The Philadelphia 76ers will certainly be shorthanded on Wednesday when they open the season against the New Orleans Pelicans. Not only are the Sixers going to be without a certain 6-foot-10 All-Star, but they will also be missing one of their lead guards to replace him.
Shake Milton has been out since Oct. 7 with a right ankle sprain and he will miss some time before he makes his season debut. As the team gets set to take on the Pelicans, Milton was doing some work and getting some shots up after shootaround in the morning.
“He’s running more and honestly, they tell me early on if a guy’s playing. I just ask him how he is doing and every player gives you the same answer ‘I’m close’ so I think he’s close,” said coach Doc Rivers. “I can’t give a guestimate, but the fact that he’s sprinting and stopping and going, that’s huge. So I feel that he actually is close.”
Injured guard Shake Milton putting up some extra shots after shootaround this morning #Sixers pic.twitter.com/FqAxDk8WsL
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) October 20, 2021
The fact that he is doing some running is an encouraging sign for Rivers and the Sixers. They need to get him back out there to help young Tyrese Maxey run this team right now.
With that being said, anybody can be the backup guard on this team. That is what Rivers wants everybody to understand. The Sixers have two centers in Joel Embiid and Andre Drummond and the rest of the team can play any position.
“We don’t have a backup anything,” said Rivers. “That’s one of the things I told our guys from the beginning, we have one center, well we have two, Drumm and Joel, and everybody else is positionless players. That’s how we played throughout camp.”
The Sixers and the Pelicans will begin the 2020-21 season at 8 p.m. EDT on Wednesday.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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