LEGIT: Philadelphia 76ers’ rookie VJ Edgecombe is the REAL DEAL

LEGIT: Philadelphia 76ers’ rookie VJ Edgecombe is the REAL DEAL

Locked on Podcast Network presents Locked On Sports. Today, 76ers rookie VJ Edgecomb is looking like the real deal. Also, the Phoenix Mercury are young, but they’re rolling right now. And the Cleveland Browns QB situation is the biggest unknown of the upcoming NFL season. I’m Peter Macowski starting your day with the can’t miss stories and biggest debates in sports. You’re locked on sports today. Searching all major sports found. Let’s start with the biggest story. Number three overall pick VJ Edgecom outshine fellow rookie Ace Bailey in a thrilling summer league clash. You know as thrilling as summer league can be. Locked on 76ers host Mark Farzetta recaped Edgecom’s amazing debut for Philly. The Philadelphia 76ers rookie dominated Ace Bailey, the rookie of the Utah Jazz with great ease tonight above all else. This was a high-flying affair for VJ Edgecom. 28 points tonight, 10 rebounds. Works in the double double. Absolutely a thing of beauty for him tonight. Everything that we thought there was two things that went into this game tonight that I thought really echoed the sentiment that had been made about both these players going into the draft and just coming out of the draft and going into this game tonight. VJ Edgecom definitely the more NBA ready talent. That’s what we knew going into this one. That’s what we got more evidence to support that theory with the 2810 rebound type game that he was able to put in today. The other is that h Ace Bailey could look disinterested and boy did Ace Bailey look disinterested. I didn’t I don’t know if he thought that it there’s a second half or not. He had one point. One point seven in the first half, one point in the second half tonight. And that was when he got one free throw when he just happened to be put back into the game with about a minute left. That’s terri. Not even a minute left. Six minutes left. or excuse me, 6 seconds left. I think it was that’s embarrassing if you’re Ace Bailey. Embarrassing. And if you went into the draft and said, “No, VJ Edscomb has definitely got to be the guy.” Well, this is a very nice start for that argument. I I look above all, you can look at the numbers, you can look at the box score, and all that’s impressive. All that looks good for VJO. But all in all, tonight there was one particular instance where him and Harkas uh started to go at it a little bit. I mean really Harkless was going after him and VJ Edgecom just walked away from it and then on the very next play which was an inbound play side out of bounds VJ Edgecom takes Harklist off the dribble takes him to the rim and then he has an easy kick out to uh Janai Broom for the knockdown three poise professionalism maturity kind of the things we weren’t saying about Ace Bailey but our saying about VJ Edgecom we saw it in this game very versatile as he scoring tonight. Very versatile really in his game in total. Sixers had him bringing the ball up quite a bit. He was able to beat the uh fullcourt press in one instance using the screen. So, it’s a good heads up move by him. Uh very aggressive on the baseline, very aggressive in attacking the rim. Had the one arm had the one hand throwdown uh where he went coast to coast on it and he had two or three of those types of plays where he was able to go coast to coast. The loudest finish that he had though was that first throwdown that he had in the first quarter. Absolutely unbelievable. And there was one point when VJ Edge wasn’t necessarily outshining Ace Bailey tonight. And that was in the first quarter. Bailey got off to a pretty decent start, knocked down a three, got a rebound off of VJ Edgecom missed three, ran that down the other end. Uh and he got the um he got the easy two. Then on the next possession for the Sixers, BG Edgecom goes down. Nice little teardrop shot uh shot. And I think that was for his eighth points, seventh and eighth points of the game. But all in all, you saw exactly what you wanted to see from the Sixers third overall pick. And for anyone that was questioning what you would see, I wasn’t sure what you were going to see tonight. I figured you would see something close to this, but I didn’t imagine 28 points. And if he just would have knocked down that three, would have been a game-tying three that they had the inbounds play to him. Got a look, not a great look, but got a look, got a shot off, put it off the back of the rim, unfortunately. Otherwise, game would be tied. He’d be at 31 points on the evening. That would have been absolutely bonkers. But watching him play tonight, the number one thing that jumps out at me is the athleticism. But you you saw that at Baylor. Uh your ball handling certainly needs some work. Didn’t go crazy with turnovers. Two turnovers in the game, but what you saw from him tonight was a guy that really wanted to be out there and doing exactly what he loves to do the most, which is play the game of basketball. And for the people that were on the Ace Bailey side of things going into the draft, look, let’s just get this out of the way for the people that need to hear the obvious. This does not def one summer league game does not define a career, but we’re judging it right now in this moment just for what it is, which is if you were the if you were the person that wanted to take VJ Edgecom, you didn’t want to roll the dice as they say with Ace Bailey. Well, then this performance tonight is exactly what you’d be expecting. You can stay up to date all year on the Philadelphia 76ers by subscribing to Locked on Sports Today and Locked on Sixers on YouTube or your favorite podcast app. You’re locked on sports today. Coming up, the Phoenix Mercury are winning with a positionless approach to the game. Before