Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers Podcast network
Speaker 1: search seventy Sixers Podcast wherever you get your pods. We
Speaker 1: are back on a Monday, and that means it's time
Speaker 1: for another mail bag Mounday. I'm Brian Seltzer, I'm Laren Rosen,
Speaker 1: And if you were following along in seventy Sixers World
Speaker 1: on Sunday night, you knew that at around seven o'clock
Speaker 1: there was supposed to be a game. Well ninety minutes
Speaker 1: before that, we learned there was not going to be
Speaker 1: a Sixers game. Their matchup on the road, second night
Speaker 1: of a back to back against Oklahoma City was postponed
Speaker 1: as a result of precautionary measures surrounding a positive test
Speaker 1: that resulted from the seventy Sixers game against Memphis on Saturday,
Speaker 1: A very tight, close game. The Sixers came up two
Speaker 1: points short. What would you end up doing with the
Speaker 1: free Sunday night, Lauren? I had a family virtual birthday situation,
Speaker 1: so I was going to be balancing that with the
Speaker 1: game anyway, and so it was kind of nice that
Speaker 1: I got to just focus on one thing instead of
Speaker 1: having split attention. It was meant to be a Rosen
Speaker 1: family gathering virtual style, uninterrupted. Indeed, great, excellent. Well, we
Speaker 1: just try to make use of our our free nights
Speaker 1: and we can. I ordered some Chinese with a wife, kids,
Speaker 1: went down to bed at a reasonable hour, and we
Speaker 1: watched the first two episodes of Your Honor on Showtime.
Speaker 1: Not sure if you've heard of it, Brian Cranston, new show.
Speaker 1: I've heard it's excellent. Actually, someone just told me about
Speaker 1: that show yesterday, so I might have to check it out.
Speaker 1: I was glued, I was fixed to it. I had
Speaker 1: to cut myself off after two episodes because it was
Speaker 1: getting late. My wife fell asleep after the first one,
Speaker 1: but she even still liked it. She watched one and
Speaker 1: then fell asleep. So usually her quota for an episode
Speaker 1: on a night watch is like one, so we got
Speaker 1: one out of her, and then she fell asleep for
Speaker 1: episode two, and now I'm gonna have to go back
Speaker 1: and rewatch episode two with her. But it's good. I
Speaker 1: like it, So that love that for you, guys. I'm
Speaker 1: glad you got to have it non basketball evening as
Speaker 1: a couple. We'll take him when we can get him,
Speaker 1: you know, the little things, Because there have been, of course,
Speaker 1: a lot of basketball evenings. It was trending at one
Speaker 1: point last week Lauren that I thought we were going
Speaker 1: to have a semi regular mail bag Monday. We haven't
Speaker 1: had a lot of them yet, but we're shooting to
Speaker 1: have as many regular, normal ones as we possibly can.
Speaker 1: And I thought we're gonna have a normal one. But then,
Speaker 1: of course Sunday night's game was postponed. So last we
Speaker 1: left off with the sixer is a tough defeat against
Speaker 1: the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday by two points, a game
Speaker 1: they could have won. Yeah, a game they should have won,
Speaker 1: probably not, So I was trying to think of how
Speaker 1: can we theme the mail bag this week to try
Speaker 1: and sing sunshine, unicorns and rainbows. I don't think we
Speaker 1: have to force it too much because Shake Milton has
Speaker 1: been frigging awesome. He has been just phenomenal, perhaps the
Speaker 1: best sixth man in the league right now, continuing towards
Speaker 1: a potential award at the end of the season. I've
Speaker 1: heard buzz for I'm curious what you think about this.
Speaker 1: I've heard buzz for Shake Milton most improved player. But
Speaker 1: I would argue that this improvement started last season. So
Speaker 1: if you're just noticing it now welcome, But I would
Speaker 1: say sixth Man of the Year type situation feels a
Speaker 1: little bit more on the news for mister Milton. But
Speaker 1: it's cool to even have his name being brought up
Speaker 1: in discussions like these. I mean, if we had said
Speaker 1: a year ago that he was going to be considered
Speaker 1: for these types of awards, you would know that he
Speaker 1: was going to have quite a year, and he has.
