Philadelphia 76ers: 3 goals for Shake Milton in 2019-20

1. Establishing a defensive presence

As Milton traverses the difficult offensive waters of NBA basketball, his clearest route to minutes is defense. The Sixers have honed in on length and versatility this summer, and Milton fits the bill at 6-foot-6 with a 7-foot wingspan.

At the beginning of the article, there was a clip of Milton shutting down a Giannis Antetokounmpo drive (before getting hit with an unwarranted foul). He’s long enough and strong enough to defend across the positional spectrum, at least up to three positions. There’s a lot of value there.

The Sixers can pair Milton’s size on the perimeter with other rangy defenders — Ben Simmons, Josh Richardson, Zhaire Smith, James Ennis, Matisse Thybulle. Philadelphia has the personnel to suffocate opposing offenses outside, all while letting Joel Embiid and Al Horford clean up the messes inside.

If Milton realizes his defensive potential, the Sixers will have legitimate reason to play him. It might not be a consistent role — at least not this season — but Milton does provide more offensive variety than Thybulle and Ennis, although Ennis is a more proven commodity (and, right now, a clearly better player).

To provide a brief summation, Milton has a lot in his tool kit. The puzzle pieces are spread across the table and formed into succinct, promising groups of similar shape and color. It just hasn’t been put together yet. Milton’s 2019-20 could be the early stages of him putting the pieces together.