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You Should Raise Whatever Ceiling You’ve Set for VJ Edgecombe
By Sean Barnard
Published:
VJ Edgecombe is blossoming into a star right in front of our eyes.
The third-overall pick has played just 24 games at the NBA level, but looks like a 10-year veteran. Beyond the 16.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game he’s averaging, Edgecombe is climbing the short list of best perimeter stoppers in the league and has shown the unquantifiable ability to scale his game up when the moment matters most.
During Friday night’s matchup with the Knicks, Edgecombe took over in crunch time, scoring the three most important buckets of the game while generating a turnover on the defensive end:
Edgecombe finished the game with 23 points, four assists, three rebounds, and two steals while shooting 10-for-18 from the field. Even more notable, he was the primary defender on Jalen Brunson, who shot just 1 for 10 during those possessions. The rookie also did not bite on any of the patented head fakes and foul-grifting that Brunson has become known for.
As further evidence of his defensive versatility, Edgecombe laced up his sneakers the following night and transitioned from guarding 6-foot-2 Jalen Brunson to welcoming the challenge of 6-foot-9 Cooper Flagg:
Edgecombe did an impressive job slowing down his fellow rookie defensively and pitched in 26 points, six rebounds, and four assists. This marks his fourth consecutive game with 22 or more points.
The phrase “elite athlete” gets thrown around casually when speaking about NBA players. While just about everyone in the league has a level of physical excellence that puts us mere mortals to shame, Edgecombe is a level of athlete that makes the top percentile look stunningly normal. At 6-foot-4, he has a vertical pop and quick-twitch movement that can hang with players of all sizes. He also glides through the air in a way that has been foreign to any Sixers player for decades. It is Anthony Edwards-like, or replicable to a young Dwyane Wade, or dare I say even Michael Jordan-esque in the way he can glide through the air.
While he is still a ways away from earning a true place in the elite player conversations, given the short period of time he has been in the league, it is not for lack of confidence:
The conversation has shifted from the Baylor product looking like a really solid rookie making an immediate impact, to a guy who has a chance to make the shortlist of best players in the league. It is not a stretch to pencil multiple All-Stars next to his future resume, and these flashes continue to come at a more consistent rate.
It was a season from hell last year for the Sixers, in which everything that could go wrong did go wrong. But the prize for this was landing Edgecombe in the draft and creating a foundation for the next era of Sixers basketball. He is the perfect backcourt mate for Tyrese Maxey from both an on-court and personality perspective. Edgecombe has not been shy to express his desire to remain paired with Maxey for the duration of his career, starting just minutes after he was officially selected.
This season is more about evaluation for Philadelphia. If injury luck finally breaks the organization’s way and you have a healthy Joel Embiid and Paul George for a postseason run, the team has to be viewed as a contender. The bottom of the Eastern Conference being so weak makes the likelihood of them missing the postseason outright slim. With their 16-11 record, the Sixers are currently the fourth seed in the East, which says more about the state of the other teams than the Sixers directly. Getting a look at what a Maxey and Edgecombe backcourt looks like in this play-in or postseason setting also carries a ton of value.
Given the state of the Eastern Conference being this wide open, the temptation to push the chips in the middle to maximize on the opportunity is real. But the time to make decisions based on the hope of the aging and oft-injured bodies of Joel Embiid and Paul George having a stretch of injury luck should be a thing of the past. Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe have a clear pathway to being the best backcourt in the NBA for the next decade.
The Sixers cannot afford to mess that up.
Sean Barnard has covered the Philadelphia 76ers and general Philly Sports for over six years in a variety of roles and for multiple outlets. Currently works as a Content Writer for DraftKings Network, Sixers/NBA Insider for Philadelphia's Fox Sports the Gambler, and co-host of Sixers & Phillies Digest on Youtube. Forever Trusting the Process.