Speaker 1: I don't think the two needs to be mutually exclusive.
Speaker 1: I think that you can have a most improved Shake
Speaker 1: Milton and a best sixth man Shake Milton all about it.
Speaker 1: I mean there's a lot there's a lot of people
Speaker 1: on this team that are going to be candidates for awards. Yes,
Speaker 1: very cool. We talked about that, yeah, on our Friday
Speaker 1: Deep Dive with Devon last week, which I enjoyed. We'll
Speaker 1: have another one coming up this week. Talked about Joel
Speaker 1: embiid MVP possibilities, Tyrese Maxie, and the conversation for some
Speaker 1: of the highest rookie honors. We always know Ben Simmons
Speaker 1: is going to be a prey, an All League defensive candidate,
Speaker 1: So I agree with you. I think the seventy six
Speaker 1: ers about a month in individually, guys are shining and
Speaker 1: standing out. I would add Tobias Harris potential all star.
Speaker 1: I would say that when the Coach of the Year
Speaker 1: Executive of the Year conversation begins, we should have a
Speaker 1: couple of people in the conversation there. If things continue
Speaker 1: the way that they have been. I mean, obviously they've
Speaker 1: counted more losses than they've wanted to in the last
Speaker 1: few or let's say week and a half, but all
Speaker 1: the losses have been undermanned. Right when the core group
Speaker 1: is together, they haven't lost yet. So I am curious
Speaker 1: to see, once they can all get back together again,
Speaker 1: however long that might take, how good they will continue
Speaker 1: to look, and how they will grow. Because if you
Speaker 1: remember Celts before, guys had to go out with health
Speaker 1: and safety protocols. Before Joel has had to deal with
Speaker 1: his irritation. Let's say, because it feels like the injury
Speaker 1: isn't as serious. The folks that make those decisions don't
Speaker 1: want us to look at this injury as something super serious,
Speaker 1: so let's call it an irritation. But those guys were
Speaker 1: all saying they think they can get better, and then
Speaker 1: we lost a lot of people for a couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: so I'm excited to see how they sort of capitalize
Speaker 1: on what they were saying prior to becoming as shorthanded
Speaker 1: as they've been. That was a ramble. I apologize, but
Speaker 1: I think you know where I'm going. Ramble perhaps, but
Speaker 1: well articulated points and valid points as well. I think
Speaker 1: so much excitement surrounding this team in recent days has
Speaker 1: had to do with the continued emergence of Shake, Milton.
Speaker 1: Like you said, Lauren, for people who have been in
Speaker 1: the know with the Sixers, shouldn't be surprising to see
Speaker 1: Shake continue to do great things. We saw it emerge
Speaker 1: around this time last year, and whether it was during
Speaker 1: the hiatus coming back in training camp after missing a
Speaker 1: week due to health and safety protocols, our guy has
Speaker 1: not missed a beat. So this is going to be
Speaker 1: a Milton mail bag Monday. Let us dip in. You
Speaker 1: have one new message. We're going to start with someone
Speaker 1: who's become a good friend of ours in terms of
Speaker 1: submissions through the Graham Nicole dot France. She's chimed in
Speaker 1: a couple of times and I wanted to start off
Speaker 1: with this prompt from her. I see how consistent Shake's been,
Speaker 1: even after sitting out due to health and safety protocols.
Speaker 1: I threw up on my Instagram, which is at Seltzer
Speaker 1: six or snaps what's impressing the most about Shake and
Speaker 1: Nicole talking about how consistent he's been. And yes, the
Speaker 1: man has come out and he has scored fifty nine
Speaker 1: points in his first two games back from a week's absence.
