Taking Stock of Big Win Over Bucks, Shake Milton Interview

playmaking defensively as well. There's been a huge jump for me. Rookie Shake Milton is going to join us on this episode of the broadcast. How you doing out there, seventy Sixers Pie people. Great to be speaking with you on the heels of a big time win for the Sixers against Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday at Fiserve Forum, and the Sixers not done yet in terms of significant matchups on

the schedule this week. They obviously have the Charlotte Hornets in a game on Tuesday, and then they'll complete the back to back at home on Wednesday with the fourth and final regular season confrontation against the our rival Boston Celtics, setting up real nice and then after that, what's going to be ten games to go following the Celtics game. Amazing that we are already on that deep point of the season for this year. But the Sixers, as mentioned,

they are in the playoffs. That was what the outcome was of their whin against the Bucks on Sunday, combined with a loss by the Charlotte Hornets suffered at Miami. We'll talk about that Bucks game in a little bit more detail in just a matter of seconds, but wanted to remind you as we get underway that to subscribe

to the podcast, you can do a couple of things. Essentially, it's just a matter of going to any one of your favorite podcast hosting platforms wherever you get your pods, type in Sixers Podcast Network that will take you to our feed. We would love to have you as a follower and subscriber if you are not yet one already, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Pocketcasts, tune In, SoundCloud, a

whole host of others. Those are just some of the places you can go to get the Sixers podcast network feed. What a way it was to start the week. The seventy Sixers the number three seed in the Eastern Conference and the Milwaukee Bucks, the one seed in the East and the best team by record in the NBA Fiser Forum on ESPN, on ABC the Sunday Showcase, and it was clear very quickly the seventy Sixers came ready to

play up top. Jannis driving on Joel domalancats inside of the B block of Sixers ball been on the run to JJ right side running three ball got it j j running That not a game to get to heat up, say for a couple of brief back and forth minutes early in the second quarter. The Sixers never trailed the Bucks.

They were the ones in control throughout, looking every bit the more confident in sync Claude it'd be when it puts it off to no rebounds flave by seventh and a foul, Ben jumps up over and through Chris Middleton. We're here to compete, you know, we can compete with the best. We have an amazing team, and I think EB has done a great job of putting us all together. Obviously Coachy Brown and coaches after doing a good job. So it's fun. Fun. It certainly seemed to be something

the Sixers had no shortage of having. On Sunday, they extended their winning streak to a season high tying fourth game in a row. They dealt the Bucks just their sixth home loss of the season, and the Sixers maintained to hold on third place in the Eastern Conference standings. No performance on Sunday was bigger than that of the

Big Man. Now the monif wing one on one with the Dennick Cooper crosses them over down the night, puts up off balance, shop for the base like Ribby good put front ribbon and trickles and three to shoot Dwells back on. Lopez puts it up up big Man when a feathery touch cops it drives it off. That was baked head, improbable shot by Bed. But time to Joel. He's gonna shoot the three d Joel a Bed gives the Sixers of what twenty grade? What sixty league? And

he parts in the crowd. Yeah. Joel Embiide a total monster against Milwaukee. He was magnificent. His competitive spirit was full throttle. Forty points, fifteen rebounds, six assists against the Bucks. Forty fifteen and six, not against the lack luster opponent, not against a pretty good opponent, not even one of the elite opponents in the NBA, the best team with the highest rated defense. Amazing. Yeah, Jannison and a coupo. He put up big numbers two fifty two, sixteen and seven.

Totally get that and acknowledge it. But in the first half, Ebid did a really solid job as the primary defender on Yannis, making things uncomfortable for the freak and throwing the Bucks offense out of rhythm. With Embad leading the way, the message was sent, no doubt about it. We had

to lie make a statement. We had to get this way to see where we are a demoment, and everybody stepped up a statement showing indeed one thirty one twenty five the final score, and I actually thought it was a game that didn't feel quite as close as perhaps the final score suggested. But there was something else in Beid would say moments later that resonated just as Lad he told reporters were still learning how to play with each other. That's only the seventh game we played together.

We got a long way to go, and Beads, referring to the number of games that the current starting lineup in particular has played, that of course would be Embid Simmons, JJ Reddick and newcomers this season Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris. And given how little time the group has had together, you'd have to think embiad is right in his statement and what he was saying. The chemistry can only get better. But in the here and now, it's also worth noting

this and bead Simmons, Reddick, Butler and Harris. They've combined for the tenth best net rating of five man lineups that have played at least one hundred and fifteen minutes. Here's Harris, Jimmy Parler, tough three by foler is good nails and triple. If that's what they've managed to do with virtually no practice time at all, imagine what we might see from them. The more rep stay gain and

the more important the games are come scary. There were so much that they should be proud of and excited about. We had only played six games. Now you think of that number, truly, think about that number. We played six games with each other, and now we've played seven to go and play against, you know, one of the more consistent teams in the league, the best defensive team in the NBA, and to try to learn and grow our

