Philadelphia 76ers: Is reincorporating Markelle Fultz a mistake?

Markelle Fultz has finally returned to the court for the Philadelphia 76ers, but is his addition worth disrupting the team’s 10-man rotation?

After 152 days away from the court, Philadelphia 76ers rookie point guard Markelle Fultz reannounced himself to the NBA with a commanding performance against the Denver Nuggets, and boy was it a sight to see.

In only 14 minutes of action, Fultz put up 13 shots for the Sixers and finished out the game with a solid stat line of 10 points, eight assists and four rebounds. And while he was obviously a bit rusty, Fultz’s confidence was almost palpable. Chants of “Fultz” rang out proudly through the Wells Fargo Center, and after taking his exit early in the fourth, the fans demanded an encore from the first overall selection in the 2017 NBA Draft, a request that Brett Brown gleefully accepted.

Truly this was a game to remember, and thankfully it ended in yet another double-digit win, but after six months away from the game, is Fultz’s upside worth sacrificing Brown’s finally tuned rotation?

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With Fultz now backing up Ben Simmons, small ball point guard T.J. McConnell was relegated to playing the majority of his minutes at shooting guard, in a move that also cost Justin Anderson his spot in the rotation. Sure, this radical departure from the game plan didn’t hurt the team against the 40-34 Nuggets, could it moving forward against a stronger opponent?

Since Brown settled on a 10-man rotation following the addition of waived Atlanta Hawks Ersan Ilyasova and Marco Belinelli, the Sixers have been on an absolute roll, blowing out good and bad teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves, Orlando Magic, and Memphis Grizzlies in route to six straight wins.

Outscoring opponents by an average of 118-105, the team’s combination of youthful energy and veteran savvy formed the league’s top net-rated unit over the previous seven games and allowed Coach Brown to give garbage time minutes to his deep bench players in three straight games.

So if it ain’t broke, why fix it?

Don’t get me wrong, Fultz is a great player, and could round out the 76ers homegrown ‘Big Three’ as soon as next season, but is shoehorning his immense talent into one of the league’s most effective rotations mere weeks before the playoffs really worth disrupting the team’s chemistry?

Regardless of Futz’s ability, having to play McConnell at shooting guard simply isn’t sustainable longterm, as his diminutive frame and average at best outside shot become a liability on the wing, and forcing Anderson, arguably the team’s second best wing defender, out of the rotation is a tough pill to swallow. Though neither player has Fultz’s upside, the pair have established themselves as two incredibly important cogs in the team’s war machine as their ability to make plays on both ends of the court has been essential to the team’s second unit’s newfound success.

While very few teams actually get worse when you add a supremely talented player to their roster, in a game like a basketball where team defense is essential to prolonged success, maintaining solid chemistry has to be prioritized over short-term scoring. And with only nine games left to play in 2018, is there really enough time for Fultz to assimilate into the rotation before the playoffs commence on Saturday, April 14th?

Though giving Fultz a few minutes here and there, or in garbage time, may have better assimilated the young combo guard back into the game without affecting the team’s rotation, that option went out the window after his 10 point appearance against the Nuggets. After such a strong reintroduction, fans are going to continue to chant for his name from the stands, and Fultz himself will understandably continue to lobby for more minutes with each passing game, but is that really the best move for the team with the playoffs less than three weeks away?

Next: Can the Philadelphia 76ers really make the Eastern Conference Finals?

After months of seemingly endless roster moves, the Philadelphia 76ers appeared to have finally settled on a rotation with no weak spots, but now, with Fultz back in the fold, they will once again be forced to shuffle pieces around to ensure that they have the best five players on the court together at any given time. Trust the Process.