The Philadelphia 76ers will have a lot of questions to answer once the season resumes in Orlando and one of those questions will be who plays backup point guard for them?
In the preseason, coach Brett Brown hinted that Josh Richardson would be groomed and prepared to play backup point guard once the postseason rolled around and have him handle the ball more. However, as time went on, Shake Milton proved that he could handle the role well and it seems like he will get a look as well. Both of those players can move off the ball as well and give Philadelphia a versatile lineup.
However, when Ben Simmons goes to the bench, who is going to be the point guard?
At the moment, Milton looks like he will get those minutes. He was a consistent starter over the final 20 games heading into the league suspension due to injuries to both Richardson and Simmons and he handled it very well. He averaged 12.8 points and 3.1 assists and he shot 51.2% from deep. It also helps that on January 24, Brown said that Milton would handle the ball with Simmons becoming a roller in the team’s pick-and-roll offense–which Philadelphia runs only 13.1% of the time on offense per NBA Stats.
This was after Richardson’s injury he suffered against the Toronto Raptors. Brown said at practice in January:
“When you take out J-Rich, you wonder about ‘What’s it look like?’ if I want to pursue and continue to grow that part of Ben’s game and our understanding of how do we take the group and maximize it?” continued Brown. “And Shake has a chance to come in here and play a role in that and my intention is to continue to look at that.”
It isn’t like Richardson can’t do the job. He’s averaging 3.1 assists in his first season in Philadelphia and and that number jumped to 4.1 assists from December 18 to January 20 before the injury. He was the guy who was running the offense and handling the ball initially with Simmons, but that time missed did open the door for Milton to step in and shine the way he did.
Milton could also become the guy who could become a starter in Orlando as the Sixers mull the idea of bringing veteran Al Horford off the bench. Considering his hot streak heading into the league suspension, it would make the most sense that he would be the guy the Sixers would turn to in an attempt to back up Simmons consistently. He could easily slide over to the point guard spot when he goes to the bench and continue having Richardson on the wing.
The team is in an enviable position as they have multiple players who can handle the ball in Simmons, Milton, and Richardson. This will come in handy when the playoffs do begin in mid-August. [lawrence-related id=33762,33750,33740]