The Fate of Shake Milton

[Sixercise]

Fingers crossed that he doesn't get lost completely after the big trade, but most of us here on the board have noticed that Shake just doesn't have the same hop in his step from the last 2 years....granted, he was asked to be the backup point guard/playmaker (when his dribble penetration wasn't really a strength, even with some improvements). He just looks like he forgot how to shoot this year (his main asset)

Question is, how many games would you give him before his fate is determined for good?

[HardenMe]

There seems to be a strong correlation between his muscle growth/focus on strength training and his drop off in shooting. His touch looked fantastic his rookie year then turned to **** after.

[76ciology]

Frustrating but we need his shooting and he’s better than what he is now.

[XtremeDunkz]

I still remember that one Clippers game. I thought he was a future 6th man of the year.

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[Skates]

He has never been a great or really even a good NBA athlete, more crafty and skill, change of pace based. He worked all year at playing on the ball, it will take him some time to adjust the other way. Still makes a perfectly fine third PG and could hop back into the rotation at any point, not like anyone on the bench is balling out.

I thought for certain he was a goner at the deadline, but still hear, closest thing we have to a third guard. Kind of like Harris, good at a fair number of things, great at none.

[elchengue20]

Never understood why some had a lot of expectations/faith in him on this board.

To me, he always looked like a borderline NBA rotation player.

I guess when you are starving for a reliable guard, anyone with some decent skills looks way better than he really is.

Some people in here even were cherrypicking advanced stats on small samples to say he is better than players like Donovan Mitchell, my goodness.

[Arsenal]

Is he still hurt? His game has majorly regressed this year.

Last years Shake would be a useful bench piece.

[Murray_17]

Last years Shake would be a useful bench piece.

Last year Shake fell off the rotation before the playoffs, even when he was one of Doc's favorites.

The moment he altered his shot he killed his career. A sixer's classic

[Sixersftw]

This is a Sixers meme at this point. His shot ded.

[SixthStreet]

I'm not writing Milton off yet, especially in his new limited role of off ball shooter. Back injuries are tricky and can require playing it back into form and confidence. I think he's going to figure prominently in the bench rotation at some point this year.

[HotelVitale]

Never understood why some had a lot of expectations/faith in him on this board. To me, he always looked like a borderline NBA rotation player..

Well if you're arguing with a strawman ('Shake's a future all-NBA dude!') then sure, but you're maybe forgetting some things if you don't remember how he had some exciting developments.

Milton came into the league as a slick shooter with great length but not much special athleticism. He shot 42%+ from 3 in college every season and it was expected he could hit open 3s. Then in his 2nd-3rd season he clearly showed the ability to make all sorts of clever NBA-ready finishes, weaving through people in transition, shooting his odd little runner, euro-stepping around folks, etc. He was also decent at distributing and took care of the ball well. He looked very very good for a back-up scorer at times, and it wasn't just fluke stuff--he had the game and skills to back it up and we saw it many times over.

Problem was he lost his shooting consistency, and his consistency overall. Who knows why that happened, and if it might stop at some point. It's very true that he needs to be the best version of himself to be a good player, but that's true of Maxey as well and we're not expecting him to lose his shot and confidence at any moment now.

[blargh]

For better or for worse, Shake’s best case scenario is Harden-lite: a combo guard with decent size and strength to make up for a lack of athleticism. The glass half-full view would be that he potentially has a lot to learn from Harden’s game. The half-empty view would be he’s kind of redundant at his level of efficiency right now.

[Negrodamus]

I've been a Shake Milton guy since we drafted him. Pumped him up in the draft process and was even watching him since his sophomore year at SMU....

That said, give his minutes to Springer. Springer, if given the minutes, would probably be a top 15-20 defender in the league right now. If you give him "Robert Covington" instructions, he provides more than what Shake can for this team.

[sixers hoops]

Last years Shake would be a useful bench piece.

Last year Shake fell off the rotation before the playoffs, even when he was one of Doc's favorites.

The moment he altered his shot he killed his career. A sixer's classic

I saw you referred to this in a previous post, regarding the person who told him to change his shot. I just assumed he developed a bad habit or something trying to get his shot off quicker.

Who supposedly instructed him to change his shot?

[sixers hoops]

I've been a Shake Milton guy since we drafted him. Pumped him up in the draft process and was even watching him since his sophomore year at SMU....

