What can VJ Edgecombe bring to the 76ers as a rookie?
Yahoo Sports' Draft Live crew reacts to the Philadelphia 76ers' selection of Baylor wing VJ Edgecombe with the 3rd overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
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Video Transcript
You guys predicted it.
DJ Edgecombe goes #3 overall.
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He's headed to Philly.
We like this pick.
We like the athleticism, what he adds to the team.
Let's start with VJ's game though.
What is an improvement that needs to happen immediately at the next level?
Well, number one, he probably might be the best athlete in the whole class, but what I was most impressed with, because you know I'm a Baylor alumni through and through, I'm gonna watch every single game, so I've studied this man from day one when he had the dunk on Mark for you, son, to the end when they got beat, right?
So for me, BJ Edgecombe, when I called his games, the one thing that I continuously talked about was his shooting.
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He had to be more of a consistent shooter.
He struggled early on, struggled through the first half of the conference play, but he got better.
There were stretches where Baylor was not healthy.
It was DJ Edge Cole and Rob right out there going up against veterans in the Big 12 night in, night out.
BJ Ed's Cob shooting got better, and the way I knew it got better was Coach Drew Scott Je was running plays down screens, pin downs for him, stagger screens on the baseline for him to be able to.
Turn his toe, run across and be able to catch it, get it square to the show, get it square to the basket, and knock it down.
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When he started doing that, his game went to a different level.
King, I mean, that's spot on.
He shot over the full season 34% from 3, but if you look at his two years as an upperclassman in high school playing at Long Island Lutheran, pretty close to here where the draft is happening, over 40% from 3.
I think you're banking on BJ Edge on becoming a knockdown shooter in the NBA.
Some of the flashes you talked about advanced shot making, not just a standstill guy.
So if you have that.
On top of elite athleticism, 5.6 boards per game, 2.1 steals, and some of the rebounds he grabbed, you know, you know this, it's just like flying over people, one-handed boards at the least with VJ Edgecombe, the Sixers are getting a 3&D style role player and then you look at what he did for the Bahamas national team last year running pick and roll, facilitating, playing point guard for that team.
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Edgecomb checks the short term box, helping this team out as a role player in the long term box he could end up becoming.
The 2nd or 3rd best player in the draft indeed and that's why I think the Sixers take him at the 3rd pick here.
How do you grade this pick?
A to F?
I'll give it an A minus.
I, I, I think with Edgecombe, I think ideally I would have loved the the Sixers to be able to trade down but if a deal is not there it's not there.
And so for Edgecombe, I'm going here I think it is the best choice for them over Ace Bailey over Trey Johnson, who I love, but I think it's a little bit too redundant next to McCain and Maxi, but Edgecombe fits the best and has arguably the highest upside.
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