Speaker 1: Pretty damn good. I thought it was funny after the
Speaker 1: first game back when Tobias Harris, Shake, Milton Matisse Bible
Speaker 1: came back from their week away. Tobias said after the game,
Speaker 1: I need to know where Shake has been staying, because
Speaker 1: he must have some sort of great gym setup, because
Speaker 1: he really came out firing, I mean, the first game
Speaker 1: back to set a season high. He obviously didn't misbeat it,
Speaker 1: and it is interesting that that could potentially be a
Speaker 1: little bit of a silver lining when these guys have
Speaker 1: to take time away that is precautionary, not because of
Speaker 1: an illness, that they can at least get fresh legs
Speaker 1: under him. Because we talked about that with all three
Speaker 1: of the guys that came back, they all looked pretty fresh,
Speaker 1: pretty spry out there, which is a rare sight when
Speaker 1: the season is as condensed as it is this year.
Speaker 1: I couldn't agree with you more. That's something that I've
Speaker 1: been thinking of more and more in the back of
Speaker 1: my mind. Is just especially when it comes to Shake, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: the guy looks fresh, and maybe this time where he just,
Speaker 1: even though it was a few weeks into the season,
Speaker 1: had an opportunity to reset recharge might have done him
Speaker 1: some good because he's come out and he has played fantastic.
Speaker 1: I mean, just looking at some of his numbers over
Speaker 1: the last two games, he's combined to shoot twenty one
Speaker 1: of thirty three from the field, and he's five for
Speaker 1: nine from outside the arc, twelve or thirteen from the
Speaker 1: free throw line, and eleven assists. I think he's just
Speaker 1: had a really well rounded two games where the Sixers
Speaker 1: talking about Miami and then at Memphis. And that's even
Speaker 1: considering in the first half of the Memphis game he
Speaker 1: had a bit of a slower start, and Doc Rivers
Speaker 1: said it looked like he was trying to get his
Speaker 1: teammates involved, but that Doc would prefer that when he's hot,
Speaker 1: he stays hot, keeps going, keeps shooting, keeps commanding attention
Speaker 1: and commanding touches, and as soon as he did that
Speaker 1: in the second half, obviously he exploded. So interesting to
Speaker 1: hear that Doc wants him to be even more aggressive
Speaker 1: than he has been because it feels like it feels
Speaker 1: like Shake is still developing right, Like this isn't peak
Speaker 1: Shake Milton yet and that's really exciting. Thank you Nicole
Speaker 1: Franz on Instagram for leading us off on this week's mailbag.
Speaker 1: You have one new message. Next up, We're going to
Speaker 1: Glubin Flubin also through igs saying Shake Milton. What impresses
Speaker 1: you the most about him? And gluben Fluban says his
Speaker 1: physicality and ability to now finish through contact compared to
Speaker 1: last year is amazing. I concur I think for me
Speaker 1: this has been one of the things I've enjoyed watching
Speaker 1: The most about Shake this season is the man lowers
Speaker 1: the head down, steam rolls through traffic, gets the rim
Speaker 1: finishing and we're seeing the rewards of that. Of course,
Speaker 1: he's scoring, but he's also getting the line more, which
Speaker 1: I think Bode's great for him and great for the Sixers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's not scared of anybody. Then he'll tell you that
Speaker 1: he feels like he can match up with anybody in
Speaker 1: this league. He has no problem going for it against
Speaker 1: top defenders. And that comment makes me think of what
Speaker 1: Shake told us in his preseason interview that he had
Speaker 1: gained a bunch of weight, and we sort of said, okay,
Speaker 1: like maybe he has. It was kind of hard to tell,
Speaker 1: we hadn't seen him play yet, but it sounded like
Speaker 1: maybe he was I don't know, overselling the weight that
Speaker 1: he had gained, but I see it, Selts. I think
Speaker 1: he looks like he has built up a lot of
Speaker 1: muscle and he's able to drive through traffic that way
Speaker 1: because his body can absorb that type of impact now.
Speaker 1: So props to him for like really making the most
Speaker 1: of a condensed offseason. We talk about this season being condensed,
Speaker 1: but they didn't have that much time away. So for
Speaker 1: him to build muscle and to change his body in
Speaker 1: that time that they had is really impressive to me.
