By Josh Liddick, Sports Talk Philly editor 
For those that were looking for an update to the Markelle Fultz shoulder injury saga, the Sixers provided one on Tuesday afternoon.
After the Sixers rookie guard was sidelined with "scapular muscle imbalance" back in October, Fultz has been rehabbing ever since with the hope of returning to the court by 2018.
Last week, the Sixers announced that Fultz would be increasing his workload and joining the team on their latest road trip.
On Tuesday afternoon, the team announced that Fultz had entered the final stage of his "return-to-play" regimine, which is huge news for the idea of Fultz returning to the team sooner, rather than later.
#Sixers medical update on Markelle Fultz: pic.twitter.com/acwMZhBvgU
— Jessica Camerato (@JCameratoNBCS) January 2, 2018
Basically, in layman's terms, the update pretty much says that Markelle Fultz is putting on the finishing touches of being able to be cleared to participate in full basketball activity.
Unfortunately, as Sixers fans, we have been accustomed to getting our hopes up after these updates, only to get them torn down in the end, just like Ben Simmons ended up being last season.
But for Fultz, all of these recent updates for the guard have pretty much signaled that the time for him to return is coming closer than we can expect. He's recovering at a nice rate, getting stronger, and everything that he needs to do to get back into game shape to join the team and make an impact.
As for his shot, which has caused some great concern for many people, PhillyVoice's Kyle Neubeck provided some good footage of Fultz taking a pull-up jumper in practice today.
Fultz with a short pull up. Looks more like UW form. pic.twitter.com/rLHl9iHdlt
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) January 2, 2018
I realize that the shot didn't go in, but it's the form that matters here. Like Neubeck said in the tweet, Fultz is showing his Washington form here, which is the entire reason the Sixers traded up to draft him No. 1 in the first place.
As with many of the reports regarding Markelle Fultz in the last three months, there still is no timetable on his return, however, the fact that this is now the final stage of the end of his rehab is a giant sign that our long-lost sharpshooter is on his way very soon.
