Philadelphia 76ers: Can Shake Milton save the Sixers?

Can Shake Milton save the Philadelphia 76ers?

Brett Brown has finally decided to “shake” up the starting lineup. Ben Simmons will now be playing power forward and the new starting point guard will be second-year player Shake Milton. This could be a desperate move that someone trying to save their job would make. This switch may seem good on paper, but will this move the 76ers season from being an utter disappointment.

First, some background on Shake Milton. Milton is a combo guard out of Southern Methodist University, where he played three seasons. His career stats at SMU are 13 points, four rebounds, four assists per contest all while shooting an effective field goal percentage of 56 percent.

Milton was selected in the second round of the 2018 NBA Draft by Dallas. He wasn’t a Maverick for too long as he was involved in a draft-day trade that sent him to the 76ers for Kostas Antetokounmpo (Giannis’ younger brother) and Ray Spalding.

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Milton’s first season in the NBA saw most of his action in the G League. Milton was a two-way player so he wasn’t called on to play very much. Milton, however, did see action in 20 games his rookie season. In a little north of thirteen minutes a game, he averaged 4.4 points, 1.8 rebounds, and .9 assist per contest. This 20-game stretch was enough for the Sixers to convert his two-way deal into a full contract. The deal was for four years with the final year of the deal a team option.

This season with the Philadelphia 76ers

This season has been a different story for Shake. He played in almost half of the Sixers’ games this season seeing action in 32 games, starting in 16 of them. Milton’s points and assist numbers have seen a nice rise all while being super efficient from the floor, shooting an effective field goal percentage of 60 percent.

While looking through his stats his per 36 numbers are eye-popping. Those numbers are 18 points, 4.2 assists, and 4 rebounds a game all while shooting at a very high percentage. This could easily have had a factor in why Brett Brown decided to make this move.

Now, let’s talk about the move itself in the context of how this will fit. Moving Milton into the point guard spot does give Philly another high-level shooter on the floor. Shake isn’t the best defender, but the other Sixers starters are good enough to where they will be able to hide him defensively. Ben Simmons moves to the power forward position and now becomes an over-qualified roll man.

A lot of pick and roll will be played with him as the roll man running to the rim. I think they would also look into getting him the ball in the high post and use his athletic ability to create a shot. Brett Brown is wanting to keep one of the best post players in the game, Joel Embiid, near the 3-point line to give Simmons his room to operate. Al Horford now becomes a $100 million bench player and Tobias Harris is now just strictly a spot-up shooter.

Will these adjustments help save a season where the Sixers have been so up and down. Games they play at home they have dominated, looking like the team everyone thought they would be at the beginning of the season.

The 76ers on the road has been a different tale looking like a discombobulated and lost team. (29-2 at home, 10-24 on the road) Fans wonder which one of these teams is going to show up in Orlando.

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Will they get the home version or the away version? Will this be the final time we see Brett Brown coach the Sixers? Orlando will answer all these questions but for right now, Shake Milton has been handed a golden opportunity. Can he cash in on it and possibly save the Sixers?