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Law Murray: Covering LeBron James last season, he had an internal conflict going on with how much he had to defer to Austin Reaves (even Bron understood that Luka was the top dawg in any circumstance). Bron was very pleased with being able to still be the lead option in a postseason setting, particularly a winning one against the Rockets. But he's still on the other side of 40. I don't look at him like a traditional point guard, and he surely won't be guarding point guards. The ball is still going to be brought up primarily by Tyrese Maxey, but Maxey already is used to sharing the rock and being effective off of other ball-dominant players. He started his career with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. He worked with James Harden for two seasons. Even last year, VJ Edgecombe got touches as a rookie. So Maxey will be sharing playmaking duties with James, without James having to ever over-handle the basketball. It should help everyone in that offense, especially Jaylen Brown, get to a point where they are all efficient and get the ball in places where they can maximize damage. I don't think it happens overnight, but if they get enough games together in the regular season, then Philadelphia's offense has a vast ceiling in the spring.
Marc Stein: The Bahamas, I'm told, do hope to have Philadelphia's VJ Edgecombe in the lineup Monday against visiting Panama after a @FIBA win in Uruguay without him last night. Canada also rested Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Lu Dort last night but could bring them back Monday vs. Argentina.
One of the concerns with the addition of LeBron James and Jaylen Brown in this momentous offseason is how those moves may affect the trajectory of Edgecombe, who at 21, will be entering his second season but could see a significant shift in his role. To hear Edgecombe talk at the camp, that’s not really a worry for him. Any chatter that his development may stall or he might grow unhappy with a reduced role is just talk. “I mean, it don’t matter what happens, there’s always going to be someone that has something to say,” Edgecombe said. “But I just want to win. I’m going to still be aggressive, still be myself. If that comes with less shots or more shots, who knows. I don’t know how the course of the game is going to go. I’m just excited to play alongside my teammates. I think we have a chance to do something really special.”
“It’s fine if they don’t respect me, I’ll just get a bunch of open shots,” Edgecombe said. “I’m just working. That’s the main thing for me. That comes with work. Whatever I want I got to work for it. I’m willing to do that.”
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He admitted he’ll have to rein in how often he picks James’ brain. “[I’ll] have a bunch of questions, so I’m going to have to control myself when it comes to asking questions,” Edgecombe said. “I’m totally excited. It’s such a blessing. I’m going into Year 2, playing alongside my favorite player ever.”
Any chatter that his development may stall or he might grow unhappy with a reduced role is just talk. “I mean, it don’t matter what happens, there’s always going to be someone that has something to say,” VJ Edgecombe said. “But I just want to win. I’m going to still be aggressive, still be myself. If that comes with less shots or more shots, who knows. I don’t know how the course of the game is going to go. I’m just excited to play alongside my teammates. I think we have a chance to do something really special.”
He said he has to make defenses respect him (he shot 35.4% from three-point range) to help the offense function and make life easier for his new teammates. “It’s fine if they don’t respect me, I’ll just get a bunch of open shots,” Edgecombe said. “I’m just working. That’s the main thing for me. That comes with work. Whatever I want I got to work for it. I’m willing to do that.”
He admitted he’ll have to rein in how often he picks LeBron James’ brain. “[I’ll] have a bunch of questions, so I’m going to have to control myself when it comes to asking questions,” Edgecombe said. “I’m totally excited. It’s such a blessing. I’m going into year two, playing alongside my favorite player ever.”
Shaquille O'Neal: It's not going to work in my opinion. You just said him, right. Tyrese Maxey just worked his ass off to become the man. Jaylen Brown comes out. So now for Tyrese Maxey, do you back off or do you say no, I'm still going to do what I do. Then Bron comes. Now we got Joel Embiid. Too many… it’s too many egos. Three or four people going to have to say, ‘All right, you go.’
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Oh No He Didn't: Shaq on the new look Sixers: ‘Championship or bust. You got the great LeBron James. You got great Embiid. It was like 3, 4 years ago Charles and I would always say how he's the best big man. Joker has surpassed him, will be honest, making a name for himself. My question to Joel: does he want it back? And if he does, please show me. I know LeBron wants to get one last one. Jaylen is feeling slighted. Maxey is making a name for himself, definitely the team to watch. I don't wanna hear next year...this team was put together to win a championship now...they have all the pieces they need’
Dash Lovell: “Yeah, they’re going to figure it out directly. But individually, it’s about trying to develop what you need. When we talk about flying around and shooting, it’s basketball. It doesn’t matter who you play with. You’re going to have to make a catch-and-shoot jump shot. Now that he has guys like Bron, those guys are going to draw a lot of attention. Jaylen is also going to draw a lot of attention for those guys to get easy shots, too. It’s just basketball. Sometimes, we overcomplicate this and make it seem more difficult than it is. The part about basketball that starts becoming difficult is when you start overthinking how it’s going to connect. Just play the game. The game connects us by itself. As humans, for some reason, we start recreating what is natural about basketball. Since you have a younger Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey and a young VJ Edgecombe, you don’t need ‘Bron to do so much right now. He can have those guys push him through half of the season until you get down to certain stretches where they can use ‘Bron and Joel a little bit more. I think they all want to win. They all understand that. I don’t think you have to recreate how you go about your summer. They all just have to be on the same page, and I think they will be. It’s not that complicated. They’re all excited about playing with each other and playing for each other. That says a lot. But we’re doing the typical same things to prepare. We’re understanding how people guard him and understanding what he wants to do in the post, based on the defender.
Dave McMenamin: The Philadelphia 76ers have VJ Edgecombe, Labaron Philon, Adem Bona, Dominick Barlow and Caleb Love playing together at the first day of Philly assistant coach Rico Hines’ annual summer runs at UCLA. They are going against a group including Luka Garza, Daeqwon Plowden & J. Juzang
Legion Hoops: VJ Edgecombe on his FaceTime call with LeBron James: “I was in disbelief, but I had to act cool. I had to act like I’d been there before. I’m on the phone all cool and stuff. My headphones on, I’m playing the game. Had to act all cool, but it’s really Bron. I was really geekin’ I ain’t gone lie.” (via @overtime)