Speaker 1: It's funny to that end. I was looking through Giffee
Speaker 1: to post a gift of Shake the other day, and
Speaker 1: I was trying to see if there was anything current
Speaker 1: from our gift station that we had for our meady
Speaker 1: days this year. There was not, but My point to
Speaker 1: all this is that I could tell that there was
Speaker 1: not because I was seeing some of the gifts from
Speaker 1: previous seasons, and I'm like, that looks like a young Shake.
Speaker 1: Shake today looks like an older, more physically mature, chiseled Shake, tough,
Speaker 1: Shake well, And that's a conversation that we keep having
Speaker 1: with a few of these guys. Shake Milton all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, not a youngster on this team. Same with
Speaker 1: a Ben Simmons, with a Joel Embiid, even a Matisse Thyble.
Speaker 1: Like these guys are are young ish, especially Shake Matisse,
Speaker 1: but they're not like these young gangly kids anymore. Like
Speaker 1: these guys are are are making moves and taking steps
Speaker 1: in a cool direction. I agree Shake is playing like
Speaker 1: an adult. Shake is not a surprise. He's not some
Speaker 1: standout kid that's coming in that no one's heard of.
Speaker 1: Like he is an adult and an established player in
Speaker 1: this league now, and I think that's really cool considering
Speaker 1: the story and the path that he took. Gluben Fluben,
Speaker 1: thank you very much to the voicemail line we go
Speaker 1: you have one new message Chapters. Night's game was canceled.
Speaker 1: I was mostly disappointed in just being not being able
Speaker 1: to see Shake Milton play. It is a pleasure watching
Speaker 1: him play so smooth, and you just root for a
Speaker 1: guy like that. I am with you, Adam. I too
Speaker 1: was bummed that Sunday's game was postponed. I mean, I
Speaker 1: did enjoy being able to spend some time in each
Speaker 1: Chinese and watch Your Honor with my wife, But I
Speaker 1: was looking to see how Shake Milton backed up yet
Speaker 1: another great game on Saturday in trying to lead the
Speaker 1: seventy six Ers to what was hopefully a rebound and
Speaker 1: a win after the road trip got off to a
Speaker 1: little bit of a bumpy start. He is really smooth.
Speaker 1: That's one of the things I thought. Adam hit the
Speaker 1: nail on and he said, it's easy to root for
Speaker 1: a guy like that. And shake story is a terrific one.
Speaker 1: I mean, on the surface, right, fifty fourth pick three
Speaker 1: years ago got it. That's a great story to see
Speaker 1: someone doing what he's doing. But the fact that he
Speaker 1: was injured his third year in college probably knocked him
Speaker 1: out of the first round and the Sixers were still
Speaker 1: able to get him, and he's fought through injuries and
Speaker 1: being in and out of the lineup with the Sixers,
Speaker 1: especially through his first two years, really the first year
Speaker 1: and a half, and here he is. He's been a
Speaker 1: great success story. And we know how hard the guys
Speaker 1: put in the work behind the scenes. Well, he spent time,
Speaker 1: plenty of time in the G League those first two
Speaker 1: years were more G League than NBA, and then when
Speaker 1: he spent time more so with the Sixers last season,
Speaker 1: it took a long time for him to get an
Speaker 1: opportunity to even play. And so we have to keep
Speaker 1: in mind the way that Shake Milton stayed ready and
Speaker 1: prepared himself without getting legitimate NBA minutes, and then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, was just totally ready. Like you said
Speaker 1: about a year ago, when Ben Simmons was out, Shake
Speaker 1: came in and he was completely ready. It didn't take
Speaker 1: him any time to ramp up to the competition, It
Speaker 1: didn't take him any time to adjust to NBA play
Speaker 1: versus G League plays. The amount of work that he
Speaker 1: must have been putting in behind the scenes can't be understated.
Speaker 1: He really came into a league that he maybe wasn't
Speaker 1: prepared for at the beginning, and all of a sudden
Speaker 1: looked entirely prepared for. This is a guy that really
Speaker 1: puts in work, and I think it bodes well for
Speaker 1: the future that he's going to continue to work at
Speaker 1: this rate. Sky's kind of the limit for our guy, Shake.