team and move it forward. You know there's some talent in that role out about it, but there's no right to have like a fluid side and a chemistry and a symmetry. They have no right to have that, you know, not to anybody's faultics up to calendar and so growing that and being excited about that and trying to polish it up before the playoffs begin is a goal. Ultimately. The point we're trying to make here is this. Ever since Brown took over as head coach in August twenty thirteen,

he's demanded a certain style of play. You could probably recite it by road by bal pace, space defense, but more than that, from a holistic standpoint, Brown has wanted his system to be capable of absorbing talent. How many times have we heard Brett Brown say that over the years when the team was going through struggles building itself up. We're trying to build a system that can absorb talent,

either through the draft, free agency, or by trade. And this season in particular, the mechanism of absorbing talent was trades with Minnesota for Jimmy Butler, with the LA Clippers for Tobias Harris, right now, we're seeing that philosophy at work with seventy six Ers three point up. All right. So after Milwaukee and that win on Sunday, another big

test looms in bosson Wednesday at the Center. You cannot forget the Charlotte Hornets game at Spectrum Center on Tuesday against a Hornet squad that is fighting for dear life to get into the playoff picture. As we shift scenes a bit, in Wilmington, Delaware, the Bluecoats are wrapping up their inaugural season in terms of that name in the NBA G League, and one of the Sixers draft picks has been tearing it up, Jake Milton, trying to give

the Bluecoats the lead and one for Shake Milton. We'll hear from Shake Milton, the fifty fourth pick in this past year's draft out of SMU next. But before we hear from Shake, I wanted to talk about some things that are out there the Sixers are doing. The kids. Not sure if you've heard the word, but the seventy Sixers Kids Club is now activated, up and running, presented by five Blow, we are introducing, Yes, the seventy Sixers Kids Club membership is only thirty five Bucks and includes

a welcome kit team store discount. Can't beat that right, five blow gift card. Come on, this is great stuff and much much more of being inaugural member and sign up today at sixers dot com slash Kids Club. That is sixers dot com slash Kids Club and also coming up this summer, it's another edition of seventy six Ers Camps presented by Rothman ORTHOPEDICX. Celebrating the thirty fifth anniversary of seventy six Ers Camps presented by Rothman ORTHOPEDICX empowered

by EESF. It is now open for registration day and overnight camps are available throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware for boys and girls ages five to seventeen. For more information, visit seventy six Erscamps dot com or call six one zero six sixty eight seven six seven six again that's six one zero six six eighty seven six seven six one last thing about the kids. If you have not yet been down to Wilmington, Delaware, I could not recommend

it more. Highly outstanding brand Spank, a new facility in seventy six Ers Field House, and a high energy G League team in the Bluecoats to go along with it. I actually had the chance to go down there on Monday to see the Bluecoats take on the Canton Charge. Game got off to a little bit of a ragged and slow start, but down the stretch, one dude in particular gave the Blue Coats a fighting chance from overcoming a twenty five point deficit, and that would be none

other than Shake Milton. Shake Milton was the fifty fourth pick in this past year's draft. I think a lot of draft experts thought that he perhaps could have gone higher in the draft had it not been for an injury that cut short his junior campaign at SMU after twenty two games, but he finished with twenty six points overall, shot four of eight from outside the arc. His fourth quarter was tremendous. He scored eighteen points on six for nine shooting. All four of his threes came in the

final period. He had a great, great game. At the beginning of this week, Shake was number three in the G League and scoring it just under twenty five points per game, and before the Blue Coats tipped off against the Canton Charge, I had a chance to sit down with Shake Milton and talk about his first season as a pro shake. I feel like we've seen you at various stages across the season, whether it's been up with the seventy six ers doing your thing with the Delaware

Blue Coats. Bring us up to speed. How do you think things have been going in your first year as a pro? I feel like things have gone really well. One of the things I wanted to accomplish my first year of being a professional is just to become all around better player, and I feel like i've I've done that. Hasn't been easy, but there's been ups and downs, but that's kind of what I expected coming into this, so I'm happy with where I'm at. How do you manage

the ups and downs? You've been injured at times, but you know this recent situation and you've come back and seems like you've been playing really strong since your return. I think you just have to be level headed. It's about having the right people around you, people that keep you focused. And I mean, as long as you know the reason why that you know that you're doing what you're doing, You're knowing your why. I feel like it's you can keep it all in perspective and it makes

it easy. Have you always been like that? You've been able to channel some inner level headedness and keep your mind focused along that track. I think it's just kind of my personality. I'm not I never get too high, I never get too low. So yeah, and I mean the people I've had around me, I've been really good about keeping me level headed too and helping me out with that aspect. So it hasn't really been too difficult.

