Philadelphia 76ers Rookies Introductory Press Conference

Philadelphia 76ers Rookies Introductory Press Conference

good morning slash afternoon everybody we’re excited to introduce our 2025 76ers NBA draft class DJ Edgecom we will start with opening statements from each of them and we’ll turn it over to media for a question and answer i got um fashir i’m just super excited to be here i don’t got much to say i’m just ready to go play some basketball that’s it um Jan Broom here uh I kind of feel the same way you know I’m excited to get to know you guys um getting to embrace the the city of Philly and uh I’m ready to play basketball as well we’ll start with questions um and as a reminder to media please state name and affiliation gina from the Philadelphia Inquir BJ back here hi uh obviously we saw the hubhub and everything after the the draft after you were selected but just what are sort of the highlights of um what you’ve done in the in the couple of days since then as far as getting here meeting people just sort of what have the um last maybe 48 hours been like for you yeah you said it all i mean that’s all I’ve done um spent time with my family traveled travel out here to Philly um was with Hman and that’s it for real um just looking for good food spots so if y’all got anything let me know to follow up I guess besides finding good food spots just you mentioned I’m ready to play basketball so what are sort of your priorities as far as getting ready for summer league or just sort of what what’s first on your to-do list as far as getting the onc court stuff going yeah just getting to know the whole team um just building relationships with them because I’ll be playing I’m’ll be playing with them so just getting to know the whole team and yeah that’s that’s the first thing I need to do hey fellas over here Kyle Newc from PHLY welcome to Philadelphia first of all uh VJ you’ve been a a versatile guard up to this point your career like played at Baylor with Robert Wright with Jeremy Roach so you’re on ball you’re off ball obviously a crowded back court here what have you heard from the front office coaching staff about you know how they envision your rookie year going and how they’re going to use you on offense specifically yeah um the main thing they tell me I have to work for it um just prove and then just fit in what coach Nurse has going on you know I’m here to buy in so whatever role you know we ain’t talk about that to be honest but whatever role they have me playing I’m I’m just willing to buy in i’ll make sure you get some good food recommendations hey what’s going on guys kai Carlin Sixers Wire USA today janai you had a decorated career college career at Auburn uh was this I guess maybe a shock to you who they fell in sack around do you use that as motivation or a chip on your shoulder you know moving forward um you know I don’t really take too much in on where I got picked at versus you know um who picked me you know uh obviously the 76ers uh felt like I was the right fit for their team so um I’m going to always have a tip of my shoulder wherever I got picked at you know so uh I’m ready to work you know um you know prove people wrong if I could just real quick follow up for both of you i mean what kind of conversations have kind of been like with coach nurse and and just what is uh maybe instructions over the for the summer or anything like that for either of you no um for me I I ain’t I ain’t talk much he told me welcome uh so I’m just looking forward to just having a conversation with him today or tomorrow whenever I see him um so that was it for real same thing you know um just kind of enjoy the moment uh he kind of let us soak it in um but I think we’ll talk more you know today or tomorrow or whenever it is janai uh this question is for Janai um over here um I know I’m short sorry um Tony Jones from the uh from the athletic what is the value of you know I know that you’re on the player side but what’s the value of you know possibly just drafting guys that you know are winners at the college level and you know productive at the college level you know um despite whatever measurables or whatever the athleticism is you know sort of like you know what you did this year uh with Auburn um I think you know uh you know we’re here to play basketball and uh you know they thought that I was a good basketball player you know um all the things that go inside of it um can be taken however you want to take it but at the end of the day we’re still playing basketball so um I think I contribute to winning you know I’m a hard worker i’m a good teammate um and I’m a good guy to have in our organization so I think that’s why they you know chose a guy like me paul Hudrick Larry Baller Janai for you just with your game the way you play and um your ability to kind of operate as like a hub offensively and pass just do you have you kind of taken a step back and envisioned what it’s going to be like to play with Tyrese Maxi with Jared McCain with VJ um yeah you know uh I’m kind of whatever my role is going to be I’m going to you know embrace it um I’m going to try to be the best team I can be best uh player I can be and uh I just want to win you know so whatever it