we get to that, the Nationals are cleaning house. Summer sports are in full swing, and whether you’re all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green, or highstake soccer action, FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting. You’re already following the action. Why not make it a little more thrilling? With FanDuel, you can get in on the game while your friends are getting sunburned at the beach. I’ve been using FanDuel to track my favorite matchups, and the app keeps it fresh with new daily promotions and fun ways to bet. It’s easy to use, fast to pay out, and even regular season games. You know, the dog days of summer and baseball can feel like mustwatch events. Whether I’m placing a game parlay or watching a bet right into the ninth inning, FanDuel makes it feel like I’m part of the action. New to FanDuel, new customers can bet just five bucks and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Open the FanDuel app today or visit fanduel.com to get started. Washington is officially turning the page. The Nationals fired both president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Davy Martinez on Sunday, ending the tenure of the duo that delivered DC its first World Series title in 2019. With a team buried in last place in fan frustration mounting, ownership says it’s time for a quote fresh approach and new energy. The next chapter begins now, but for a team still deep in a rebuild, it might be a while before the Nats have find their way out of the woods. Elsewhere in baseball, the Astros swept the Dodgers in dominant fashion, outscoring LA 29-6 over three games. Well, Houston is inevitable. That’s right. The Astros sweep the Dodgers three games to none in LA. They continue their dominance like they have done since 2015. Hello, I’m Htown Whailhouse here with Locked on Astros. And what an exciting game. Look, coming into this series, I was like, look, if the Astros take two of three, I’ll be happy. If they take one of three, I’ll understand it. Why? Because the Dodgers are a good team. Well, Dodgers, what’s your excuse? We had commentators talking about how the Astros knew what pitches were coming. Well, the Astros knew what pitches to throw. Let’s just say that they stymied this high-powered offense. And Christian Walker continues to make Dodger Stadium his own. That’s right. It should be called Christian Walker Field at Dodger Stadium hit another home run. Yanner Diaz hit a home run. Oh, and Jose Altuve, the father of Los Angeles, hit another home run as well. The Astros continue their dominance of first place teams. Stay tuned in the lockdown Astros. We’re going to have a lot to talk about this week where your team every day goes. The Yankees snapped the six-game slide with a win over the cross town Mets. The long national nightmare is over. The New York Yankees finally won a baseball game. I’m Stacy Gatsullius of Locked on Yankees. It’s been a week since we’ve talked about a win by the New York Yankees, but here we are. They salvage the final game in Queens against the Mets. They win 6-4. And you can all admit it. You were thinking when they were up 5 nothing that they were going to blow it somehow, right? Cuz I thought that we can all admit it. With the way they’ve been playing this past week and honestly for the past what, three, four weeks, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if they had blown this game. But they didn’t. And the big key to that, the bullpen, because the bullpen has been a big problem in this latest six-game losing streak. That’s right. In case you haven’t been keeping track, the Yankees have had two six-game losing streaks this season. The best team in baseball doesn’t do that. Aaron Boon, we’ll be talking about this series. We’ll be previewing the next two leading into the All-Star break. And we’re going to discuss this latest six-game losing streak. The Cubs beat the snot out of the Cardinals. The Chicago Cubs went 11 to nothing against the St. Louis Cardinals. A great weekend series for the Cubs lineup as they take two out of three. Joe George of the Lock on Cubs postcast on the locked on Cubs YouTube channel. We’re live for 15 to 20 minutes after every single Cubs game. So Kyle Tucker three RBI say Suzuki who leads all of baseball and RBI’s but is not an all-star. Has an RBI double and a home run in this game. But Matthew Boyd continues to be excellent on a night when your offense scores 11. It’s weird to talk about pitching but Matthew Boyd five innings pitched, nine strikeouts. So welld deserved to be an all-star. I cannot imagine where the Cubs would be without Boyd right now. Justin Steel out for the year. Show Ianaga missed major amounts of time and Matthew Boyd 14 of his 18 starts this year. Two earned runs or less. He has been absolutely fantastic for the Chicago Cubs. The Phoenix Mercury are finding success with a young core and a unique approach to their rotation. Locked on women’s basketball host Natalie Hein sat down with T Reed to discuss Phoenix’s season thus far. So, I think we have to start by talking about the Mercury’s big three this season. Sachi Sabi, Kalia Copper, and Alyssa Thomas, who are averaging a combined total of 50.1 points per game this season. Now that Kalia Copper is in the lineup, how impactful has the trio been over those last several games? Yeah, I think um it’s interesting seeing them adjust just because obviously Cover missed so much time and they’re still all getting used to playing with each other. I mean, Alyssa Thomas missed some games, so her and Satu were still uh getting used to playing with each other, but um I think so far she’s incorporated into the offense pretty well. Um for most of it, it’s been in spurts and then um she had her first uh 30 plus point scoring game the other day in Dallas. Granted, it was a loss in