Philadelphia 76ers: What does Redick’s contract mean moving forward?
Does Redick’s one-year deal mean a bigger role for Markelle Fultz?
The final theory that has emerged in relation to Redick’s one-year deal has to do with its connection to Markelle Fultz’s development as a player.
After sitting out the vast majority of his rookie season due to some very well publicised shooting issues, Fultz showed flashes of top-level talent over his final 10 appearances with the team in the regular season including a very impressive triple-double to close out the season against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Maybe these performances were enough to give Philly hope that Fultz could finally be on the upswing?
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Though it would have been incredibly foolish to simply hand over the keys to the kingdom to the combo guard in only his second season in the league, especially since he hasn’t knocked down a single 3-point shot thus far in his career, giving him another year to develop behind Redick could be just what the doctor ordered.
At only 20 years old, Fultz is still in the infancy of his NBA career and will likely get plenty of playing time as a part of Brett Brown’s second unit moving forward, while paired up with T.J. McConnell.
After proving that he can run the point in roughly 253 minutes of action last season, Fultz still needs to develop his game as an off-the-ball guard, as he will likely be forced to play a secondary role when paired with Simmons in the team’s starting lineup.
With Redick cemented as the team’s starting shooting guard moving forward, Fultz will be able to develop outside of the scrutiny of the starting five, while learning under the wing of one of the best shooting guards in league history.
It’s almost like the Sixers can have their cake, and eat it too.
Though Redick was incredibly essential to the team’s transformation from lottery-bound losers to a three seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, he’s not exactly a perfect fit for the team’s roster as it’s presently constructed. Standing a slightly below-average 6-foot-4 and weighing in at 190 pounds, Redick is a bit of a liability on the defensive end of the court. Often being asked to cover a position down thanks to Simmons’ size, Redick was routinely tasked with covering far more athletic guards like Kyrie Irving and John Wall one-on-one, a tough ask for any player. This, when coupled with his lack of ball-handling ability really makes Redick a one-dimensional fit in a scheme predicated on optionality.
Next: Markelle Fultz is now untouchable
Sure, he’ll probably never make 42 percent of his 3-point shots in a single season, but if Fultz can continue to develop and prove himself worthy of replacing Redick next season, the team can easily slide the former first overall pick into their starting five moving forward. And if not, Redick could find himself a candidate for a one-year deal to return as the team’s starting shooting guard once more.