takes to win I’m want to do it but it’s going to be fun playing with guys like BJ um Tyrese you know Jam Kane you know uh Joel Paul you know uh it’s going to be very fun you know just kind of learning from those guys and um kind of just being a student if I could if I could just follow up just um you know you kind of are combo big just how do you see that in the NBA do you think you can play both the four and the five i think I can you know um I think the league is kind of going a little bit to two bigs a little bit um you see a lot of teams doing that a little bit more often now as you would say so um you know whatever they want me to play four or five both it’ll matter you know um like I said I’m going to compete i’m going to work hard so uh I’m just ready to play vj Janai uh congratulations to both of you welcome to Philadelphia congratulations to the families as well crystal Rich CBS Philadelphia uh VJ you were asked about offense but on the other end of the court you’re very vocal about not just being a willing defender but someone who loves to go out there and play defense exactly where does that philosophy come from for you i mean um growing up I mean if you wanted to play you had to play defense so I feel like that’s what that’s where it all started for me and I say I just hate to see people score and I hate to lose like I said they if they score more points than you you lose so I just hate losing so if I have to play defense the whole time I love doing that so yeah we love hearing that and and Janai um five years of college hoops experience how has that matured you and readied you to play on the next level um I think it just matured me in ways that uh my game needed to grow um you know areas that needed improvement but I think it allowed me to kind of face adversity um so um you know maybe when times get tough or I’ve been through times where I’m not shooting well or you know I’ve lost a game or two in a row so I kind of know how to overcome that bounce back so you know you can’t get in your head too much so I think that’s mainly um what those years have helped my game with because you know when I was a little younger I was maybe I don’t know um took it a little differently I say VJ Jennai welcome to Philly both of you Janai for you Zach Chaveal Metro Philadelphia Philly Sports Network J for you uh positionally there’s not uh you’re you’re a little bit on your own there in terms of being able to play play power forward you uh see yourself ready to kind of step in and fill those minutes right away have you had conversations with Nick about being ready to kind of come in off the jump uh no uh we haven’t talked about uh any roles any positions you know obviously I’m going to have to work you know I’m going to have to put in a lot of work if I want to step on the court anywhere you know so that’s something I’m willing to do you know um like I said we haven’t talked about any roles or you know playing minutes or anything like that so but I’m just glad I’m uh I’m in Philly absolutely and BJ for you uh Daryl talked about Eric Gordon and you mentioned him as well uh previously have you talked to Eric since you know you guys linked up you excited to be teammates yeah um we talked before he was like “Hopefully you’re my teammate.” But uh ever since now he congratulated me and that was it um just looking forward to speaking austin Krell on Patterson uh VJ how how did your you spoke about it a little bit last night but how did your experience in the Olympics sort of accentuate what you think you can do on the floor and how would you compare and contrast that Olympic environment to the collegiate environment at Baylor yeah um it helped mature my game uh helped me to play with great players um cuz if I mean I want to come to the NBA and you have great players on the court at all times so I mean I’m allowed I mean I was blessed to be able to play alongside other great players so it just helped mature my game my mindset how I think um how I carry myself and it’s totally different from the college game more spacing uh in college you can sit in the paint the whole time you know crowd delay so you know it’s two different ball games and Jana what was your pre-draft process like did you have any interaction with Philadelphia in that time um yeah you know I actually um went through the process two years ago and um we had a great talk at the combine uh two years ago and they kind of told some things that I needed to work on you know um to improve and uh this past year I had another talk with them as well at the combine and um they was you know impressed by me making that jump me doing the things that they kind of talked about I needed to grow in so um I think they just they can see the growth and the developmental part in me um that still has room to improvement for improvement and um yeah hey Jai Matt to George from the Delco Times if you could expand on that what were some of the things that you talked about in that first draft uh process that you think you’ve to you took back to Auburn that you were able to improve on and uh in that process um you know just getting my motor to run a little bit more you know um just playing a little bit faster um also like you