NBA Draft: Luka Doncic rises to first in 2018 NBA Redraft

Shake Milton did just about everything during his time at SMU, passing and shooting and rebounding and defending. While that gave him a good baseline of basketball skills, he needed to specialize a bit to find his NBA niche. He did just that, honing his handle and shot to become a scoring guard off the bench for the Philadelphia 76ers.

The shot hasn’t been entirely consistent, but when it’s hot he can rain down points with confidence. He hit 43 percent of his 3-pointers two seasons ago as he first broke through into the rotation, but last year just 35 percent of his long-range shots went in. The reality is likely somewhere in the middle, as his career 37.4 percent mark displays.

Milton’s role isn’t tremendous on a roster containing Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris and Seth Curry, but he gets shots up quickly when he is playing. This past season he usage rate bumped up to 24.9 percent, and he scored 20.1 points per-36 minutes. He also improved at drawing contact and getting to the line, where he shot 83 percent this past season.

There is probably not a starting guard here, as Milton will turn 25 before his fourth season begins. A team that can slot him in as a backup guard with a defined role could get a lot of impact from him, and that’s why he rises all the way to 21st in our 2018 redraft. He joins the Utah Jazz here, replacing Grayson Allen. The Grizzlies likely would have included Milton in the Mike Conley deal as they did Allen, but if they didn’t he would be able to fill a similar role there as he has in Philadelphia, perhaps as a lower-cost alternative to Jordan Clarkson.