When you look back to, let's say the fall, when training camp first came together and you were working your way towards the season, where do you think the biggest strides you've made have been in your overall development, Because that's really what this year has been about, right develop it. I feel like I've just developed all parts of my game, shooting, passing, playmaking defensively as well. It's been a huge jump for me.

I feel like just everywhere I've just tried to level up, and I feel like the coaches have done a really good job of kind of helping me do that, especially since I kind of had to learn on the fly. I was I was hurt most of the preseason, so I really didn't get a chance to work on my game too much. I kind of just hit the ground running, So I feel like I did pretty well, you know, coming from that were concerned at any point that you might be behind the eight ball because of some of

the time you missed. Nah, I mean once I started to get a rhythm back for the game of basketball and just you know, get to play more and more. The more confident I felt, and you know, the better I felt upon my game. It's easy to see your scoring numbers and your averages as far as things that jump out at the time that we're recording this year number three in the G League. I think in scoring what has allowed you to be effective at getting the

ball in the basket at this level. I think my teammates they do a really good job of giving me the ball and then giving me confidence well to go and make plays and and do what I do. And I think it ultimately allows me to, you know, get them involved as well, because I don't want to be a selfish player, so um, I think, you know, the confidence that they give me allows me to go out

there and do what I do. Do you feel like this is you know, some things have been I don't want to say easier, but if things come to you more quickly than you might have expected at this level, like was there? You know, it's I feel like every player's answer is different. But you know, are there numbers that you have in mind, like you know, tangible stats. You went into this season saying like, hey, I want to do this offensively, I would like to be this

type of player defensively. No, I didn't. I didn't really set any number goals or number like goals number wise or anything like that. I just kind of wanted to judge myself just the way that I felt, um, the way that I was able to compete against others on

the floor, and I feel pretty good about it. When it comes to scoring or having the basketball in your hands, there's a lot more than just I would think getting the ball into the basket decision making wise, Have you been challenged this season to look at what you do when the balls in your hands, the type of decisions, the reads you make, that sort of thing. Um, I would say yes, but I've always been challenged to do that. This wasn't my first time. You know, they have me

playing some point guard now with this. I've been playing point guard my whole life, so it's kind of been the same reads, but just fine tuning it and and getting better, and you know you're limiting the mistakes more and more as you go and as you learn. When you hear about I don't want to say I think minor league is the wrong context for it. I used to do. I used to work in minor league baseball, So I think when I think of the G League,

I think back at that time in my life. You know, we'd go on long bus trips and there would be times when the bus stalls out in the middle of your trip, and you know it's scorching hot out and you gotta wait a couple of hours with the bus to be fixed. What are some stories. Tell me some stories about being in a developmental league. I've got to think that there's probably some fun, crazy type situations that

you guys have found yourself in this year. Yeah, I don't I don't remember where we were at, but I remember remember we had played a game, and we had a game the next day, I think, and we were stuck at the hotel because of the weather, and they had a bus come to get us and it broke down, and so we were sitting there waiting at the hotel and then had another bus coming to get us. And that broke down as well, and they had another bus

coming that woman also broke down. So I think it was we didn't ended up getting in until it was super duper late, and then we had to wake up the next morning and play another game. So I mean, I guess that just comes where it kind of reminds me of a basketball you know, you kind of just lace them up and go. And in some ways, I think that's that's got to be a neat part of it.

Like I remember again going back to minor league baseball, where it's like you wouldn't arrive in a city until maybe six in the morning, the team got a couple hours asleep, and they would call it just show and go games where you get to the park just do

your thing. Is there a simplicity to that sometimes where it almost forces you to zero win on the essentials of what's necessary, where you know, instead of getting wrapped up and like I gotta do this pre game that game, it's just focusing on what really is the essence of playing the game. Um yeah, I could definitely say that.

It kind of feels good. I mean, that's why some guys my life, having back to back games or a lot of games in a row where you don't have to even worry about practice or shoot arounds or anything like that. You kind of just, you know, lace them up and play. And that's kind of the same thing you've been doing all the while since you were a little kid. So I mean it kind of brings you

back to that. Before you went on this current tear with the Bluecoats and before the injury, you were up with the seventy Sixers towards the end of that month of January when the team was on a West coast trip. Do you find yourself, as a human nature to wonder when calls will come, when you'll get called up? Do you think about that? How do you handle that part of it? I just try not to think about it. I just try to keep my mind focused on the

task at hand and what I'm doing currently. You know, when I'm in with the G League team, I try to focus strictly on them and you know, who our opponent is and what I have to do for us to be successful. And then when I'm with the Sixers, I try to, you know, switch my mindset and focus on the same thing. So I don't try to worry about when a call up is coming. I think my job is to make it as hard as I can on whoever is making that decision to not have me

up there. So that's just what I try to try to do, you know, defensively, offensively, I just try to make it hard for them not to have me up there. Brett Brown Is said on a couple occasions, especially after games you've been up with the seventy six ers, that you do things that pop, that stand out that in some way, shape or form, there's ways that you're getting noticed. How much different is it playing down here versus at the NBA level, that sort of thing, and what's the same?

