The Sixer Sense
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Ranking every player on the Sixers’ 2021-22 roster

By Christopher Kline

Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, Sixers Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, Sixers Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /

Ranking every player on the Sixers roster — 11. Shake Milton

From Matt Cahill: 

This is going to be a crucial year for Shake Milton. His teammates have been raving about his terrific play throughout training camp and he has led the second unit to several wins in scrimmages against the starters.

He has been teasing the 76ers for several years now, with flashes of brilliance followed by stretches of passive or confused. He is capable of taking over games by himself and has been a threat to drop 30 any given night for the last year and a half.  The problem is that he will follow that 30-piece with one game of hum drum average and another game of poor shot selection, bad judgement, and lackluster defense.

It’s time for the real Shake Milton to stand up and stand out.  With the Ben Simmons holdout there is suddenly an opportunity to run the team and get consistent minutes that he may never get again.  He will either be a high-minute backup point guard or the starter until a Ben trade is made, and either way he will have the chance to drive, find the open man, steady the offense, and rain 3s.

The team seems to really like second-year guard Tyrese Maxey, but they have not decided on a starter at the point yet, and it may be better for Maxey’s development to come of the bench this year and continue to learn the position. If Milton can develop some consistent play to go with his consistent minutes this could be the year that the Sixers finally see what they really have.

Will he live up to the Lou Williams comparisons that he has drawn or will he simply drift off and become a career bench backup, bouncing from team to team? The label “combo” guard can be a blessing and a curse.  On the one hand, it can be a positive if it means that the player can capably play both guard spots, but it can also be a negative if it means that you don’t stand out at either position and the team doesn’t know what to do with you. It is time for Shake Milton to show everyone that he has the ability to play the point guard and be consistently positive on both ends of the floor.

If Shake can show that he is more than just flashes of talent this team could not only survive without Simmons, but thrive. If he can’t, he may find himself displaying those talents for another team.