This is the beginning of a new series by Sixers Wire to pass the time for everybody for the All-Star break. We’re going to take a look back at the 3 goals series from the offseason and see how each player has done in achieving those goals as well as give them a rating on how their season has gone. The rating will be based on a scale of 10 with 10 being how their season has gone based on the goals.
After taking a look at a few guys at the end of the bench, we now turn our attention to a guy who has made some strides forward in 2019-20 and that’s Shake Milton. The Sixers 2018 second-round pick has played well enough to go from a two-way contract player to a guy who can be in an NBA rotation. The Sixers’ new acquisitions now probably move in front of him, but he can still make an impact when called upon.
With that said, we’ll now revisit his 3 goals from the offseason and see how he did in achieving them:
Starting strong
Milton did start strong enough to actually earn a consistent role off coach Brett Brown’s bench to begin the season. Then, he suffered a knee injury on October 28 that kept him out for an extended period of time that allowed Furkan Korkmaz and Matisse Thybulle to take a stronghold grip of his spot in the rotation. However, he has done enough to earn Brown’s trust when he needs someone.
For example, Brown called upon Milton to start all six games when Josh Richardson was out. It was the first start’s of Milton’s career and Brown trusted him to run the pick-and-roll game with Ben Simmons and allow him to remain the roller on the team. He serves a purpose on this team.
Forgetting about Summer League
Milton had a tough time shooting the ball in Summer League, but his shooting woes have not traveled with him to the regular season. Milton is shooting 33.3% from deep on the season, but in eight games as a starter, he shot 37.9% from deep and he averaged 10.3 points. He scored a career-high 27 points against the Atlanta Hawks on January 30.
Shooting the ball
As mentioned above, Milton has been able to shoot the ball and do it confidently. That part of his game has always been there, but the most important part of his game that has taken steps forward is his playmaking and his ball-handling ability.
The Sixers have been trying to make the change of Simmons to the roller in their offense and use his 6-foot-10 frame to get to the rim and finish and without Richardson for six games, it was tough to do so. Instead, Milton was able to step in and the team did not miss a beat there offensively. He looked like a legitimate rotation player in this league.
Rating: 8/10 [lawrence-related id=25772,25760,25742]