Once upon a time, he was a well-deserved son of heaven, the number one favorite of many talented teenagers such as Gotham Fox, and a super genius who was considered to be a combination of Harden and Wade. But who would have thought that a strange disease came quietly and took away many of his proud talents and skills in the blink of an eye.
"If it weren't for that damn injury, he might be one of the best players in this league." The sadness of fate also happened to his seniors brandon roy and isiah thomas, whose stories touched countless fans. But Fultz, who has just passed his 22nd birthday and is coming out of the shadow of injury, will undoubtedly bring more expectations and longings to the fans.
Perhaps, after experiencing the ups and downs of life, this dream-chasing teenager who is not easy to return will bring us unimaginable surprises.
As we all know, Fultz has an amazing college career, which is also an important reason why he became the first choice. In college, Fultz played 25 games for the Washington Huskies, averaging 23.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.9 assists 1.6 steals/.2 blocks, 47.6% shooting percentage and 4 1.3% three-point shooting percentage.
Through those short and glorious years, we can know what an excellent young defender Fultz would be if it weren't for injuries.
Pick-and-roll, fast break and fixed-point jump shot are the main attack methods of Fultz University. Among them, his time as a pick-and-roll undertaker accounts for 30.4% of the total time, and his hit rate per round is 5 1.5% and his scoring efficiency is1.0/minute, which makes Fultz's overall efficiency of picking up and rolling the ball exceed 93% of NCAA players. It can be seen that he had good ball control skills and shooting skills at that time, and his ability to read games was much better than that of his peers.
Looking forward to the outbreak of physical talent, Fultz, who has a strong defensive end, can play so many fast breaks. In college, defending singles, Fultz shot 7. 1% per round, which only allowed his opponent to score 0.37 points. His oppressive defense and decisive sense of cutting the ball usually make the counterpoint defender feel uncomfortable. So we can see many pictures of Fultz's steals and fast breaks in his highlights. You know, his excellent single defense ability was also one of the original selling points. Once the opponent is caught off guard, Fultz will release his athletic talent as much as possible.
At that time, Fultz's jump shot was elegant, especially the dry three-pointer and the middle distance after dribbling, which was quite a bit like McGrady's charm, plus those small eyes that didn't look awake-this was probably the important reason why he was able to circle countless powders.
In addition to shooting with the ball, Fultz's shooting feel is still online when he plays without the ball. He can eat a lot of ball rights, and at the same time, he has a good and efficient output, but when it is necessary to hit the ball properly, Fultz's performance in both fixed-point shooting and hand-delivered shooting is still very efficient. Fixed-point shooting is the third main scoring method of Fultz, accounting for 16.4% of his total scoring method, while his 42% hit rate and 1.0 1 minute per round exceeded 69% of NCAA players at that time.
It's a pity that Fultz didn't become an excellent singles player at that time-he was good at singles defense and not good at singles scoring, which was very interesting. Fultz made 38 singles attempts in 25 college games, but his shooting percentage was only 33.3%, with only 0.66 points for each shot, which was only better than that of 39% college players at that time. Although it is possible to be taken care of by the key defense in the weak team, considering his singles times, he chose the singles opportunity relatively carefully, so his singles ability was not excellent at that time.
Of course, no one is perfect after all. As a freshman, it is amazing enough to be able to make such a brilliant performance in Washington University, which is unknown in NCAA. Otherwise, why does everyone think that he must be the top scholar, right?
After being chosen as the son of the No.1 scholar in Philadelphia and becoming a part of the "belief process", Fultz suffered in the 76ers for two years.
17130, 17 Shortly after entering the NBA, Fultz was forced to stop playing for treatment due to a shoulder injury, and did not return to the stage until March 27th of the following year. Fultz scored 13 points, 10 rebounds and 18 assists in the 25-minute victory over the Bucks in April, surpassing the record set at the age of 20 18.
But after a short period of glory, strange injuries made Fultz completely lose its former aura. He forgot his former shooting positions-it sounds really weird, but it really happened to Fultz. So, in the next year or so, Fultz began his struggle. But Philadelphia, which has been groping for a long time in this process, now it is time to want the result. Fultz, whose future is uncertain, may obviously drag down the team. So, after two frustrating years in Philadelphia, he was sent to Orlando.
Once upon a time, Fultz's soft shooting feel was an important reason why many people spoke highly of him, but during his two years in Philadelphia, he shot like he lost his soul. In Fultz's rookie season, he only shot once outside the three-point line and got nothing. Even in the second year of slight improvement, he shot cautiously in 19 games 14, but only hit three goals. It is hard to imagine that this is the long-range shooting data of a player who averaged 5.0 shots per game in college and hit 4 1.3% after entering the NBA.