Speaker 1: Keep going back to some of the insights about Shake
Speaker 1: that his mom, Lisa gave us. During the off season,
Speaker 1: we did a Mother's Day feature on a couple of
Speaker 1: players and their moms. We had the chance, Laura and
Speaker 1: I did to speak with Lisa Milton, just giving us
Speaker 1: insights into the shaping of Shake. It might be worth
Speaker 1: a reshare at some point soon. I think it might
Speaker 1: be time when I get it back out there, let
Speaker 1: people dive into some of Shake's backstory. But yeah, I mean, like, hey,
Speaker 1: he not only was committed to basketball because his dad
Speaker 1: played with him. When his dad passed away, he had
Speaker 1: to take on a lot of ownership, helping out his
Speaker 1: mom with the family, all that stuff. He is a determined,
Speaker 1: focused dude, There's no doubt about it. Yeah, and just
Speaker 1: an elite human. I really enjoy Shake. He's very kind,
Speaker 1: He's very a little soft spoken, and talking to his
Speaker 1: mom and seeing where he came from really was special.
Speaker 1: I agree with you, maybe time for a reshare of
Speaker 1: the conversation that we got to have with his mom,
Speaker 1: who was, by the way, lovely. It's not a surprise
Speaker 1: that Shake ended up lovely, but yeah, really cool to
Speaker 1: see where these guys come from, because we forget that
Speaker 1: they didn't They didn't pop out of the woman into
Speaker 1: the world NBA players, like someone had to raise all
Speaker 1: of these people that are now big stars, and it's
Speaker 1: really cool to see where they all came from, especially
Speaker 1: a guy like Shake who had to work for everything
Speaker 1: that he's gotten. Adam, thank you for that. On the
Speaker 1: voicemail line again, you can hit us anytime with any
Speaker 1: type of Sixers thought you want two on five four
Speaker 1: zero three pods two on five four zero three seven
Speaker 1: six three seven more in the mail bag with Shake
Speaker 1: Milton in a moment. But Lauren and I want to
Speaker 1: tell you about a really exciting announcement the seventy sixers
Speaker 1: made earlier on Monday, Martin Luther King Day, and that
Speaker 1: is the seventy Sixers by Black program Yes Love It
Speaker 1: Sixers dot com slash by Black local owned black businesses
Speaker 1: have an opportunity to apply Lauren for some awsome assistance
Speaker 1: funded by the seventy Sixers as part of their twenty
Speaker 1: million dollar investment towards championing racial equality, and it was
Speaker 1: awesome to see this program launch on Martin Luther King
Speaker 1: Day very appropriately and just seeing how it's going to
Speaker 1: try and assist local owned black businesses is really refreshing
Speaker 1: and exciting, very important, very good to see. And like
Speaker 1: you said, Sixers dot Com Slash by Black, that is
Speaker 1: an opportunity for any business to apply to become an
Speaker 1: official partner of the team, which I think is really cool,
Speaker 1: really special, and I hope that a lot of businesses
Speaker 1: are going to be able to be rightfully highlighted by
Speaker 1: this initiative. So if you're listening out there and your
Speaker 1: local black business owner, sixers dot com slash by Black,
Speaker 1: more information there about how you can apply for grants
Speaker 1: assistance and that is open through February. The second is
Speaker 1: part of these seventy Sixers by Black program. Back to
Speaker 1: the Milton Monday mail bag we go. We'll return to
Speaker 1: our social mentions. Mott Liam on Instagram. What is impression
Speaker 1: the most about Shake Milton? He's holding his own on
Speaker 1: defense Defense spelled larn d e f e n ce.
Speaker 1: So I'm wondering from where mot Liam hails, perhaps from
Speaker 1: across the pond maybe we have to look up where
Speaker 1: defense is spelled to the C possible possible, and he
Speaker 1: says aggressive offensively and some serious finishing skills. We talked
Speaker 1: about the aggressive offense and some serious finishing skills, and
Speaker 1: I think that when it comes to the defensive side, Larn,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's really where Shaik has a great
Speaker 1: opportunity to continue to grow over the course of his career.