What are certain things that are normalized? Um, I mean, I would probably say the physicality is a little different than the NBA. But outside of that, you know, there's still there's great talent down here. Everybody plays hard, everybody's fighting for the same thing, so of course guys are going to be competitive, I mean, and at the end of the day, it's just basketball, so you kind of

just it's the same thing you've been doing. You might have nerves, you might have jitters, but whenever the ball is tossing the air, you know, it's just basketball. When you take a look at how the season has gone for yourself offensively, we're saying things looking pretty good defensively. Tell me where you think your game is at right now? Um,

I feel like I feel I feel pretty good about it. Um. And I feel like the coaches who have been working with me have also been doing a good job of challenging me to be better in areas and I feel like I'm trying to step up to that challenge. And um, that's something that I know I can do. So Um, it's just about going out there and proving it every night. What are the things defensively that you think that you need to master? Just being long, continue to use my length, um,

and just being active at all times. Were you surprised when you found out Aamir Johnson was going to come down here? Um? I don't know if I was surprised. I was happy. You know, he's a he's an og Um, that's my guy. Um, you know, he's a. He's a He's a great player and an even better person. And so UM to of him or somebody like him in our locker room has been huge. And he rubs off on everybody the right way when the focus at this level is so much on individual development that is the

top priority. It seems like, I mean, obviously everyone wants to win games. How does that affect the way a team interplays with one another, that sort of thing, the dynamics, and in some ways, you know, I almost got to think like everyone's going through it, everyone's trying to get noticed to a certain degree, and in some wady's going to even bring you guys together. Yeah, I think so. I think you know, it always goes back to the game of basketball. Everybody been playing it since they were

young or whatever. So I mean, everybody wants to be competitive, and everybody wants to win, and so from that aspect, I think everybody kind of buys in and that's where the team's focuses now, you know, individually, or in practices or after you know, you're getting getting up early and going and getting your own work in. I mean, that's probably more of the player development side, because the coaches do a really good job of being available for that too.

But when you stop on the court as a team and you know you got your teammates right next to you, you know, everybody's mind is focused on winning. No one wants to lose. What type of relationship have you developed of the course of the season with Zaire, Oh, Zaire, that's that's my guy. He's funny. People probably don't realize it because he think he's quiet, but he's funny. Um, he's in you know, freak of nature, athletic and you know, the more he continues to play, the more confidence he's

gonna get and everybody's just going to start too. Kind of player he can really be. Can you give us some insights on how he's funny, because right when we speak with him, it's very direct, almost like yes sir, no, sir, yes, ma'am, no man questions. You know, he gets straight to the point and that's it. Yeah, he's uh, I don't know, it's it's probably hard to describe. You probably just have to be around him to kind of see some of the things he does or the way he moves or

some of the things that he might say. But yeah, if you're around him, you'll probably be laughing, pretty happy for him to see him, be able to see through what he went through and nat again and stuff. Definitely, Yeah, I means is crazy, the type of stuff that he's been through for him to be able to bounce back is is while you know, it just goes to show how how strong he is and how strong the team

that he has around him is. As well. As you wrap this up regular season and for the Bluecoats on March twenty third, what are you focused on after that? I'm sure I'll have a chance to be up with the seventy six ers working with the big team. Yeah, that's where my mind will go. And then also just continuing to work on my body and just continuing to

find him my game. You know, he never really stopped, and I gotta think that it For as much as you've been able to do and accomplish this season, it's almost like, is there a sense within you like it just kind of what's the appetite you've gotten to taste this year? And then you look forward to next year and how things might even be able to build for

your own game. Yeah. I mean every time you're able to go up there and experience being in the NBA and with that feels like if it definitely makes you hungry and it makes you even more motivated whenever you you're down here to you know, prove why you shouldn't be Shakenel so much, man, I appreciate it. Appreciate it right hearing from Shake Milton then getting his thoughts on

what his rookie season has been like. And at any development league level, I am sure you speak to minor league baseball players G league players going to the different minor league hockey affiliations, You're going to get crazy stories about, you know, buses that break down or planes that are delayed. I just want to know if the Blue Coats kept using I should have filed this up with Shake, if the Blue Coats kept using the same bus company time after time that they needed to get to the airport

as Shake Milton was describing in that story. All right, big thanks to Shake Milton for taking the time to talk on the podcast on a game day, and thanks to you as always for listening. Stay tuned. We'll have rewind editions to the podcast coming up with games this week, and I'll be back at it with another episode of the broadcast here next week. Say