Getty Joel Embiid #21 and Shake Milton #18 of the Philadelphia 76ers.
It wasn’t long ago that Shake Milton was little more than an afterthought for the Philadelphia 76ers. Through Philly’s first eight games, Milton appeared in only half of them, averaging just 7.3 minutes per game when he was called into action.
But with James Harden and Tyrese Maxey both having missed significant time this season, Milton was called upon to fill in the gaps as a starter. And he made the most of the opportunity, averaging 21.3 points and 6.0 assists in his eight games as a starter.
But his play might have done more than earn him a permanent spot among Philadelphia’s rotation this season; according to Heavy Sports’ Sean Deveney, Milton’s solid play has garnered the attention of several cap-rich teams.
“Milton is going to be a free agent so [teams] will have the chance to sign him in the summer, and a team like Orlando or San Antonio, young teams with free-agent money, they will be ready to jump on him,” one Eastern Conference exec told Deveney. “He should get $6 or $7 million a year and that might put him out of the Sixers’ range, what they want to pay him. He has been good, he has handled the point some, he is versatile, he has been more efficient. He is in a good spot next summer.”
For now, though, Milton will have to settle with his play only landing him more minutes with the Sixers, as promised by head coach Doc Rivers.
Doc Rivers Reveals Sixers’ Plans for Shake Milton
Milton, a former SMU Mustang, has spent all five of his NBA seasons in the City of Brotherly Love, utilized mainly as a rotation guard to keep the offense chugging while one of the starters rests.
When Harden and Maxey went down, however, Sixers fans were left scrambling to figure out who the Sixers’ next-guards-up would be. Milton and De’Anthony Melton, acquired over the summer via the Danny Green trade, were nice players, but were they starters? Philly’s once prideful bench suddenly looked sparse, at least in the guard department.
Now, it looks like the opposite might be true: with Milton and Melton having held down the fort relatively well in Harden and Maxey’s absence, Rivers faces a new lineup option that once appeared out of the question: a three-guard unit. And Rivers has already explained that Milton will be seeing increased minutes even in a fully healthy rotation.
“We’re deep. So everybody is not going to play. But certain guys will and Shake [Milton] will be one of them…There’s always a competition going on, a competition for minutes and Shake has proven that he should play,” Rivers said per Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
But if Philadelphia does start experimenting with more three-guard lineups, it begs the question of who gets squeezed out.
PJ Tucker Could See Fewer Minutes With Sixers
Let’s begin with the premise that Joel Embiid will be one of the five starting Sixers from here until the end of time he decides to retire. Another premise: Philly should be experimenting with more three-guard lineups. For instance, when Harden, Maxey, and Melton take the floor together, the Sixers outscore opponents by 15.6 points per 100 possessions, a scoring hot mark.
But if Philadelphia experiments with more three-guard lineups, that leaves just one spot left.
Doc Rivers running through an offensive set with a lineup of Shake Milton, Matisse Thybulle, Danuel House Jr, Georges Niang and Montrezl Harrell.
Paul Reed also getting some work in at the center spot
In all likelihood, that spot (at least in the regular season) goes to Tobias Harris. Just as Milton and Melton did well while the stars recovered from injury, so too has Harris. His contract remains an issue in trade discussions, but he’s been red-hot as a spot-up scorer, posting an eFG of 65 percent.
Some will bemoan PJ Tucker’s absence as potentially devastating when Philly faces the likes of Kevin Durant or Giannis Antetokounmpo. The counter: does it matter right now? Come playoff time, the Sixers can absolutely deploy Tucker as the menacing defender that he is. For now, why not preserve his aging legs and see what kind of damage the three-guard rotation can accomplish?