Speaker 1: And so far the numbers are pretty good. He's sub
Speaker 1: one hundred with his individual defensive rating, and I think
Speaker 1: that that's an area where his strength, his increased strength
Speaker 1: that we were discussing, is going to help him that
Speaker 1: much more as well. He's made big time strides on
Speaker 1: the defensive end, and it's something that he and Doc
Speaker 1: Rivers both expressed. We're going to be already for Shake
Speaker 1: this year because he is so good offensively that Doc
Speaker 1: didn't want him to be a liability on defense. He
Speaker 1: wanted to be someone that he could trust on defense,
Speaker 1: and Shake wanted to be that person, and he's totally
Speaker 1: answered the call. I do think he's done a really
Speaker 1: good job defensively. He's definitely not a liability over there,
Speaker 1: and we forget Shake milton seven foot wingspan on a
Speaker 1: six five guy, So there are opportunities for him to
Speaker 1: be a really good defender, especially when it comes to
Speaker 1: that length. And it's been cool to see him express
Speaker 1: his desire to grow and then grow rather quickly on
Speaker 1: that end, no doubt about it. I think that is
Speaker 1: only going to make him that much more of a
Speaker 1: complete player once that continues to round out. Thank you
Speaker 1: very much, mott Leam, you have one new message. Alex
Speaker 1: Penny Underscore also on Instagram talking about Shake Milton's defense
Speaker 1: being on the rise. Alex his comment also said he
Speaker 1: is a genuine baller. His advanced stats have him at
Speaker 1: top forty. Is to the point about Shake being a
Speaker 1: genuine bawler. I think, going back to what you said, Lauren,
Speaker 1: with that like quiet confidence, this is like I'm not
Speaker 1: messing around Shake. I like this attitude from Shake. I
Speaker 1: think I'll say this. I think at one point, like right,
Speaker 1: there was the soft spokenness and like maybe a gentle
Speaker 1: side to Shake. I think he's still soft spoken, but
Speaker 1: I think the gentleness shed I think this is a
Speaker 1: more kind of like mean has the wrong connotations, but intense,
Speaker 1: like I wish I could use some other words here
Speaker 1: that are coming to mind more easily. But hopefully everyone
Speaker 1: out there is is getting the picture I'm trying to
Speaker 1: paint here. It's just like I'm not messing around. Shake
Speaker 1: insert some other words. Well, it's a confident shake. I'm
Speaker 1: willing to go with confident. I think you can be
Speaker 1: gentle and confident at the same time, and you're on
Speaker 1: court persona and off court persona do not have to match,
Speaker 1: So I would say this is a very confident shake Milton's.
Speaker 1: It's the way that Doc wants him to be playing
Speaker 1: with his foot on the gas all the time, and
Speaker 1: it is cool to see him bring that drive, that determination,
Speaker 1: and that confidence to the court on a nightly basis.
Speaker 1: Because this is not a guy that's timid. This is
Speaker 1: not a guy that's trying to give up the ball.
Speaker 1: When he has it. He knows what to do. He
Speaker 1: knows how to find his teammates when that's the right move,
Speaker 1: but he also knows how to take it into his
Speaker 1: own hands and get buckets. So props to shake. Seriously,
Speaker 1: this has been This has been really awesome to watch.
Speaker 1: Maybe one of my favorite plot lines during my time
Speaker 1: with the Sixers is seeing how well he has advanced
Speaker 1: in such a short amount of time, something that Alex
Speaker 1: Penny also brought up. He alluded to some of the
Speaker 1: advanced statistics having Shake up pretty high one advanced at
Speaker 1: least from the last couple of games. That I love
Speaker 1: his effective field goal percentage, which waits three pointers made
Speaker 1: more than two pointers is over seventy one percent. I mean,
Speaker 1: his game has just been so well rounded, especially as
Speaker 1: of late larn and I love the fact that Doc
Speaker 1: Rivers is doing nothing to try and dampen his confidence.
Speaker 1: If anything, he wants to empower Shake that much more.
