If this were the 76ers of a few years ago, you just know that Shake Milton would be averaging 17 points per game while getting to chuck any shot he wanted. Maybe he’d even be in the convo for ROY.
But this is not the 76ers of a few years ago. This is the 76ers of now, and they have deeper aspirations than “play our drafted rookies so much that their limbs fall off because the rest of the team is entirely G-Leaguers”. Yeah, I think it’s stupid too, this new direction that they’re taking, but some people think potentially contending for a championship, and at the very least making some noise in the playoffs, is more fun than assembling a scrub-filled roster, top-to-bottom, and watching it win 10 games over the season.
With these playoff aspirations comes limited minutes for late-second-round rookies. Milton was born in the wrong generation, truly. He gets to play sometimes, but it’s not usually for very long. He’s played so little that I don’t have any idea if he’s actually looking good or not. None at all. I know he’s hit a few shots, which is always a good sign. He hit a few more tonight, and he didn’t look overwhelmed out there. Confident. Smooth. Those are two adjectives that you could use to describe his play tonight. Male. There’s a third one for you, but that one describes his play every night.