know rebounding a little bit more at a higher level uh you know working on my body you know uh kind of you know getting in better shape things like that this is for Janai keith Pompei for the Philly Inquir you know both of you guys are leaders and we know where his leadership come from where does your leadership come from everybody talks about you you were like the leader at Auburn yeah uh I say you know my my will to win and know me hating to lose you know so you know when you hate losing you do whatever it takes and if that’s you know um owning up to your mistake or calling out one of your teammates mistakes you know um I think that’s what helps winning you know when everybody’s bought in and everybody’s on the same page of want to win so I think that’s just where it comes from and and personalitywise how do you think that you will fit in with this group um I think I fit in great you know I have a great personality you know I love to laugh i love to have fun but also like I say love to compete love to win so uh I’m going to compete on the court i’m going to you know be a little bit more fiery on the court you know but off the court and locker room you know I’m a good guy fun guy to be around uh things like that bj over here again Kyle Newck from PHLY um you obviously played with and against a lot of these guys at the top of the class we saw you at the draft i think you and Trey Johnson you know showed some love to one another after getting drafted how excited are you for summer league coming up where you actually get to go against these guys in the pros for the first time yeah like you said I’ve played against them um I know they’ve gotten better I’ve gotten better but I’m just looking forward to playing alongside my teammates i mean I’m not worried about the opponents or whoever’s on the next team you know I’m just happy to you know meet new teammates uh get to know everybody and continue building relationships and hopefully win the summer league uh no le NBC Sports Philadelphia vj we just heard Jana say he’s he’s sort of a fiery guy how would you describe yourself as as a teammate and a competitor and sort of your defining traits there yeah um I feel like I’m someone fun to be around i always you know I always want to meet new people um you know it’s it’s a good thing to just have relationships with them on and off the court so I feel like I feel like I have relationship with everyone everyone of my teammates in the past um and I just looking to continue doing that so so yeah BJ back here again um just of all those people that you’ve met so far in the last couple days um what is the best or most meaningful like conversation or like piece of advice as you start this journey like kind of what sort of stands out as far as okay this is um this has been meaningful in in this moment at this time um I’ll say the Philly fans i met some of the Philly fans um they’re super excited for me to be here uh they had me saying go birds um so so yeah I’m just I’m just excited to be here man and they’re showing love so I love it crystal Rich again CBS Philly vj it’s not only cool that you’re here in the city of brotherly love but you display those qualities well before you got here draft night we learned something very special about you and what you did with your NIL money um can you explain what that story is and why that was important to you uh yeah um it it was it was important because knowing um not everyone is fortunate enough to to go to certain schools um or to have NIL money um so I mean I just always want to give back to where I’m from um because I was in I was in their shoe at one point um and you know I just want them to know that I have their back and you know they they treat me as a role model you know and I’m super blessed to be in that position so I feel like you know just giving back is like a meaningful thing to me and just a reminder for everyone here what was it exactly that you did do with that money yeah um so gave them gave scholarships to a few kids on the islands um now I didn’t pick them personally cuz I didn’t want to show like I don’t want to think I have like favoritism or anything so I just let the school pick um whoever they wanted to and I just pay for it um here VJ kind of Carlin Sixers wire USA real quick the other night you were talking about your work ethic how hard you work the reason why you work so hard things like that what are the next steps like work for you now that you’re here in the league what’s the kind of the next steps for you in terms of work and things like that yeah um to continue getting better um know just sit there i just I’m a visual learner so I just like to watch everyone else work out so you know if I just have the opportunity to just watch even you know Janai or other players on the team just work out you know I’ll do that because I I can learn from anybody so it’s not just on the court or physical work you know there’s a mental part of it too so yeah all right thank you gentlemen we’ll transition to the photo portion now

Philadelphia 76ers draft picks VJ Edgecombe and Johni Broome speak to local media at their introductory press conference live from the Penn Medicine Philadelphia 76ers Training Complex.