Speaker 1: And his teammates are too. His teammates are totally gassing
Speaker 1: him up, like they love watching Shake succeed. And that's
Speaker 1: been something obviously without fans in the building, it's it's
Speaker 1: been a bummer and it's been weird to watch basketball.
Speaker 1: But you can get a better view of the bench
Speaker 1: and the way that people interact with each other. And
Speaker 1: I do think every time that Shake scores, it's that
Speaker 1: it's not that his teammates are surprised, it's that they
Speaker 1: almost can't believe what they're seeing, Like they know that
Speaker 1: Shake can do it, but they continue to be excited
Speaker 1: and Surprised is the wrong word, because they all know
Speaker 1: that he can play the way that he does, but
Speaker 1: there's this genuine sense of excitement every time he gets
Speaker 1: a big bucket. And then after the game you hear
Speaker 1: guys like Dwight Howard to Bias Harris saying he needs
Speaker 1: to keep going, he needs to keep doing it. He's
Speaker 1: so huge for this team, and those are of course,
Speaker 1: really respected veterans in this league that really believe in
Speaker 1: this guy. So it is cool to see the way
Speaker 1: that the group has rallied around him and continue to
Speaker 1: be so willing to celebrate his success. Let's say, I
Speaker 1: don't know, Lauren, if this would necessarily people smarter than
Speaker 1: I would have to make an official ruling on this,
Speaker 1: if this would necessarily qualify for an advanced stat quote unquote,
Speaker 1: it might be a more in depth, multi layered stat.
Speaker 1: But something else that ups out is Shake's success. We
Speaker 1: talked about this earlier. With driving and finishing, he is
Speaker 1: second behind Ben Simmons and not buy a lot in
Speaker 1: drives taken per game. Ben's averaging twelve and a half
Speaker 1: drives per game, Shake right around eleven and a half.
Speaker 1: But Shake his points He's averaging seven and a half
Speaker 1: points on drives per game, and that is by about
Speaker 1: two and a half points better than the next closest sixer,
Speaker 1: which it's actually two of them, Tobias Harris and Tyreese Maxie.
Speaker 1: They average around five points off drives per game. So
Speaker 1: I mean that's just those in the numbers that reinforce
Speaker 1: what everyone's eyes are seeing that this guy's getting to
Speaker 1: the hole and he's not missing when he gets there.
Speaker 1: When you talked about his EFG with his threes, the
Speaker 1: fact that he has both of those stats, the drives
Speaker 1: and the threes together means that he's playing really efficient
Speaker 1: basketball and doing a really good job at things that
Speaker 1: are difficult to do. He's it's really cool to see
Speaker 1: the way that he can sort of score from anywhere,
Speaker 1: and particularly in the areas that some guys in this
Speaker 1: league struggle. In Shake, Milton does not strug. Just to
Speaker 1: give that number of the number of well the average
Speaker 1: number of drive points per game that Shake scores, give
Speaker 1: it some context. He's tied with Jason Tatum and Donovan Mitchell,
Speaker 1: right behind James Harden, not too far behind Jimmy Butler
Speaker 1: or Damian Lillard or Zach Levine. About a point and
Speaker 1: a half behind Kawhi Leonard, the league leader in drive
Speaker 1: points per game, Luca don Chich at around thirteen and
Speaker 1: a half and Bradley Beale right after him at twelve
Speaker 1: and a half. So just putting into perspective where Shake is,
Speaker 1: I mean, some of those guys at the top are
Speaker 1: at a higher level. But again mentioning a few of
Speaker 1: the names that Shakes clumped with right now, that tells
Speaker 1: you how much good the guy's doing. Good company to keep.
Speaker 1: That's all I got to say. That's incredible, It's awesome.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if there's much more that we need
Speaker 1: to say, great company. We will wrap up this week's
Speaker 1: Milton mail Bag Monday with some rapid fire. You have
Speaker 1: one new message, a couple responses, aren't I got on
Speaker 1: Twitter when I just threw out there, Shake Milton is blank.
Speaker 1: Fill it in. Keizy at eug Kesy says Lou will
Speaker 1: two point zero a walking bucket. Mah, I'm here for it.
