VJ Edgecombe selected No. 3 overall by the 76ers | 2025 NBA Draft Grades & Instant Reaction

VJ Edgecombe selected No. 3 overall by the 76ers | 2025 NBA Draft Grades & Instant Reaction

Back here on CBS sports HQ, presented by Jeep with the third overall selection, the Philadelphia 76 ers draft V.J. Edgecombe the freshman out of Baylor. Big 12 freshman of the year. First ever top five pick from Baylor in the modern draft era. He led big 12 freshmen in points per game and steals per game. Last season he set a Baylor freshman record with 68 steals last season, tied for the fourth most in the big 12. As you take a look at the 76 ers past five top three draft picks, hoping that V.J. Edgecombe will work out. Joel Embiid still there. The other three guys on that list did not work out for them. V.J. Edgecombe hoping to work out for them in Philadelphia. That’s my hot take Adam. What’s your hot take here on your grade? I would say that those three other guys were just okay. Yeah I think this is solid. I don’t think this is spectacular. Vijay Edgecombe, let’s be clear, is a spectacular athlete, has a chance to be an exceptional defensive player, has a chance to put a ton of pressure on the rim with his ability to get downhill and his athleticism. Where we have got to see growth is in his guard skills. Can he make spot up threes? Can he evolve into a secondary ball handler? I don’t think he’s going to be a primary ball handler. At least it would take a really accelerated development to have that. I don’t know how much he can help drive winning right away, but I think he is a very quality long term piece. This is solid. It’s not spectacular. Only shot 34% from three in the one season at Baylor, but throughout high school was statistically better than that. So I don’t know that that’s a major area of concern. But if he’s going to maximize his potential, he’s got to be a better three point shooter than that. The athleticism is elite. Arguably the best athlete available in this draft like we talked about earlier. Incredible two way potential. The approach on the defensive end is a little inconsistent, but that’s not unusual for a teenager. Once the ace Bailey approach complicated this. If Philadelphia was going to execute this pick, V.J. Edgecombe always made some sense. Let’s go back out to Dallas where Avery Johnson is. Avery, what do you think of the pick here? V.J. Edgecombe third overall to the Philadelphia 76 ers. One of the things that I’m most intrigued by yeah I’ll pick it back off of what Gary’s last point I think because of Ace Bailey’s lack of getting involved with teams through the interviewing and the workout process, he probably would have gone third. So I think that complicated it. But I like this pick for Philadelphia. Vijay has come. Who was the 2024? He averaged 16 points a game for his Bahamas team in that Olympic qualifying. I think that turned some heads in a positive direction for this young man. Six 590 pounds, very athletic. I think he’s going to continue to develop. I think his body, he’ll end up, you know, weighing about 210, maybe 215 throughout his NBA career, but super athletic. We’ll see what happens in terms of his back coach with Tyrese Maxey. You always can use wing defenders and I think he’s going to be a nice addition. Gary, are you surprised that they did not deal this pick away? Not surprised, but that was obviously always a possibility given that if you’ve got Joel Embiid healthy at this stage in his career, Paul George healthy at this stage of his career with the East, completely opening up with injuries to Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton, Damian Lillard, there was some thought that there was nobody available at three, whether it’s Ace Bailey, V.J. Edgecombe, Trey Johnson, anybody else who is going to be able to help you as much next season as a veteran would. But Philadelphia, at least in this moment, has decided to execute the pick, take V.J. Edgecombe. And at this point, it appears he’s going to be a part of that roster. Perhaps the price was too high. You know, Daryl Morey is not just going to strike any deal in Philadelphia. Sometimes he does. But here in the draft he tends not to do that. What did you make of this fit here for Philadelphia? Well, for me I have very little separation or no tear break, if you will, between prospects three and six on my board. Which is why when you talk about trade scenarios, I would have considered moving down. When you talk about fit, I think someone like Khan can potentially slide in at the three where you already have Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain in the backcourt. But again, when you’re this high at the top of the lottery, they might not see it like I do. And you have to take the best available prospect even if there is a better fit. Let’s now welcome in CBS Sports senior writer Matt Norlander to our NBA draft coverage. And Matt, you and I sat a lot here together watching V.J. Edgecombe play at Baylor this past season. What’s your reaction to him going third overall to the Philadelphia 76 ers? This is not surprising Philadelphia took it up to the pick and wound up taking the pick. Multiple teams in the lottery told me they expected Philadelphia to try and shift off and trade the pick because in their opinion they weren’t believed to be overly in love with with what they were going to have there at three. But we don’t have too much shock as we’ve unrolling this draft here at three. And then I’ll let you do the honors. But I actually just got a text on who the fourth pick is. It might have it might have even been come across the stage, but one through four right now is going to script. Okay. So V.J. Edgecombe third overall to the Philadelphia 76 ers. And look we’ll see how it works out for Philadelphia with all that talent that they’ve got. But this is a team right now that’s got to win I mean this is a team that’s that should be winning. Injuries have decimated. We saw them take Jared McCain last season. The kid out of Duke. He was having a phenomenal start to his rookie season and gets cut short by injury. So it’s almost like Gary this is like a reset for Philadelphia. I mean if you look at all the pieces they’ve tried to put around Joel Embiid over the years to make this thing work, it’s just been a rotating cast of characters. And if he’s not healthy then all of this is a moot point. They’re not going anywhere without him being healthy. But what they hope is after a procedure and missing much of this season, he comes back. Maybe not better than ever, but better than he’s been in a while where he can return to that MVP caliber season that he had just a few years ago. And then at this point, you’re hoping that V.J. Edgecombe can can step in and not play a starring role, but team that,pactful role for a

Adam Finkelstein, Gary Parrish, and Avery Johnson join CBS Sports HQ to grade VJ Edgecombe being drafted No. 3 overall to the Philadelphia 76ers.

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