Markelle Fultz feels ‘sorry’ for teams that have to face him, Ben Simmons

The Philadelphia 76ers have an incredible amount of youth and athleticism on their side heading into the 2017-18 season, and rookie point guard Markelle Fultz thinks that is going to be a major issue for opposing players.

While the Sixers only won 28 games last season, they were missing 2016 No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons, who suffered an injury in training camp a year ago and never made it onto the court. After his team’s first official camp practice on Tuesday, Fultz — this year’s No. 1 overall pick — expressed sympathy for those who have to face him and Simmons.

“I love it. You don’t know what’s going to happen,” Fultz said of sharing the floor with Simmons, via Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly.com. “He’s going to push it sometimes, I’m going to push it. I get to run the floor, I get to set screens for him, he gets to set screens for me. It’s unpredictable.

“I feel sorry for the teams that are going to have to go against it.”

The 76ers are planning to have the 6-foot-10 Simmons start at point guard, but they will probably have offensive packages where both he and Fultz are playing the one. That could take some time for the two top overall picks to get used to, but Fultz expressed confidence that will happen fast.

“It was easier than I thought,” he said of the first official practice. “Going in, I think I put it so hard on myself that it couldn’t be nothing but easier. It was still tough, but I still enjoyed it.”

Philadelphia still has some health concerns heading into a new year, but there’s no question the potential is there. Whether or not they will progress to the point where Fultz needs to feel sorry for opposing defenses is a question that we cannot yet answer.