Sixers vs. Thunder: 3 takeaways from impressive scrimmage loss

2. The seamless fit of Shake Milton

Moving away from Horford, fans should be elated by the early results from Starter Shake. Milton has quickly found his footing in the starting five, comfortably running pick-and-rolls, working two-man actions on the perimeter, and swinging the ball to open teammates off dribble penetration.

After a mostly quiet first scrimmage, Milton had some impressive moments in this one. He shot 3-for-6 from deep, he had a couple strong takes to the rim, and he once again held up on defense. Milton was given free reign as the top option in a couple bench lineups — lineups that didn’t fair too well — but as far as his fit next to other starters, there’s no need to nitpick.

The mere presence of a capable ball-handler who can initiate sets and pass on the move has loosened up the halfcourt offense considerably. The ball movement was even more pronounced in this game with Embiid on the bench. Milton, along with Josh Richardson and Alec Burks, should continue to receive a steady dosage of playmaking opportunities when things slow down.

And, on a slight aside, Burks should continue to get longer looks at the rotation. Brown has been hesitant to use him over the likes of Matisse Thybulle and Furkan Korkmaz in these scrimmages, but Burks provides a lot of potential value as a pull-up shooter and secondary ball-handler. Get him more looks in the third scrimmage, especially if Glenn Robinson III is out.