Dallas, so um there wasn’t a whole lot to kind of take away from that game. It was a bit uncharacteristic with how they’ve been playing the rest of the year, but so far everything looks smooth with how Kalia Copper has integrated in and all three of them playing on both sides of the ball. Yeah. And you know, how have you already seen them kind of start to melt together as you mentioned? Um, and then is there anything else you’re looking for as they continue to melt together over the last half plus of the season? Yeah, I think it’s really interesting how they kind of work together. I think you see, and it’s not like too much of a surprise, right? But I think you see kind of the center of the big three being Alyssa Thomas in the way that she plays off of Kalia Copper and how she plays off of Satu. So, um it’s a lot of her directing traffic, um sending the ball out to where it needs to go, her driving into the paint, um and kicking it to either one of them or the way like, uh Copper and Thomas set screens for each other. And it’s more so, I think, um the Copper setting screens for for Thomas and kind of that dynamic and the dribble handoffs and things like that that they’ve been using. Um, so it’s very interesting that it’s it’s not necessarily like all three of them together in this machine. A lot of it is them working in pairs. Yeah. And how helpful is it to kind of have three of them but working in different combinations of pairs? Um, you know, just kind of building together. um even if it’s not necessarily the three of them playing um as one, but in pairs, you know, more combinations um to kind of make the team go. Yeah, I think it’s helpful just because it provides so much variety and what different types of um sets you can run and the different things that they can do. So obviously, you know, having to defend all three of them on the floor, even if only two of them are working in some sort of action together, you still have the third one on the floor somewhere who also needs to be defended and needs someone to pay close attention to. So um I think the whole kind of dynamic is built around stretching defenses thin, trying to defend all three of those players. Um, and based off of I mean how well the Mercury have played but for that Dallas game the other day, um, it seems to be working pretty well for them. So, I know I asked you this in May, but are the Mercury title contenders? Um, or what do you think the potential is for this team as the season continues? Yeah, I think back in May, my answer was that I think that there was some there was a lot of uncertainty with this team and how many new pieces there were. Um, but I definitely think after watching this first almost half of the season, I would definitely say that the Mercury are up there and look like a team that really could make a push. I think they’ve really shown off their depth and I think that’s the biggest part of it is, you know, they played those first couple games of the season with Nia Copper, with Nolissa Thomas, still were able to get wins. Um, and now that they’re all playing together, they’re still winning and they’re still looking like a really strong team. And I think but for that Dallas game uh just the other day that they’ve been a a really strong team and and haven’t played too many like just bad games and and so I would definitely say that they’re a contender based off the you know the ways they’ve competed with um New York in the last couple weeks even though I know New York’s missing a couple starters but I still think that there’s a lot to be said about how the Mercury went about winning those games. And then one particular player I want to talk about is Alyssa Thomas. Um first, you know, did Connecticut’s nickname of the engine carryover because she’s averaging 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 9.4 assists, and 1.5 steals per game. And I can’t think of a more accurate nickname for her. Yeah, absolutely. They 100% call her the engine after or when they’re introducing her pregame for the starters. Um she is the engine. So that nickname is alive and well. And um I would say it’s a pretty accurate description of the dynamics on this team. Uh like I said, in terms of working with uh Satu and Kalia Copper on on offense, I think a lot of it is based around at um they’ve referred to her as the team’s defensive anchor so many times. And with the way that, you know, this defense works and having this mindset of wanting to be a team that plays defense and turns defense into offense, a lot of that comes from Alyssa Thomas and how she pushes the team. Um, and even working outside of Copper and Sabali on offense. I mean, the whole kind of setup is let at get downhill and kick the ball out to shooters who can knock shots down and it’s about her drawing attention into the paint. So, yeah. Yeah. I would say a lot that Phoenix does absolutely runs out of at or starts because of something that she does on both sides of the ball. Stay up to date all year on women’s basketball by subscribing to Lockdown Sports Today and Locked on Women’s Basketball on your favorite podcast app and on YouTube. Coming up, who’s going to win the Browns QB sweep stakes? I’m not entirely sure what Cleveland’s plan is at quarterback. The Browns probably don’t know either, but it sure is fun to laugh at. Locked on NFL host Tony Wiggins and Chris Carter discuss which signal caller is the best option from this abhorrent mess of a QB room. We ain’t even talking about Deshun Watson who making the most of the money. Uh I’m going to start right there. To me, the biggest question this year coming into the season leaguewide is what is Cleveland doing and who’s going to be the quarterback? You know, that’s a tough question because they have so many guys now at in the quarterback room that it’s kind it