The Philadelphia 76ers are still a bit of a work in progress as they continue to move forward as a team. They have to figure out how they will replace Ben Simmons at the point guard spot and the options are down to young players Shake Milton and Tyrese Maxey.
In the team’s Blue X White scrimmage on Saturday, coach Doc Rivers had Milton with the starters and Maxey with the bench unit. This appears to be the way Rivers would like it at the moment as Milton is more of just the complete shooter out on the floor.
Milton did shoot 43% from deep in the 2019-20 season before it dipped to 35% in the 2020-21 season, but his overall resume shows that he is the more complete shooter and that is what Rivers wants on the floor with his starting unit.
“Shake probably spaces the floor better with his shot,” Rivers explained. “Maxey gives us the speed though. Both are learning how to be playmakers and run the team. Shake definitely is ahead of Maxey defensively.”
The two of them still have a long way to go, but it does appear that Milton is ahead of Maxey in the point guard battle to see who starts on opening night. Although, he is happy with his younger guards in terms of their defensive pressure.
“They both are pressuring the ball which I’m very happy with,” he added. “It’s funny, I knew Maxey could do it. I didn’t know Shake could do it and he’s done it almost more. That’s something that we didn’t know Shake could do, honestly, and he’s doing it.”
Maxey was the starter in the team’s first preseason game and he was running with the starting unit throughout training camp, but those days appear to be over as Rivers leans more toward Maxey leading the second unit. He knows that the second-year guard from Kentucky has a long way to go in that regard.
“I just thought the first game, everybody struggled,” Rivers added on Maxey. “Since then, he’s kind of found his wings. We are trying to open the floor up more for all of them. I thought we did a better job of that in the second game. The floor was wide open, five guys were behind the 3-point line in transition. In the first game, three guys were in the paint in transition, I don’t know where that came from, but if we do that, I think it will open it up for Tyrese, Shake.”
Seth Curry will be the backcourt mate for either guy so he is just remaining patient with the young players as they move forward with their new alignment.
“Just trying to get better at it and learn as we go along,” he stated. “Different roles for both of them. Both of them are trying to establish themselves as just players in the league, but also trying to fill a role so it’s a tough task for them, obviously. They’re doing a good job and they’re working hard every day so that’s all you can ask of them.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
[mm-video type=playlist id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f5k5xtr64thj7fw2 image=https://sixerswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
[listicle id=51993]
[lawrence-related id=52028,52003,52009]