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Sixers better equipped to deal with injury now

Had Markelle Fultz's ankle sprain turned out to be more serious, the Sixers now have the depth to get by.

LAS VEGAS - If you've played any kind of basketball in your life, from playground to high school or college, you've seen it happen - and probably had it happen - a million times. A rolled ankle is as much of the sport when it comes to injuries as dunks are to scoring. So when rookie Markelle Fultz went down on Saturday night after rolling his left ankle chasing down the ball against Golden State and a play where Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot also got hit and required stitches above his lip, Lloyd Pierce insisted he didn't bat an eye. The 76ers assistant coach who is overseeing the coaching duties in the Las Vegas Summer League probably had flashes of horrific thoughts blast his mind, but not really.

"This is sport. Any sport you play in and you're in a competitive atmosphere and you're athletic and moving around, that's just the challenge," Pierce said. "It's easy to put that on the history of what we've gone through, but it's just part of the game, it's part of the sport. You get two guys banged up on one play, it's just a freak situation. That's part of sport."

Luckily, which isn't a word usually used referring to a Sixers injury, Fultz just sprained the ankle and was walking only a bit gingerly Sunday morning during the team's shootaround. He said he was fine and the team announced that though he'll miss the remainder of the Las Vegas games, Fultz should be back to basketball activities in one to two weeks.

All of Philadelphia, including Fultz's teammates, held their collective breaths. But unlike years past, had this been a significant injury, the depth that has been collected by this organization would have made it a lot easier to carry on than in years past. A serious injury would have brought about angst more so because it would have been the third one the fan base would have had to deal with after Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. But the reality is that the team probably could have carried on quite well had Fultz needed a long recovery time. The likes of Jerryd Bayless, Simmons and T.J. McConnell no doubt could have admirably filled Fultz's spot had he been sidelined for significant time. That just wasn't the thinking in the past when Embiid and Simmons were sidelined for a total of three seasons. But that is where the Sixers are now.

Thankfully for fans and the organization, no one will know how much Fultz would have been missed.

Hawking his skills

Isaiah Miles left Saint Joseph's with a reputation as a highly skilled shooter. Miles shot to stardom during his senior season in 2015-16 by averaging 18.1 points while shooting 38.5 percent from three. After going undrafted, he played a year in Turkey but is back in the States trying to stick with a team, preferably the Sixers, for whom he is playing this summer.

His shot is still pure, even back past the longer NBA three-point line. His release is quick and he is very able to find openings in defenses. And now that he is stronger and mature at 23, the possibility of playing in the NBA doesn't seem so out of reach.

"I definitely want to show the teams that I have an all-around game, but I'm known as a shooter so I want to stick to what I do best and not come out here and do something that I'm not used to doing and not normally doing," Miles said. "I'm a shooter, so I'm going to shoot the ball.

"(The deeper NBA line) definitely does something to the shot because it's so much further back. In college I didn't use as much legs as I do for an NBA three-point. Especially when fatigue hits you, you've got to focus on bending and using your legs. It takes a toll, but I've been working on it a lot the last two and three years and I'm getting used to it."

He still needs to be more active in other areas of the floor, with defense being the main concern. But he has fit in nicely with the team's fast pace and as long as jumpers fall, he just might crack a spot in the league.

Summer stuff

While Saturday's Celtics-Lakers matchup featuring top-three draft picks Jayson Tatum and Lonzo Ball was the hot game over the weekend, there were many snickers in the area behind a basket where media, players, coaches and executives gather during games. It was due to a stage that was built back there, and occupying it during the Lakers game was the Ball contingent, including brash father Lavar. More than a couple of people made comments . . . Dennis Smith Jr., taken ninth overall by the Dallas Mavericks, was a stud on Sunday with 25 points, eight rebounds and four assists. When he was on the court, he looked like he was trying to imitate Russell Westbrook's game. He certainly looked like him with his nonstop energy and fearless play . . . Sharing a flight with and talking to Jahlil Okafor on Saturday revealed a guy who has put in a ton of work this summer on his body. Okafor looks 20 pounds lighter but more defined and stronger than over the past two seasons.