Sixers Notes: Milton, Broekhoff, Simmons, Harris

One of the Sixers‘ priorities will be deciding what role Shake Milton will play, writes Derek Bodner of The Athletic. The second-year guard hadn’t seen much playing time before injuries to teammates gave him an opportunity shortly before the hiatus. In the final nine games before the break, Milton averaged 17.8 points and 4.1 assists while shooting 57.4% from the field and 60.4% beyond the arc.

Most of that production came after Ben Simmons was sidelined with a back injury. Now that Simmons has recovered, coach Brett Brown will have to take a fresh look at how all the pieces fit together and determine whether both guards will be in the starting lineup.

“Ben’s an amazing player,” Milton said. “He’s very unselfish. I mean, I’m unselfish too. I feel like we could definitely feed off each other. His ability to pass, his ability to see the court, his ability to play defense … I don’t see it being a problem at all.”

There’s more Sixers news to pass along:

  • Newly signed Ryan Broekhoff wasn’t part of the Sixers’ traveling party to Orlando, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. The team didn’t offer any other information before this morning’s practice session, and a spokesman said updates will be provided when appropriate. The former Mavericks shooting guard signed with Philadelphia in late June.
  • Even though Simmons has proclaimed himself fully healthy, Brown intends to bring him along slowly until the actual games begin, Pompey tweets“I think in general when you look at the scrimmage situations, you’re going to see something that’s quite frugal,” Brown said. “I believe when it gets in the regular-season games, you are going to see normal numbers that I played him. That answer isn’t delivered because of anything to do with health. It’s delivered because I think that’s the way I want to do it, and the way that I will do it with (Joel Embiid) and Tobias (Harris) as examples, because of their stature more than anything to do with health.”
  • After acknowledging chemistry has been an issue with the Sixers this season, Harris became a leader in maintaining communication with teammates during the break, writes Paul Hudrick of NBC Sports Philadelphia. “I think it’s always important to make sure guys mentally are in the right space,” Harris said. “Just being a teammate or brother. We were around each other for so long, so when we go into quarantine with the pandemic we have, I just thought it was really important to keep us in the loop with one another with what we’re doing.”
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