Tyrese Maxey's move to the bench has done pretty well so far for the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers have won their last four games and Maxey has looked more and more comfortable coming off the bench.

One of the biggest helpers Maxey has in his new role is Shake Milton. The steady guard is used to coming off the bench and has provided Maxey with both a secondary scorer to lean on and a veteran presence. After a win over the Portland Trail Blazers, both guards gave lots of praise to each other.

Maxey and Milton have known each other for years, dating back to Milton's time at SMU. While he was making a name for himself at the collegiate level, Maxey was a high schooler whose dad was on the coaching staff. He spent some time around the team at practice and Milton did what he could to help a younger Maxey. “Because he was older than me, he would always take me under his wing. He would talk to me, he would tell me what I saw in the pick and roll, tell me what he saw in the game,” he said.

Maxey joked last year that the school's name should be Shake Milton University. He explained that Milton does a great job of preparing himself no matter what the situation calls for. “We do have totally different games. He's a little bit slower and I'm a little bit running around fast,” he said. “It's great, I'm just extremely proud of him. He's doing his thing right now. He's been big this whole road trip and even before that, he stayed ready…You just gotta really appreciate a guy like that.”

Milton said that seeing Maxey work hard influences him. “I think our mindsets are similar,” he said. “We always push each other too, that’s one of the things I appreciate most about him. Seeing what he does…makes me want to work harder and I'm sure it's the other way around.”

While Doc Rivers tries out new lineup combinations for the Sixers, he knows he can rely on the Tyrese Maxey-Shake Milton tandem being a good source of offense behind Joel Embiid and James Harden.