Philadelphia 76ers: 3 players with the most to prove as NBA returns

Four Philadelphia 76ers have something to prove once the NBA season returns.

It’s exciting knowing that the NBA season is going to continue at the end of July in Walt Disney. Every single of the 22 teams returning have players on their roster that have something to prove and the Philadelphia 76ers are no exception. There are three players on the Sixers roster that have something to prove.

Shake Milton

Despite having a second-half the season breakout, Shake Milton is included on this list. He was playing the best basketball of his career prior to the stoppage of play and that’s exactly why he’s on this list. Milton has to prove that he just didn’t get hot for a few games, but he’s actually developed into this starter level player with star potential.

As Christopher Kline has pointed out on The Sixer Sense podcast before, prior to this past All-Star break, Milton hasn’t done much in terms of production. Yes, he had a stellar rookie season with the 76ers G-League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats, but overall he’s had a hard time breaking into the rotation. He’s only played in 52 games and only averaged 16.9 minutes in his career.

While the post-All-Star break average of 16.5 points on 59.2 percent shooting on 3-pointers is beyond impressive, it was only for 10 games. Now he has to prove he can pick up where he left off and do it in the playoffs.

If he does prove to be a very good combo guard that he was showing to be before the stoppage of play, then Philly could end up having a pretty good playoff run. If not, then the Sixers chances for a deep postseason run get a lot thinner.