That said, give his minutes to Springer. Springer, if given the minutes, would probably be a top 15-20 defender in the league right now. If you give him "Robert Covington" instructions, he provides more than what Shake can for this team.

I don’t get Korkmaz still getting minutes. Shake/Furkan had 29 and 21 minutes in the two games with Harden. Shake is a better passer, shooter from the field, and defender. They are both 35% for career and 29% this season from three. And both make bone-headed plays. At least give Shake an extended look off the ball for a 10 game stretch. Korkmaz stinks. Shake was asked to play point guard which he isn’t good at. Let’s give Shake an opportunity to work as the two and see if we get some positive results.

I know what Korkmaz is. I’ve seen five years of it. Shake has had four years, with one in the g-league, a lot of injuries and role changes to say he can’t give us more. Korkmaz had played 242 games to Shake’s 156 games. And in that time Shake’s role has changed a lot.

[Jailblazers7]

He’s a goner and probably out of the league soon. His jumper is so broken and unless he turns that around quickly (which is almost impossible to do) he doesn’t have any standout skill or physica advantage to stick on an NBA roster.

[mjkvol]

I've been a Shake Milton guy since we drafted him. Pumped him up in the draft process and was even watching him since his sophomore year at SMU....

That said, give his minutes to Springer. Springer, if given the minutes, would probably be a top 15-20 defender in the league right now. If you give him "Robert Covington" instructions, he provides more than what Shake can for this team.

I don’t get Korkmaz still getting minutes. Shake/Furkan had 29 and 21 minutes in the two games with Harden. Shake is a better passer, shooter from the field, and defender. They are both 35% for career and 29% this season from three. And both make bone-headed plays. At least give Shake an extended look off the ball for a 10 game stretch. Korkmaz stinks. Shake was asked to play point guard which he isn’t good at. Let’s give Shake an opportunity to work as the two and see if we get some positive results.

I know what Korkmaz is. I’ve seen five years of it. Shake has had four years, with one in the g-league, a lot of injuries and role changes to say he can’t give us more. Korkmaz had played 242 games to Shake’s 156 games. And in that time Shake’s role has changed a lot.

Agree with this 100%. I'm willing to give Shake an opportunity to carve out a role in the rotation, as if we get anything close to his best he can be a valuable role player come playoff time.

But enough with Korkmaz. As you say, we've all seen what he is, and it isn't worthy of the kind of PT he's getting. Doc is infuriating in his reluctance to give some run to young players who might pay huge dividends in a big spot at some point. Joe is taylor made to be a sniper off the bench in this offense, and it's borderline coaching incompetence not given him a shot right now.

Not for anything, but I'd bet money that a great coach with vision like Spo or Kerr would be seeing what they have in Joe, Bassey, and Reed, the possibility being to find solid rotation players on rookie deals.

[Sixerscan]

He just missed a month and a half with a back injury. Unless some miracle buyout guy falls out of the sky have to hope one of him or Furkan start playing like they did for stretches last year. They've been useful bench pieces in the past, doubt they just completely forgot how to play.

[Embiid P]

I'd say he's pretty much done here like Korkmaz with the emergence of Maxey and the acquisition of Harden. His ceiling at this point is solid bench player on a bottom feeder or a benchwarmer on a contender.

I'm guessing he'll be gone in the offseason, hopefully with Harris and Korkmaz.

[sixers hoops]

I'd say he's pretty much done here like Korkmaz with the emergence of Maxey and the acquisition of Harden. His ceiling at this point is solid bench player on a bottom feeder or a benchwarmer on a contender.

I'm guessing he'll be gone in the offseason, hopefully with Harris and Korkmaz.

Even with Maxey and Harden, they have 25 guard minutes/game to fill with nobody seizing the opportunity, so I don’t think Harden and Maxey prevent him from playing at all. To the contrary, they really need him to step up because nobody is making a case for those minutes. I think 2019-20 Shake is the perfect player for that role, and I think they have little to lose by trying to give him a shot at it. Korkmaz also has one season of 40% from deep, but doesn’t even shoot well inside the arc, defends worse than Shake, and has had a lot more opportunities to be a bench two for us.

Ideally, they get someone reliable this off-season, but playing Korkmaz and Shake both 12 minutes each a game isn’t the right play for me. Let Shake get the minutes for a few weeks and maybe he gets more comfortable in the role, and we get lucky.