Colangelo suggests altered shot hurt Fultz's shoulder; trainer says otherwise

The situation surrounding Markelle Fultz and his sore shoulder has become a giant mess.

After he looked downright awkward in preseason and the first week of his NBA career, the Philadelphia 76ers finally declared Wednesday that Fultz would take the next three games off to recover. He was noticeably pained each time he launched a jumper, his free-throw form looked ridiculous, and he was almost exclusively driving to the basket.

When Sixers general manager Bryan Colangelo met with reporters Wednesday, he suggested Fultz might have made problems for himself by electing to change his shooting form.

"We spent some time with him throughout the summer, but sometime during the month of August, I think, he might have worked on his shot a little bit - could even be the cause of the irritation and inflammation in the shoulder,” Colangelo said, according to Sam Amick of USA Today.

Colangelo's suggestion got back to Fultz's longtime trainer, Keith Williams, who rejected the claim and pointed the finger back at the Sixers.

“The shot was never changed (before the shoulder pain)," Williams told Amick. "He’s a great shooting point guard. There haven’t been many point guards who shot the ball as well as him coming out of college, off the dribble and off the catch. I never changed the shot. Why would I?"

This disagreement comes after Fultz's agent told two different stories Tuesday about the treatment the player received for the injury, ultimately saying he'd received a cortisone shot rather than having his shoulder drained before the season. His agent did, however, say Fultz was hurting so badly that he couldn't raise his arms to shoot, and it reflected poorly on the Sixers that he was taking the floor under those circumstances. The team shut him down the next day.

The No. 1 pick in this summer's draft made over 40 percent of his threes in college and is more than capable of making jumpers and free throws when fully fit.