Markelle Fultz ready for summer league debut with Sixers
The No. 1 overall pick will play in the Utah Jazz Summer League against the Celtics, the team that traded away the top selection.
SALT LAKE CITY - On Monday night, Markelle Fultz will provide a glimpse of why the 76ers traded up two spots to select him No. 1 in the NBA draft.
The Sixers will face the Boston Celtics in the Utah Jazz Summer League opener at the University of Utah's Jon Huntsman Center.
Fultz's debut will come against the squad that traded the top pick to the Sixers. Celtics general manager Danny Ainge later said he wasn't sold on Fultz being the No. 1 pick in the draft. Ignoring the criticism, Fultz said the Celtics are just another team on the schedule.
He is excited to play in this game, his first since Feb. 18 as a freshman at Washington. (He sat out the Huskies' last three games because of a sore right knee.) While others may have lofty goals for Fultz, the 6-foot-4 point guard said he just wants to give his all.
"And see where that takes me," said Fultz, who will also see action at shooting guard. "See what I need to improve on. See what I am good at and just go from there, really.
"If I don't give full effort, I won't know what I am capable of and what I'm not capable of."
He will be joined in the backcourt by a familiar face to Sixers. Larry Drew II had two consecutive 10-day contracts with the team during the 2014-15 season. The point guard averaged 3.8 points, 3.8 assists, 1.2 rebounds, and 18.3 minutes in 12 games, with one start.
One of his better games came on the road against the Detroit Pistons on Jan. 17, 2015. He finished with six points and a career-high nine assists to go with one steal.
The Sixers chose not to re-sign Drew for the rest of the season after his second 10-day contract expired. The 27-year-old returned to Sioux Falls Skyforce of the G-League, formerly known as the NBA Development League.
He played for AS Monaco Basket in France and later for the Skyforce in 2015-16. This past season, Drew started out with BC Neptunas in Lithuania before finishing out the year back with the Skyforce.
"I think my game has improved in a lot of areas" since his time with the Sixers, Drew said. "I played in Europe for two years and I got to see the game from a different perspective. It added some things to my game that I didn't have before, like a jump shot. I shoot the ball way better than I used to."
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