Speaker 1: I think the Lou comparisons are interesting because we talk
Speaker 1: about six men that Doc Rivers has coached. But I
Speaker 1: would dare to say that that Shakes game might be
Speaker 1: even more versatile than Lou Wills. That might be a
Speaker 1: hot take, but I do think that the comparison is
Speaker 1: a nice one. But I think Shake can be even better,
Speaker 1: especially at the at the rate that he's growing. I
Speaker 1: think eug kesy one thing that I look at is
Speaker 1: that if you go back and it's amazing how long ago.
Speaker 1: It's like fifteen years ago. And check out Lou Will's
Speaker 1: first two years with the seventy six ers. He had
Speaker 1: a very minor role, and then it was in year
Speaker 1: three when he started to break out average double figures
Speaker 1: for the first time and really start to emerge. Shake's
Speaker 1: timeline right now this is year three, so I think
Speaker 1: that what we're seeing in the first month and the
Speaker 1: season perhaps could follow a similar arc and parallel in
Speaker 1: terms of the storyline. Year three going to be a
Speaker 1: potential breakout for Shake Milton. I think on a national level,
Speaker 1: people around here saw what was brewing last year towards
Speaker 1: the end of the season, but I think across the
Speaker 1: league people are really going to respect Shake once this
Speaker 1: season is said and done. Knock on wood, everyone stays healthy.
Speaker 1: Shake Milton is Wahwa Dan says, a certified bucket getter.
Speaker 1: When he shoots it. I think it's going in. I agree,
Speaker 1: can confirm, can confirm, certified bucket getter. Shake Milton a
Speaker 1: great story for the seventy six ers as we shut
Speaker 1: down this week's mail bag Monday, A Milton mail bag Monday.
Speaker 1: I have no problem dedicating a full mail bag to
Speaker 1: one player Laren when said player warrants it. And I
Speaker 1: think that we can say that about Shake right now,
Speaker 1: not at all. It was fun to do this for
Speaker 1: tyrese Yes a week ago, two weeks ago, a week ago,
Speaker 1: and it's fun to do it for Shake this week.
Speaker 1: And maybe next week we'll have a new breakout star
Speaker 1: or consistent star to discuss. So thanks for submitting all
Speaker 1: your questions, guys, we really appreciate it. Going back to
Speaker 1: what we talked about at the top of the pod,
Speaker 1: what am I rooting for for next week's mailbag Monday,
Speaker 1: I'm working and hoping for what we would call a
Speaker 1: quote unquote normal mailbag Monday. I would be down for that.
Speaker 1: Let's get through the week, you know, would crossed. Got
Speaker 1: a couple of big games against the Boston Celtics and
Speaker 1: Detroit Pistons, and then in the middle of next week,
Speaker 1: in about ten days, at home against the Lakers. So
Speaker 1: the schedule getting fun over the next couple days. Again,
Speaker 1: let's knock on wood cross fingers, hope that everything is
Speaker 1: good on the health and safety protocol front and these
Speaker 1: games get in. Lauren Rosen, thank you for this mailbag Monday.
Speaker 1: Thanks for always doing this with me Celts. It's fun
Speaker 1: before we sign off. Coming up this week on the
Speaker 1: seventy six ers podcast network main Fee Tomorrow, it's going
Speaker 1: to be the latest episode of Coach Check with our
Speaker 1: guy Matt Murphy and Blue Coach general manager Matt Lily
Speaker 1: talk about all things Coats. They had a draft recently,
Speaker 1: so Matt and Matt are going to do a deep
Speaker 1: dive into what lies ahead for the Blue Coats bubble.
Speaker 1: And then on Friday, we'll have our latest deep dive
Speaker 1: with divine givens. Subject to be determined depending the outcome
Speaker 1: of what happens this week. I'm Brian Seltzer saying so long. Thanks.
Speaker 1: It's always for chiming in on the mailbag. If you
Speaker 1: submitted and we read you're prompt you're on the lookout
Speaker 1: at Brian Seltzer on Twitter, and we'll announce the winner
Speaker 1: in a couple of days, see you