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Larry Brown has a few connections to the Philadelphia 76ers organization. Along with the fact that he coached them for six seasons while guiding them to the NBA Finals in 2001, he has a direct connection with the current starting point guard for the team.
Shake Milton, starting for an injured Ben Simmons, played for Brown for only half a season at SMU before Brown stepped down in the 2015-16 season, but he got a lot out of that experience. He recently opened up on his relationship with the legendary coach, but he also wanted to expand on it a little bit.
Brown is known for being tough on his points–see Iverson, Allen–and Milton was no different.
“He was tough, but at the end of the day, I knew that he was always going to take care of you and he always gave that type of vibe off too,” he said. “It made it easier to take his coaching and you kind of grew out of it and you could see where your growth is coming from.”
One can see the growth of Milton in his second season in the league. He has been terrific filling in for Simmons and he is turning heads around the league. He had a career-high 39 points against the Los Angeles Clippers and, despite constant pressure from Avery Bradley and the Los Angeles Lakers, he had 12 points and six assists on Tuesday.
Milton is continuing to grow as a player and he has the attention of Brown after a few years away from SMU.
“Every time he talks to me, he just sends me words of encouragement,” Milton added. “Whether it’s just ‘keep going’ or ‘be aggressive’ or ‘sending love to your family’, he’s a great guy and he’s always looking out for me.”
It’s always good for a young point guard like Milton to have a guy like Brown looking out for him. Brown is the only coach in basketball history to have won a college championship as well as an NBA championship so he has a wealth of experience and knowledge that he can pass on to Milton.
He will definitely need it as he looks to guide the Sixers on this road trip. They head to Sacramento on Thursday to face the Kings looking to end a nasty nine-game road losing skid. [lawrence-related id=27057,27047,27039]