Colangelo’s Presser Headlined by Frustrating Report on Fultz

Transparency. Something the Sixers front office has preached for years that they would comply to, but that has never seemed to be the case. Bryan Colangelo has been known to give the most vague answers to the media in press conferences that never seems to get to the point of everything. We saw it again on Friday for his media availability.

He wants things to be on the hush-hush if something is out of whack and won't give the full truth if there is anything out of the ordinary.

We've seen it time and time again. The Ben Simmons injury, the Joel Embiid injury, Jahlil Okafor trade rumors, and so many other times. On Friday, we saw it again with the Markelle Fultz shoulder injury saga.

Is it really an injury or is it a mental state of mind that Fultz has put himself in that makes it nearly impossible to snap out of?

The real question that is on everyone's minds is "Will Fultz even play this season?" And of course, Colangelo took that question and provided the most vanilla answer of all time. Basically, to sum it up, he's basically saying "Who knows?"

"There’s always a chance that he’s going to be out there soon, and there’s a chance that he’s not going to play this year," Colangelo said. I can’t answer that question because we don’t know the answer to that."

Probably the most frustrating thing about this situation is how much this front office has led us on to believe that there are positives regarding Fultz's progress. At this point, why does it matter that he has ramped up his workouts and conditioning and is practicing as the backup point guard?

There is still no concrete information on the progress and rehabilitation of Fultz and whether the issue with him is purely physical, purely mental, or somewhere in between.

It seems like the team at this point is just banking on the Fultz situation turning out like the Embiid and Simmons situations, with confidence in knowing that everything is going to be alright in the end. But honestly, there doesn't seem like there's any progress here.

Although I'm not sure what scapular muscle imbalance is, it's difficult to believe it should be taking this long for him to recover.

And when is your No. 1 draft pick drafted for his insane range and outside shot, suddenly forgetting how to do any of that stuff?

The rest of the reporters questions on Fultz, Colangelo basically shrugged off, sticking to the "I don't know right now" answer he's been dealing for the last four months. If that makes you upset, I totally understand, I definitely feel the same way. Derek Bodner of The Athletic provided quick notes to recap what in the world is going on with the Sixers' 19-year-old point guard.

As far as the silence at the Trade Deadline goes, the original point of the press conference on Friday, Colangelo had a reason for the Sixers to not make any moves to pad more of a chance to get into the playoffs.

It was simple that the Sixers didn't want to part with any of their first round draft picks to get a player for this year's playoff run.

My guess is that the Sixers didn't think any of the available players were worth giving up valuable picks for what is likely to be a short-lived playoff run this season.

The press conference in its entirety lasted 22 minutes, in a situation where I'm sure Colangelo really wanted to keep the topics focused on the trade deadline and not Markelle Fultz, but his wish definitely didn't come true there.

Josh Liddick is Sixers managing editor for SportsTalkPhilly.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshLiddickTalk.