Brett Brown's Ready to Name Shake Milton the Starting PG With Ben Simmons Out

PHILADELPHIA, PA -- Injuries aren't foreign to the Philadelphia 76ers. Every year they tend to deal with a notable amount of setbacks from several areas on their roster. When it comes to the starting point guard position, however, the Sixers can typically rely on their guy Ben Simmons to be healthy and available.

Lately, that hasn't been the case, though. After starting and appearing in 54 games this season, Simmons ended up getting injured just before the final third of the 2020 NBA schedule tipped off. After being diagnosed with a nerve impingement in his lower back, Simmons is now ruled out for the next two weeks and potentially beyond.

For a team that didn't have a true backup point guard to name, the Sixers knew right off the bat they weren't equipped to replace Simmons in the slightest. Therefore, Sixers' head coach Brett Brown was ready to take an unorthodox approach to try and fill the void of the two-time All-Star by utilizing a committee of point guards.

Earlier in the week, Brown named a handful of candidates up for the job. Raul Neto, Alec Burks, Josh Richardson, Furkan Korkmaz, and Shake Milton were his five selections. Since teasing the idea, Brown avoided playing Neto, kept Burks off the ball, and decided Korkmaz is better off elsewhere when coming off the bench.

Just like that, the battle was left between Josh Richardson and Shake Milton. Knowing that Richardson is starting at shooting guard no matter what, Brown hasn't hesitated to name Milton the starting point guard for the last three games. During that short span, Milton has knocked down 61-percent of his shots from the field, averaging 15 points-per-game.

After his most recent 19-point performance in the win over the New York Knicks, Milton might've won Brown over officially as the Sixers' head coach declared the second-year guard as the winner of the "tournament" on Thursday night. Although Milton didn't have a clue about it yet, Brown made it clear he has found his guy for the time being.

"He's just becoming consistently reliable on a bunch of things," Brown said in regards to Milton's latest performances. "He's deceptively long, and I think he's improved tremendously defensively. The statistics, making shots, and being our point guard. If everybody is looking for a tournament, he's winning it. He's the starting point guard."

A humbled Milton wasn't shocked when he heard about Brown's declaration regarding the point guard position. Considering how quickly things change around the NBA -- especially for the Sixers, who tend to shake up their rotations frequently -- Milton is just focused on staying ready for each and every opportunity that comes his way.

"When somebody goes down, you kind of have an idea that your number might be called," Milton said, following the victory over New York. "We are just making sure that we are super locked into what the team is doing defensively and offensively so that when your number is called, you're ready to step in and make an impact."

While Milton's time with the Sixers has been an up and down experience, his progress as of late has been interesting to watch. Once Brown trusted the young guard enough to consistently issue Milton over 20 minutes-per-game during the last four matchups, the former second-rounder hasn't disappointed. Not only is the team learning he's a serviceable replacement for Simmons at the moment -- but they're also finding out that Milton could potentially crack the nine-man playoff rotation as a backup point guard.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_