2025 NBA Summer League Preview: Edgecombe Looks to Follow Up HUGE Debut, Bailey, Jazz Back in Action

2025 NBA Summer League Preview: Edgecombe Looks to Follow Up HUGE Debut, Bailey, Jazz Back in Action

Who could write it up any better? VJ Edgecom’s first game as a member of the Sixers came against another recent drafty, Ace Bailey. It was Saturday night opening game, Salt Lake City Summer League number three overall. Edgecom led the summer Sixers against the Jazz squad that was headlined by Bailey. That number five overall pick. Now remember, Bailey refused to meet with the Sixers last month. So, oh, the drama of it all. But Edcom coming out on top. Our expert Ashley Nicole Moss joining us on this Monday afternoon. So you look at VJ Edgecom. He scored 28 points, posted a double double in his Sixers summer league debut. You want to start off strong and uh Ash, I think we can say he definitely started off strong. An impressive performance by him. Yeah, I mean just really impressed by his athleticism. And that obviously was one of the things that the 76ers were really high on when it came to VJ. And it’s just insane to think this guy’s only 19 years old. And he hasn’t even matured really into his peak physical body. When you talk about what he’ll ultimately look like years down the road in his NBA career, we can go back in the history books and see guys like Giannis and how they’ve kind of evolved. And it wasn’t just the 28 points. I mean, you see his stats here. the 10 rebounds, the four assists, the two blocks, the one steel. Um just just showcasing that he can kind of do a little bit of everything. And if you’re the 76ers who if we’re going to be honest needs to start really thinking about life post Joel Embiid whether it’s this season next season they really start they really need to start having those conversations because as we know Joel Embiid phenomenal player and when he is healthy one of the best if not the best at his position in the NBA but we get such a small sample size of that version of Joelle and it has to be exciting when you find a gem like this or you get a gem like this in the draft because it really just makes you feel a lot more optimistic about the future of your franchise post your star now. So obviously this is not going to happen overnight and this is just one game in the summer league and there’s a lot of the NBA season when you talk about training camp and all the other aspects that go into uh leading up to the regular season. But a great showing and if you’re the 76ers, you like what you see on the court. You absolutely do. You could see it again tonight going up against the Thunder at 700 p.m. Now on the flip side, you got Ace Bailey over there. He finished with just eight points, three of 13 shooting and the Jazz’s win over uh the Sixers there. But you look at these first round picks from the Jazz. So you got Bailey, you got Walter Fleton Jr. They’re back at it tonight going up against the Memphis Grizzlies. What do you hope to see from them in this game? Try to get things going a bit. I think look, summer league is a really tricky tricky time to give really an indepth analysis of what you’re seeing. You have these guys who made the transition from college and now they’re professionals and the games a different speed and you know you’re getting acclimated to things you didn’t have to really deal with in college. And we saw this, I remember not that long ago when WBY made his summer league debut and everyone was like, “Oh my god, is Wy a bust?” Because it wasn’t the best showing and he was making the adjustment from the European game to the American game. I think you just want to see these guys fight through their slumps. And that’s what we saw with WBY. We saw him fight through not a great showing his first time out and just really pushed through that. And at the end of it, you felt a lot more comfortable for the people who like to, you know, jump the gun and and and get a little bit dramatic off these summer league tapes, if you will. Uh, you just want to see these guys power through it. Again, there’s a lot of basketball to be played when you start talking about workouts and then training camp and preeason. You don’t want to get too high or too low in what you’re seeing, but you do want to see these guys trend in the right direction. And that may not mean big jumps, but I think with Ace Bailey and and Clayton Jr., You just want to see them fight through whatever slumps that they were dealing with and come out each game better than they were the last one. And that’s all you can ask for from these guys. You just want to see little improvements here and there. That’s for sure. And and it’s not only the first year guys, the rookies that are coming into this. You know, there’s there’s guys that are coming in for their second season that are still trying to get things going. A guy like Dton Connect um is is a perfect example of that. And you look at just the Lakers in general and the fandom over there. you have one like rough start and all the fans are on top of you. So, so what what would you like to see from connect so that he doesn’t have to deal with with the pushover from the fans? Jenny, you tell Lakers fans that the Lakers won’t make the playoffs or that they’ll get out the first round and they’re making you viral on Twitter. I know this too well, but look, um have experience. I will say this. I think Dalton connects a little bit more of an interesting subject when we have this conversation, right? Because this is his second summer league. He is also somebody who got NBA time and you would expect a little bit of a better showing just four points in 22 minutes and you see the stats here, two of seven from the field, missing all three of his long range attempts. And I just think that his accuracy into the summer hasn’t really transitioned. This is despite, you know, connecting on almost 38% of his triples during his season with the Lakers. Um, he’s 0 and9 from three through now two different summer leagues. And I think that’s a little bit concerning for a guy who has seen NBA time in addition to now two summer leagues. I’d be interested to see what his progression looks like throughout the course of the out excuse me throughout the course of this summer league um month. But it is, if I’m the Lakers, I’m definitely raising a few eyebrows and and kind of looking at this like where is there a disconnect between what you did in the regular season in the league and what you’re doing now in summer league and honestly what you did the year prior in summer league as well. I think this is a little bit more complex situation to to analyze. All right. Well, he was the 17th overall pick in the 2024 NBA draft. Seems like you have a little bit of concern there. We’ll see how it all plays out. We do have some news in the NBA. The Clippers, Jazz, and Heat have agreed to a trade that sends Norman Powell to Miami, John Collins to Los Angeles, and Kyle Love and Kyle Anderson, Kevin Love, excuse me, and Kyle Anderson, and a 2027 Clippers second round pick to the Jazz, when you lay all that out, how do you kind of take it in, Ash? I mean, Norman Powell is a great pickup for the Miami Heat. Uh, he improves. He’s a proven scorer. He’s a dynamic offensive threat, and I think he really just helps the Miami Heat offensively. It gives them a much needed boost to their offense that has really struggled since Jimmy Butler goes to the Golden State Warriors. And um it’s interesting that the Clippers let this trade happen. I did think Norman Powell was great on the Clippers, but then again, he did kind of struggle to get back to what the Clippers were expecting or needed from him post his injury. So, I don’t know if Miami has less pressure on them than the Clippers do to kind of perform at a certain level. As we know, when you go through transition periods, when you lose big stars like Jimmy Butler, your spotlight isn’t as bright. I think when you talk about the Clippers, especially given what they were able to do in the postseason, to a lot of people’s surprise, and Kawhi Leonard looking a lot better than a lot of people thought that he would be down the stretch of the regular season and then going into the postseason, their timetable, I believe, is no longer as laxed as it once was. Now, I’m not saying that this is going to be a championship caliber team. Only time can tell that. Health is a big part of what would make that factual or not, but I definitely think this is a competitive team. And in order to be competitive, you need um competitive pieces. So, I think John Collins is is going to really bring some, you know, front court strength. I think he’s going to bring some offensive production when you talk about the Clipper side. And I think this is a win-win for both both teams involved. A win-win. That’s what we like to see. Ashley Nicole Moss joining us here on HQ. What do you got coming up on Triple Threat? Girl, I don’t know. But we’re going to figure it out. Well, if that’s not the best uh promo, I don’t know what else I can say. It’s going to be great. Ashley’s been working non-stop with all these trades, all this movement. The best of the best out there. You can watch her show. Scan that QR code wherever you take in your favorite pause, or you can check it out on YouTube.

Ashley Nicole Moss joins CBS Sports HQ to preview Monday night’s Summer League action.

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