Shake Milton Will Start for Sixers Against Hornets

CHARLOTTE, NC (973espn.com) -- The 2019 NBA Preseason continues to roll for the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night as they are set to take on the Charlotte Hornets. On Tuesday night, the Sixers opened up the preseason with a fully healthy roster and put a beatdown on the Guangzhou Loong-Lions to build up some confidence.

On Friday, though, they won't have their full starting lineup in the mix. No worries though, nobody is injured. Instead, the Sixers will simulate a situation that is likely to go down this season. As we know, Sixers' center Joel Embiid will miss games this season. Whether it's injuries, sicknesses, or load management -- he's guaranteed to miss time.

So instead of throwing shots in the dark for when he's out, Brett Brown and the Sixers figured they should prepare for the possible situation now, rather than later. Therefore, Joel Embiid will sit out Friday's preseason game against the Charlotte Hornets, and won't return to the lineup again until Sunday, against the Orlando Magic.

On Thursday, Brett Brown expressed his excitement regarding the situation, as he's happy he can see what the team looks like without their All-Star big man. While he was interested to see how the lineup would look, he wasn't exactly sure what the starting lineup would be after practice.

Brown teased the potential of Mike Scott coming in and filling in for Tobias Harris, who would shift to the four as Al Horford moves to center -- but that doesn't seem to be the case. Scott will remain on the bench, while Shake Milton gets the start.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer's Keith Pompey, Al Horford will shift to center, as expected. Then, Tobias Harris will take over Horford's spot, while starting guard, Josh Richardson makes a move to Harris' position. That would keep Ben Simmons at point guard, while Shake Milton comes in for a grand opportunity as a starter.

So far this offseason, Milton has been impressive. Although he didn't play too much in the preseason opener, he showed some flashes during his ten minute run on the court. Milton collected eight points, trailing only Sixers rookie, Marial Shayok in point totals from backups coming off of the bench. On Friday night, we'll see if Milton can earn himself some additional playing time moving forward as Brett Brown has clearly liked what he saw from the young prospect thus far.