Sixers' Shake Milton is Content With Coming Off the Bench
Late last season, former Sixers head coach Brett Brown went from having Shake Milton out of the team's rotation to starting him. At the time, the 76ers had a handful of injuries, which gave Brown no choice but to roll the dice on Milton.
As it turned out, Milton belonged on the floor. After a stellar stretch of games before the NBA's COVID-19 hiatus, the 76ers decided to roll with Milton as the starting point guard upon the season's restart down in the Orlando bubble.
Milton did a solid job in the starting lineup, but Brown's firing left the young veteran unsure of his role moving forward. As Doc Rivers came into the building, he knew better than anybody that Milton would be a key player in his rotation.
After all, Milton played his best game to date against Rivers' former team, the Los Angeles Clippers. While Milton is good enough to crack the Sixers' starting lineup, Rivers took a liking to have the third-year guard come off the bench.
So far, Milton has impressed as Philly's sixth man. This year, Milton has averaged 15 points-per-game in ten games while knocking down 49-percent of his shots from the field. To compare, Milton averaged 9.4 points-per-game, shooting 48-percent from the field last season.
Typically, a player in Milton's shoes might press for a job in the starting lineup as he continues to succeed. However, the third-year guard is hardly worried about whether he comes on the court at tip-off or enters the game later on in the first quarter.
"I just want to do whatever is best for the team -- whatever helps the team win," Milton said on Saturday following the Sixers' morning shootaround in Memphis. "It doesn't really matter if I'm starting or not, it's just an opportunity thing, and I have a really good opportunity coming off the bench right now."
While Milton is content with coming off the bench as he's thriving in his role, he's not opposed to a possible move to the starting lineup if it's offered. "If coach asked me to move to the starting [lineup], then I'll start. . . I have no problem with it," Milton explained. "But if he asked me to come off the bench, I'm going to continue to do what I do -- it's as easy as that."
Doc Rivers has made it clear on several occasions that Milton doesn't have a permanent role coming off the bench, as making him a starter is always an option. For the time being, though, he likes the 24-year-old guard's current role. Both parties could change their stance in the distant future, but from Milton's perspective, he's more than happy thriving as a sixth-man for the Sixers.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_
