ESPN reacts to 76ers lose to the Jazz 93-89 in summer league despite VJ Edgecombe’s 28-point effort

ESPN reacts to 76ers lose to the Jazz 93-89 in summer league despite VJ Edgecombe’s 28-point effort

NBA summer league recap is presented by AT&T. Connecting changes everything. For more, welcoming in 247 sports director of scouting, Adam Finkelstein. Adam, the basketball world was anxiously waiting to see how number five overall pick Ace Bailey would fare in his summer league debut. He scored eight points on three of 13 shooting as the Jazz got the 9389 win over the Sixers. What were your first impressions of the former Rucker star? Well, I thought that he struggled a little bit quite honestly tonight. But what what I was really looking for was just his approach in warm-ups, and it was what I expected. It was as jovial as we’ve come to uh come to expect of him in various settings. There was a lot of talk about how he was apprehensive to be in Utah. I didn’t think any of that was based in reality, at least his reality. I think most of that came from his representation. But whether you were watching the media availability on draft night or the introductory press conference or tonight’s warm-ups, you could see he looked nothing but happy to be there. There was a huge fan reaction for him. His play though illustrated that he’s still got a long way to go and we knew that. We knew there was extreme upside, but but some growing pains were going to be necessary along the way. He’s got to learn to operate within the flow. Didn’t have a great shooting night tonight. Um, but I think still you could see the talent and I love the fact that they put him back on the floor in the last defensive possession of the game where they were guarding against a three-point line just to get him that rep. Not because he was their necessarily most polished defender, but to get him that game experience. That was that’s what summer league is all about. Right now, Adam, you mentioned there was a lot of talk about that rumored apprehension about Bailey’s willingness to be in Utah. He made headlines when he said after being drafted that he had no idea he was even on Utah’s radar. So, there were questions about whether or not he would even show up, but apparently things quieted down. So, what do you make about how he’s handling himself so far? Well, again, I think a lot of that came down to the decisions of his representation. I don’t think Ace Bailey has ever said he didn’t want to go anywhere. And uh since we have seen him do the talking, I think everything has been all positive. He’s been nothing but but happy. Again, jovial is the world word that keeps coming up with him. You saw it tonight even down the stretch a three of 13 shooting from the floor down the stretch of this game and he was still happy and smiling that trademark smile and it’s that positive energy that that really becomes contagious and he’s going to have to improve. He’s got a long way to go but we are talking about a 6 foot 6’8 tough shotmaker big- time athlete and if he’s got the positive mindset that he now appears to have I think Utah’s going to be very excited about his future. Now, Ace Bailey not the only firstrounder for the Jazz. Walter Clayton Jr. also making his debut. Utah’s number 18 overall pick in this year’s draft. You looked like a difference maker early. Adam, what did Clayton show you in his summer league debut? Well, I think what Clayton showed is that he understands how the role is going to be different right away. Two things were evident in his approach tonight. Number one, he was really locked in on the defensive end. He was picking up three quarters court. He was being active, getting his hands on a lot of balls. And then number two, he was being a distributor. He wasn’t letting the ball stick. He was moving it. He was finding people. I think he ended up with six assists. Now, the shooting everybody knows about. Although, I will say that little bit of a reality check in terms of realizing that the the floor it’s a little harder to get your shot off at this level, even in summer league than it was in college basketball. So, that’s going to be an adjustment. But, clearly, he knows what he has to do. he’s got to have a better defensive effort than he was known for in college and has to really embrace uh being able to play that point guard position or slide off the ball when he was on the floor with Kier. So, you saw everything from Clayton tonight and you also saw a pretty self-aware young player who understands what he’s going to need to do to stick in the NBA. Now, on the other side of this matchup, Sixers rookie VJ Edgecom, the third overall pick, he finished with a game high 28 points and showed off a lot of his speed in transition. What are your takeaways from Edgecomb’s debut? Yeah, VJ was really good. And this one was build at VJ versus Ace the opening night of the summer league, perhaps not ironically, in Utah, uh, a program that was, uh, obviously there was a lot of speculation about going into draft night. And VJ was the best player on the floor. Not only did he put up big numbers, but I thought he he did it in ways that would translate to an NBA game. Now, his role will not be the same because he was the focal point tonight. And