In the second season, Fultz, as a pick-and-roll ball bearer, played quite well, with a 50% hit rate and a score of 0.9 1 per round exceeding that of 7 1% players in that season. But not shooting made him lose more scoring opportunities that he could have trusted. Except that this player's chopping efficiency occasionally exceeds 54%, he is still far from the league average in other major offensive means-and for a champion who has high hopes, such performance obviously cannot satisfy the team. Fortunately, Orlando Magic attaches great importance to his potential and thinks that his future is not hopeless.
So, with endless regrets, Fultz finally left the Philadelphia 76ers who chose him as the top pick. How proud he was in college and how depressed he was when he first entered the NBA-this was probably the most vivid portrayal of Fultz at that time.
Fultz has been practicing shooting during the offseason. Although he will never see his graceful jump shot again, his shooting this season is much more reliable than before. Fultz, who can stay on the court for a long time healthily, has finally entered the field of vision of the fans again.
Perhaps, he is still far from the original expectations, but now he is trying to get out of the shadow step by step and bring you unexpected happiness. In this regard, Fultz's story is quite inspiring.
With the team playing only 65 games, Fultz has played 64 games this season, nearly twice the total number of appearances in the previous two seasons-if he can play 82 games this season, it will be more than twice. After getting a steady playing time, Fultz's performance has improved qualitatively compared with the previous two seasons.
This season, he can contribute 12. 1 5.2 assists10.3 steals per game, shooting 47.3% from the field and 72.3% from reliable free throws, all of which have reached new highs in the season.
Not only that, with the improvement of shooting confidence, his shooting level has also made a qualitative leap compared with the previous two seasons. In the rookie season, Fultz's short-range two-point shooting percentage was only 20.5%, while his long-range two-point shooting percentage was 34.8% and 28.6% respectively. Last season, the three-man hit rates were 29.6%, 33.3% and 25.0% respectively, but this season, Fultz hit rates reached 42.9%, 465, 438+0.2% and 44.6% respectively, which was an increase.
Although there is still much room for improvement in his shooting percentage of 1.8 in the outfield on the three-point line, I believe his shooting percentage will continue to improve in the near future when he can maintain a good counterpoint in the middle distance.
All along, Fultz has a good finishing ability under the basket. Even in the past two frustrated seasons, Fultz's shooting percentage in the basket still reached 65.9% and 64.8%. By this season, his shots at the basket are 0.8 times more than before, and his shooting percentage remains at 65.438+0%, which is not bad.
Due to the increase of the ball right and the opponent's emphasis on defense, his efficiency as a pick-and-roll bearer has decreased, but his overall performance still exceeds 57% of the players in the league. Switching fast break is his second important scoring method this season. During switching fast break, his shooting percentage of 6 1.9% and scoring efficiency of 1. 18 points exceeded that of 63% players in the league. He also maintained a good efficiency in the occasional free throws, and he got 1.40 points every time he shot.
Based on the above good performance, his real hit rate has reached 52.3% this season. Although not excellent, it is much more efficient than the previous two seasons. This season, he spent 87% of his time playing No.1 on the court. As the main point guard of the team, he averaged 5.2 assists per game, with an assist error rate of 2.3. The error rate of 1 1.3% shows that his error control is not bad.
High-level data are also confirming the great progress of Fultz. His OWS has reached 0.8 this season, which looks unremarkable, but you should know that his DWS was negative in the first two years of his career (-0.2 and -0. 1). His DWS was only 0.4 in the previous two years, but it has soared to 1.9 this season. His VORP0. 1 also shows that he plays an irreplaceable role on the field. The efficiency value of 14.4 and the game contribution value of 9.5 are also career highs.
This is just Fultz's performance after being tortured beyond recognition by strange diseases. Finally, Fultz stood out from the crowd in the first season of magic, and the achievements he made through unremitting efforts brought new expectations to everyone.
If he can stay healthy for the next time, maybe this is just the beginning for Fultz, who is only 22 years old, to prove himself.
At the beginning, I strode to shoot picturesque Fultz, which was enough to give people infinite reverie. Now, Fultz, who has experienced Qian Fan and said in an interview, "I don't know what giving up is", is trying to catch up with himself who was once highly expected.
Those who can clear their names after being questioned often have amazing courage, can sweat many times more than ordinary people, and never give up easily-fortunately, Fultz has such a trait.
At the age of 22, he has more time to break through himself and reach higher mountains than his predecessors who suffered from illness. Perhaps, in the near future, we will be lucky enough to witness the day when Fultz overcame difficulties and regained his talents.