feels like kind of like a sweep stakes like you too could be the Cleveland Browns quarterback. U but in all seriousness, if if you’re looking for experience, I mean, Joe Flacco has been the quarterback for this organization when it’s made pushes late in the year. I mean I mean he’s come in and made like he still can be a guy like he’s not the guy you want to plan around but like if this team can still win with his defense if his defense can still carry it he can be a game manager for that but I I also think that they want a guy who’s younger and a guy who can work with it and a guy that’s on their roster right now that you know didn’t work out for the Steelers is Kenny Picket but who did win games for the Steelers like you know for all the bad things that happened with Kenny Picket. Kenny Picket ended his career with the Steelers uh you know two years ago uh as a guy with a winning record as as as a quarterback and I know wins aren’t a QB stat and everything but in those in those games he had six fourth quarter comebacks and seven gamewinning drives. So like Kenny Picket did not throw did not have great stat statistics with the Steelers. Um you know he did not have uh he did not have like you know all program numbers. he did not have even like really really good numbers at times. I think he kind of came on a a little bit late in his rookie season. Um but at the same time he did, you know, come he did come turn on turn on the clutch factor uh several times in games when he when it was needed from from him and that helped the Steelers, you know, be able to keep winning records in in those years. But the question will be can he get the basic things down that he hasn’t been able to get down in previous years including last year with the Eagles? like you know he did come in he get a he did start a game uh threw two touchdowns and one interception. Uh but like you look at like when he came into the Super Bowl towards the end and like there were certain easy passes that he just w wasn’t hitting. He has to hit those passes in Cleveland. They’re not going to like this this has got to be simply I think the Cleveland Browns are looking for a quarterback this year that just got gets the simple things done. Can you do a two-step drop, hit a slant? Can you can you make the make the basic throws over the middle? Can you make the basic throws to just keep the offense going? Stick, you know, make good decisions and avoid turnovers. If Kenny can do that, he’ll be the guy initially. I don’t think he’s the long-term guy. I don’t I’m not sure if any of these guys are long-term guys, but if they get through week five of the season and Joe Flacco has hasn’t really been working or Kenny Picket hasn’t really been working, you know, and maybe maybe we say even say week eight, the the Browns are going to turn to them those rookie quarterbacks. They’re going to look at Dylan Gabriel and Juror saying it’s like, “All right, what you guys got?” like if if things are really bad this year and they know it’s this year’s out of it, they’ll they’ll wait. They’ll they’ll say, “All right, let’s see what we got with these rookie quarterbacks.” But I think they’re going to give the veterans the shot to win the job first. And if the veterans don’t lead the team to being to playing better, then the rookies will come in. And I think that’ll be what dictates the pace of things. But it really depends what Cleveland wants to do. Do they want to try and win games this year? Do they care about that? or are they turning the page onto Shawn Watson and then the option is just see what you got because going the veteran route that might might might help you win games in the short run. But is that is that really what this season is about? Is is having Joe Flacco or Kenny Picket try and win you games really what this is about? Or would you rather see what should Sanders andor Dylan Gabriel have this year? I understand ownership probably sick of losing. They’ve made some moves that suggest they’d like to keep winning or at least try, sorry, keep trying to win, but they’ve clearly also turned the page on to Shawn Watson. So where does that leave them? Well, QB purgatory for one, but then a crossroads for another, a quarterback crossroads. They have to decide what they want before they can decide who’s going to take them there. And finally, Yonas Valenunis is already eyeing a Greek getaway, reportedly pushing to join the Euro League just days after agreeing to join the Denver Nuggets. The problem, Denver has no intention of letting him walk. Team officials informed Valenunis on Sunday that he’s expected to honor the final two years of his deal. So for now, the beaches of Athens or Helki Ki where I just was, we’ll have to wait. In exchange for Denver’s mountains and booming craft beer scene, I mean, not a bad trade-off. If you’re catching this episode after hearing your favorite locked on show, make sure to subscribe to Lockdown Sports Today on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast so you never miss an episode. Also, if you’re a new subscriber to Locked on Sports Today, we’re here for you with the biggest stories in sports every day. Coming up, is LeBron James really satisfied with LA’s roster moves? So, at least until tomorrow, stay locked on sports today. Locked on Podcast Network presents Locked On Sports Today. For more episodes of Locked On Sports Today, go to our video on demand. Click on sports at the top of your screen. There you’ll find past episodes of Locked on Sports Today, plus other Blocked On shows on demand.

76ers’ rookie VJ Edgecombe is looking like the real deal. Also, the Phoenix Mercury are young, but they’re rolling right now. And the Cleveland Browns’ QB situation is the biggest unknown of the upcoming NFL season.

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