The Philadelphia 76ers are continuing to work out the kinks as they prepare for the 2020-21 season. They have a brand new roster surrounding their star duo of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, and the team needs to see what they have in the rest of the roster.
The team retooled the bench in the offseason, bringing in veteran Dwight Howard to be the new backup big man to Joel Embiid. The Sixers hope he, Shake Milton and Furkan Korkmaz can lead a new bench unit and give the team a boost when the starters go to the bench.
Howard had five points and five rebounds in 16:34 off the bench, and he allowed Embiid to rest the entire second half. Granted, it’s only preseason, but if Embiid can get close to that kind of rest in the regular season with no dropoff, it would certainly help the team in the future.
“I thought Furkan did a lot of good things. The numbers won’t show it, but I thought he did a lot of good things, overall,” coach Doc Rivers said. “Dwight Howard was phenomenal. I don’t know if he has to earn minutes. I think he was going to earn minutes anyway. Overall, guys came in and did what we needed them to do.”
Milton was very good in Tuesday’s win; he had 19 points and four rebounds in 23:14 of playing time. It seemed he and Howard were on the same page a lot early. The two of them had a natural sense of how to run the pick-and-roll, and Milton got Howard a couple of dunks.
“I definitely feel like it’s coming along well,” said Milton. “I think the more reps we get, me and him, just running the pick and roll, I think the more comfortable we’ll be able to get. Somebody like Dwight he’s going to set really good screens for me, and I know he’s going to get guys open, whoever the ball handler is. It makes your job and makes your reads a lot easier.”
It also helps to have a coach like Rivers who will continue to push the ball. Having Milton able to push the pace and have a guy like Howard running with him and the second unit will make a big difference in what the team wants to do.
“I feel like it’s easy,” Milton added. “It feels good to play for a coach like that. He gives you freedom, he’s going to challenge you, he’s going to make you work. At the end of the day, there’s always good coming of it, and he’s always trying to teach you something. There’s always a lesson behind it. For me, it’s just head down and keep working and do whatever he says.”
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