Philadelphia 76ers: Brett Brown “nervous” about Shake Milton in playoffs

The Philadelphia 76ers still have a lot to figure out in terms of the rotation. It starts with Shake Milton.

If the NBA’s return goes to plan, the Philadelphia 76ers will have three weeks of “training camp” before basketball starts again. As Brett Brown views it, the Sixers have three weeks to deliver a healthy and prepared team. Easier said than done.

The Sixers have a lot to figure out, and more specifically, Brett Brown has a slew of decisions on his plate. He will need to decide on the fifth starter, and by extension, how to integrate Al Horford into the rotation. Brown will also need to determine the second unit down the stretch. Expect a number of positional “battles” in practice.

Few decisions will carry more weight than Brown’s decision on Shake Milton‘s role. The former SMU star has experienced a breakout sophomore campaign, emerging as the Sixers’ most consistent perimeter threat in the weeks prior to COVID-19.

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While Milton will regress to the mean at some point — especially after four months removed from basketball — his play before the break seemed greater than a hot streak. He has long been an efficient shooter, and his upside as a secondary playmaker serves Philadelphia’s needs quite well.

The Sixers should continue to deploy Milton in a significant role, and Brown seems to recognize Milton as a key piece to the puzzle. He even expects Milton to “capture the large majority of the form offensively and defensively,” he displayed before the season stopped.

When speaking on Milton’s role down the stretch, however, Brett Brown did not commit to Milton as the fifth starter. More so, he remains uncommitted to Milton as a key piece of the rotation. He went as far as to call the playoffs “a man’s world,” citing Milton’s youth. Brown’s reluctance to rely on younger players is not a new phenomenon.

"“I always get nervous about relying on young guys for the NBA playoffs. Shake is no different, it’s no disrespect to Shake, it’s just my 20-year history in the league that it ends up a man’s world, and a veteran type of environment, which he just doesn’t have the luxury of years to put next to his name yet. But I’m going into this excited, I think some of the performances he had on a consistent basis can’t be that far out of reach, where maybe he can produce a large portion of that again.” — Brett Brown, via Kyle Neubeck/PhillyVoice"

This is not to say Shake won’t have a major role in the playoffs. It’s clear Brown thinks highly of Milton and believes he can become a consistent contributor. But that statement is far from definitive, and it’s clear Brown has left himself as much wiggle room as possible with regard to the Sixers’ rotation in Orlando.

Brown wants to see how the gym looks when everyone’s back together. A lot can change in four months, and the Sixers were light-years away from a complete product before COVID-19. He wants to pit players against one another in his head, and see who looks the most prepared for a postseason run. One specific “battle” he mentioned in passing: Milton vs. Alec Burks.

This is bound to upset the Sixers fanbase. Some have taken Milton’s pre-pandemic exploits as definitive proof of his future stardom in the NBA. And while Milton certainly looks legit, it’s important to note the small sample size. He hasn’t been a successful NBA player for very long.

Burks hasn’t done as much to capture Philadelphia’s imagination, but he’s a nine-year veteran who averaged 16.1 points per game prior to the trade deadline. He’s a silky shooter, a capable shot-creator on the perimeter, and someone who occupies a similar role to Milton.

Shake won’t shoot 50 percent from deep forever, and he’s not as far along defensively as some would have you believe. He still has a lot of room left to grow in order to cement his status as a rotational pillar. Milton is infinitely more important than Burks long-term, but as far as this postseason goes, it’s wholly possible for Burks to emerge as the more-utilized player.

The general uncertainty around the NBA’s return — in addition to Philadelphia’s discontinuity this season — makes it difficult to predict anything with any degree of certainty. Brown is in the same boat as all of us. He’s still trying to put the pieces together in his head and on the court.

I’m of the belief Milton has earned the title of starting two-guard. He checks too many boxes, and was too productive in the pre-COVID weeks to ignore. Brown clearly sees it differently, and as bullish as I am on Milton’s value, there is still plenty of grey area to dissect.

In the end, Brown will probably do the right thing. If Milton lives up to his newfound reputation in training camp, he will start next to Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris, and Josh Richardson. Brown is nervous about youth in the postseason — most coaches are — but he has conversely shown a willingness to gamble on youth all season. Matisse Thybulle is Exhibit A.

We’ll see how things shake out. Pun intended.