The Sixers Have Found Their Next STAR…

The Sixers Have Found Their Next STAR…

The Philadelphia 76ers have found their next star and his name is Valdez Drexel Edgecomb Jr. The Sixers third overall pick looked every bit the part in his NBA summer league debut, slicing and dicing up Ace Bailey and proving why he belongs at the NBA level. I want to break down exactly what I saw from Edgecom in our first look at him in a sixer uniform and why it exceeded even the largest of expectations that I had for the rookie here. So, let’s get right into things today. I do just want to start with the stat line here that he finished with 28 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two blocks, one steel, shot 13 of 26 from the field there and looked every bit as good as those numbers indicate. He played with intensity. His athleticism popped off the screen. He looked confident. He wanted the ball at the big times. Got to the mid-range regular rate, which was not something we saw from his game in college. He hit five mid-range jumpers last night after shooting less than 20 or making less than 20 over the course of his full season at Baylor. He was straight up awesome last night. Now, if it is summer league, I don’t want to get too reactionary. You can’t crown that they got the pick right or this is the guy for the future after just that one viewing. But boy, he got as close as you could possibly ask. And 406ers organization specifically that we’ve been through many of these summer league trips where it’s been like, okay, not exactly what I was hoping for. Even Jared McCain last year was not a guy who particularly shined in the summer league setting. The fact that he looks this good from day one, I think is a great sign for what his future does hold. Now, I do want to highlight a couple other things here. For starters, I won’t ignore the Ace Bailey verse VJ Edgecom matchup. It added a little bit of extra juice to the summer league debut with all the no the noise and news that went down with Ace in the pre-draft process. And the Jazz fifth overall pick struggled a whole lot more than VJ. Ace finishing with just eight points on three of 13 shooting, seven rebounds, one assist, and a block. Took a lot of bad shots to be perfectly honest. It was the Ace Bailey experience that we were buckled up for and talked about quite a bit. There was a guy that did not attempt to get past guys and get to the rim. Completely comfortable pulling up, taking tough jumpers and it felt like every time he touched the ball, he was looking for that shot there. So, he ultimately was benched for a good portion of that game and kind of earned the benching in my opinion there that I did not think he was good whatsoever. Again, this is not the time to fully come down on the kid because it is game one of summer league and it is an adjustment period for each of these guys. But boy, did VJ shine a whole lot better and I do think that is worth celebrating. I did want to pull up a couple bit of or this grade here coming from Kai Carlin of Sixers Wire who writes out on VJ’s debut and he gives him an A deservingly so and the write up says the three-point shot was a bit shaky and his ball handling will need work but Edgecom’s ability to get to his spots in this one was impressive. His athleticism is off the charts and he showed a controlled offensive game meaning he didn’t force too much in terms of his own offense. There was a play in the first half where he went coast to coast for a vicious slam which is something you just can’t teach. His athletic ability is just eye popping. He was moving all over the place in this one, which led him to essentially running into rebounds due to his never-ending movement. He was in the right place the majority of the night, and he made plays that would translate to winning. It’s summer league, so one has to take those results with a grain of salt, but it’s hard not to be impressed by the rookie in this one. And a lot of good stuff to get into. I did want to note kind of the pace of play thing. It did feel like VJ a little bit in the early parts maybe played a bit too fast but was under control for the large part of it that a lot of times that’s something I’m cognizant to and paying attention of which of these guys does it feels like the game has slowed down for that they’re processing things at the right rate and which of these guys feel a little bit overshadowed by the NBA tempo for uh VJ Hedgrum specifically it felt like his game that he was completely in the feel of things in the flow of things being confident making plays on both ends of the floor that was such a great two-way stretch where he blocked talked to our very own Jaden Springer. Shout out to him, who’s trying to cling into league out there in Utah. Now, Jaden trying to get him with a little pump fake at the rim. VJ didn’t bite on it. Ultimately stuffs the shot, then runs down the other end of the court and gets an N1. And that was one of those plays that it’s like this could be some really special stuff. And we talked a lot about VJ as an athlete in the leadup here. I really think it’s maybe an understatement of mine to say that he will be a top 20 percentile athlete in the league from day one. He might be higher than that. That VJ’s athleticism pops off the court. And when we think athleticism, sometimes we only think like how high you can jump or just like what an athlete you are. There’s a functional athleticism to him that directly translates to the basketball skills, which I think is the most important part of all these. I put the the tweet out there last night saying VJ Edgecom is the best Sixers athlete since blank. And I got a lot of good replies. Shout out to the KJ McDaniels that goes out there will always have a soft soft spot in my heart for KJ. Ben Simmons being thrown in the mix a bunch. I went Andre Gadala is my initial thoughts here that I think VJ Claras all these names that we want to throw through through the process the JP Toados you can run down the list of these guys who had a cup of coffee there even KJ Martin who stuck around on this roster a little bit but there’s something different about the way that VJ Edgecom floats and I do think that we’re going to see some pretty special stuff because of it the fast break is going to be a monster for this Sixers team moving forward when you have a guy like VJ when you have a guy like Maxi even McCain is capable of getting out there pushing the pace and pulling up from three there’s gonna be a lot of exciting stuff in transition and VJ very much going to be a part of this. And another thing that stood out the competition level from this kid and I did want