Philadelphia 76ers: Shake Milton can improve his value
Shake Milton now has the opportunity to show the Philadelphia 76ers that he can be a valuable part of the rotation moving forward.
The injury to Matisse Thybulle will surely hurt the defensive strength of the Philadelphia 76ers bench. One player that will have to step up in Thybulle’s absence is Furkan Korkmaz, as Christopher Kline of The Sixer Sense previously wrote about. In that article, Kline also wrote about how Shake Milton could be of use as a result of the injury.
"“Shake Milton profiles as a decent, multi-positional defender…it’s reasonable to expect Milton…to get another crack at the rotation. He played solid minutes in the initial weeks of 2019-20, but was sidetracked by injury.”"
Kline wasn’t wrong in his assessment, but Milton could do much more then defend and take up minutes. In fact, this injury to Thybulle could end up being the catalyst for Milton to earn regular minutes with the Sixers moving forward this season. With Philly recalling him from the G-league, Milton needs to make the most of this opportunity.
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As Kline indicated, Milton did play well to begin the season before getting injured against the Atlanta Hawks. During October, he averaged 6.0 points on 50.0 percent shooting from the floor and 44.4 percent shooting from the 3-point line.
After the injury, Milton hadn’t been able to find his grove with the 76ers in limited minutes. Like other some of the young players on Philly’s roster have done this season, Milton has played with the Sixers G-League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats.
Last season, he was a staple on the Blue Coats roster as a two-way contract player. Despite having a regular NBA contract now, he’s still been playing in Delaware. His stats from last year and this one have been impressive.
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/23/2019.
Despite averaging around 10 less minutes per game from last year, Milton’s still able to be a quality scoring threat in the G-League as a sixth man this season. Milton has the potential to be a scorer off the bench. Not only does he have the potential to stretch the floor, but he can also create his own shot off the dribble.
During the offseason, Milton played point guard for the clubs’ summer league roster and there’s a chance he could do it during this seaosn as well. With Raul Neto being limited as a player and head coach Brett Brown limiting Trey Burke‘s playing time, it might be time to see what Milton can do as a playmaker in the second unit.
Milton’s not a conventional point guard, he’s more of a combo guard. However, he could play along side starting point guard Ben Simmons with now issue and be effective as a secondary playmaker. A pick-and-roll with Milton and Simmons could cause a lot of teams problems. In the event that Brown decides to use Milton as just a wing and not a point guard, Milton could still be effective as a scorer and defender.
Milton has shown he can be a lethal scorer in the G-League, but now that Thybulle’s out, he has an opportunity to improve his value and show he can be a spark of offense off the bench for the Philadelphia 76ers. If he does, then there’s a chance he could have a role as a reserve even when Thybulle does return.