggin type territory, but that is a ways away

Shooting set shots are his problems (free throws, etc). When he goes into his shot on a pull up, it’s as if he relies on muscle memory, and he looks natural and fluid, and those shots have a much better chance of going in.