to pull up this little quote here. I will not repeat this one on the screen, but you guys can read for yourself as VJ Edgecom just very loudly told Elijah Harkas a nice little quote giving him a reminder there. There was a chip on his shoulder out there on the floor and you don’t see that in summer league pretty much ever here. There was a little fight between our guy Kev Aluma getting wrapped up last night and with Isaiah Kier it was with the Jazz. Kier was getting under people’s skin all night. It was a little testy. He was a little physical in a way that I liked and that seemed to be an it seemed to be an environment which Edgecom specifically thrived there. So pretty thrilled that this was the case. And to run through a couple other takeaways from this game just to shout out some stat lines there. Adona looks bigger and stronger. Man, he put Kyle Filipki in the weight room pretty much every chance that every time he had an opportunity to. He finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. Had a block, a steal, and assist there. Shot eight for 11 from the floor. was completely comfort playing comfortable playing with inside his box for who he is as a basketball player. I do see a clear path to Demona being the the true backup center this season and am going to dive a bit deeper into that once we have a bit of a larger sample size. Not the best Justin Edwards game by any means that he played 31 minutes, had 13 points, three rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Also had three turnovers. Also stepped out of bounds on what could have been a potential game-tying shot late in that game there. I think ultimately Edwards will be completely fine once he settles into a team where he’s asked to do a little less, but it did not feel watching him last night that this is a guy that might be able to scale up a bit more that we are hoping in the future. Nonetheless, not panicking and again it is game one of summer league. Janai Broom was a guy I think a lot of us had our eyes on. Obviously the second overall pick kind of an up and down game from him across the board. He finished with 13 points, five rebounds, had a steal and a block there. Shot four of 11 from the field. Did shoot two of four from three here. There were stretches where Janai looked really competent, really solid out there. There were also a couple stretches where I didn’t feel like he exactly knew what he was doing and made some pretty poor decisions there. I will give him credit that it looks like he’s cut some pretty significant weight since college. He looked thinner out there and he was moving decently. That my biggest concern coming in with Broom is can he like hold up from an athletic standpoint at the NBA level. I think he probably took some steps in those direction. There’s no world or no way to slice it in which he isn’t in the the lower end of athletes from the NBA standpoint, but I mean, I’m going to leave the the jury open at this point. We’ll see a little bit more sample size. Thought there was good parts and bad parts of Broom’s game last night. Edgecomb, we’ve talked plenty about that. One of seven from three really the only blemish on it there. Also, two turnovers is pretty solid based on how much he had the ball in his hand and how much he was asked to create there. Did shoot one of three at the free throw line as well. VJ Edgecom glowing approval for game one of summer league. Jaylen Hood Shafino, a guy that I’m ready to close the door on of being an NBA player. And it’s unfortunate, but for a dude that was the 17th overall pick, this is going into his third NBA season, the game should not look as difficult as it did for him last night. And whether it’s just not in Philadelphia or it’s just not anywhere. I’m pretty out on the Jaylen Hood Shapino experience. A couple shout outs off the bench. Judah Mintz is a guy that I continue to have a bit of a soft spot for that I think he shows some juice. He dropped 11 points off the bench, four assists there in his 22 minutes, was really active across the floor. and our guy Alex Reese getting in the mix for 12 minutes. Second in minutes there. I thought Reese actually was pretty good despite a lack of uh you know box score showing here. He had two points and three rebounds. But I love the willingness. I love the energy and I thought he kind of bought it a little bit. So I’ll give a bit of a shout out. Obviously a lot more to break down from the summer league standpoint. The Sixers will be back in action tomorrow against the Oklahoma City Thunder and they’re still ramping up for the Vegas portion of summer league which is really kind of the main event of summer league there. I have not been out to the Salt Lake City summer league yet. have been out to Vegas and can can tell you it is an awesome time. The entire NBA world in existence there and that’s we’ll see some more of these kind of competitive battles going throughout. But for VJ Edgecom specifically, could not ask for a better start to his Sixers tenure than what he gave us in game one here. This should be celebrated. Although I know we got to keep the reality within our own brains here, but the bottom line is this kid looks like he’s about it. He brought it from game one here and I could not be more thrilled by what we’re seeing. Shout out to VJ Edgecom for providing a little bit of spark, a little bit of excitement to this fan base here. I do think it is something that the Sixers fan base as a whole could use. And boy is he checking that box there. So from character to work rate to energy to just how good of a basketball player this kid seems. Pretty much the complete package is what it’s looking for right now. So hopefully that trend continues and I’ll be continuing to break things down from every single angle here on Sixers Digest. Do want to hear from you guys. Your most ambitious VJ Edgecomb player comp in the comments there. Is it Dwayne Wade? Is it Anthony Edwards? Who is it? You drop that name below. There is something special about the way that he floats from an athletic standpoint. I’ll let you guys fill in the rest and drop those thoughts below. But make sure you’re dropping those in the comments. Subscribe to the channel if you have not already. Drop a like on this video here. I’ll be back talking with you next time right here on Sixers Digest. Peace.

The Sixers Have Found Their Next STAR…

The NBA Summer League is underway and VJ Edgecombe made about as impressive of a debut as a player could make. Sean Barnard highlights what to take away from his day one performance and what was so impressive about what he showed.

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