I think that’s a point worth making as well. Utah had a roster tonight loaded with NBA players, not only in their starting lineup, but coming off the bench. Philadelphia didn’t have nearly the same depth of NBA talent on the floor that allowed VJ to really assert himself as an alpha. So, the role is going to be vastly different in a couple of months when the NBA season gets here. But, there was a lot to like about VJ’s approach, being able to get downhill, the explosiveness, making plays defensively, the the seriousness of his approach. Uh, I think Philadelphia fans should be very excited about what they saw from VJ. And yet still understand there’s a lot of necessary growing pains ahead of him as well, especially with the shooting which which you saw tonight. Sure. A lot of growth, a lot to build towards for the NBA season in a couple of months. But there’s been a lot of excitement about the start of summer league which was Saturday night. So Adam, I want to open this one up for you. Who had the performance of the night in your mind in the first night of summer league? Take us anywhere you’d want. I think Kyle Filipowski was really good. Let’s stay in this Utah Philadelphia game. Again, it was build as Ace Bailey against BJ Edgecom. But Utah rolled out a lot of their second and thirdyear players. Basically showed the local fans a glimpse at the future. And Kyle Phillip showed what a steal he was in last year’s draft. Remember, they’ve locked him into a four-year contract now. Uh he slipped on draft night and everybody else’s loss is obviously Utah’s gain. He just looked like the veteran on the floor offensively. still some things to clean up defensively, but his body looks to be in a great place. He shot the ball well from the three-point line and just the maturity and understanding of the game was really evident and I thought vastly different from everybody else on the court. Summer league is about proving you can fit into NBA concepts and everything Kyle Filiposki did on the offensive end was translatable to a regular season NBA game. So, I thought he was terrific and not only that, but he made what proved to be the game-winning play for the Jazz as well. Adam Finkelestein, thanks so much for the insight as always. Now, here’s a look at the current odds to win NBA Rookie of the Year. Cooper Flag remains the heavy favorite atus 180. He’ll be in action in Las Vegas next week. He’s followed by Trey Johnson at plus 950. Ace Bailey at 10 to1. Recap is presented by AT&T. Connecting changes everything. And we are now happy to be connected with CBS Sports WNBA analyst Ty Carter. And Ty, sparks fever. They gave us another thriller and it was Rakia Jackson with the gamewinner, but Azure Stevens leading the way. Um, what is it about the Sparks just finding ways to win against a fever team when they’ve been up or they’ve been down by as many as double digits? I think it’s something about going into a game confident when you know that you have another team’s number and seeing that they were able to beat them a couple weeks ago. They just stayed really resilient and relentless. And as for the Indiana Fever, this is the first time in two games that they have given up over 60 points. And they allowed for the Los Angeles Sparks to score 89. And they were in attack mode. They had four players finish in double figures. And for them, it was just about not settling, continuing to go to the basket. And then they made the smart plays down the stretch. Even when Kelsey Plum, she turned the ball over at the end. Ary McDonald was able to pick it up. Indiana Fever, they had a chance. They’re knocking at the door still. The Los Angeles Sparks stayed cool, calm, collected. They got the stops when it mattered, but most importantly, the big buckets delivered by the secondyear player, Rakia Jackson. Yeah, Rakia Jackson had some huge moments in that game. You talked about Kelsey Plum. She’s now 21 and one against the Fever in her career. What is it about her playing the Fever that just allows her to win every single time? I know it’s, you know, team game obviously and back with the Aces, but yeah. What do you make of that record? I would say sometimes you just got to look because if she was on the aces the other night that would have been a whole story, right? That game was a a complete blowout on the Indiana Fevers end where they were finally able to snap a 16game losing streak to the Las Vegas Aces. But I think it’s a mindset and a mentality when you are repeatedly going up against a team and you know the way in which they are going to guard you, how you can attack them and how you have extreme confidence over them just due to the fact that you continuously have beaten them. I think she goes into the game with the mindset and knowing that this is a beatable team just because of how many times that she’s been able to do so in her career. Yeah. And she only had one turnover in this ball game despite being pressured, right? Despite getting doubled, the traps coming her way. So, she played really smart, careful basketball as the Sparks get another win against the Fever. How about Minnesota though against the Golden State Valkyrie?

ESPN reacts to 76ers lose to the Jazz 93-89 in summer league despite VJ Edgecombe’s 28-point effort