The Sixers went into the 2024-25 season with championship aspirations.
We all know how it ended.
While Daryl Morey gave a regrettable quote about the team still competing at the NBA trade deadline, he did acknowledge an important fact: the Sixers needed to get younger and more dynamic.
Morey has used the term “younger and more dynamic” so many times since then it’s almost become a battle cry. He reiterated it again at his end-of-season presser.
“I think when you go through a season like this, you need to really take a step back and everyone needs to find a mirror, starting with myself,” Morey said. “‘What could have gone better? What can I do better?’ There’s quite a few things there.
“I would say one of those things is I was very focused on finding veteran-type players who generally perform very well in the playoffs, and I didn’t put enough emphasis on the team getting through the regular season. So next season, for sure, we will be a younger, more dynamic group.”
Morey and head coach Nick Nurse discussed the way the league is trending. Teams are getting more athletic in order to create turnovers, push the pace, and hit the offensive glass hard. All those things can turn into easy offense. Look no further than the teams that competed in the NBA Finals as examples.
When you go up and down the list of things Morey wants to do with building this roster going forward, there might not be a player that fits the mold better in the 2025 NBA Draft than Baylor’s VJ Edgecombe.
Of course, Duke’s Cooper Flagg ticks those boxes as well, but with the Dallas Mavericks set to take him at No. 1, and Rutgers’ Dylan Harper very likely to go No. 2, Edgecombe could very well be the best option at No. 3. That’s regardless of the criteria Morey put out there.
Edgecombe, a native of the Bahamas, went from being unknown to start his high school career to being considered a five-star recruit and one of those most sought-after prospects in the country. He had offers from Duke, Connecticut and Michigan but chose Baylor.
He had a strong freshman campaign, averaging 15.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.1 steals and 0.6 blocks per game. He was on the Big 12 All-Freshmen Team and All-Big 12 Second Team. He won the conference’s Rookie of the Year. He was widely considered the fourth-best recruit in the country coming into the year and lived up to the billing.
There isn’t much in the raw numbers that will excite you about Edgecombe but simply watch the tape. Offensively, he has an explosive first step and tries to dunk everyone into the shadow realm. Defensively, he’s all over the court, wreaking havoc and forcing turnovers and bad shots. Flagg is arguably the only player who can claim to have more two-way potential.
If the Sixers select Edgecombe, they’ll likely have to bring him along slowly — and there is nothing wrong with that. He’ll be just 20 years old when the season starts, and there are flaws in his game. After all, there’s a reason why Flagg and Harper are the only locks.
But it’s pretty easy to see Edgecombe fitting into Morey’s vision. He’ll dog NBA guards and wings, pick their pockets, push the ball the other way, and slam home momentum-changing dunks. He’ll hit the offensive glass (2.0 per game last season, a ridiculous number for a guard) and throw down highlight-reel put-back dunks.
He should easily be able to make his mark defensively, which should help him see the floor. We all know Nurse wants to be aggressive defensively and favors players who cause disruption and get their hands on the basketball. Edgecombe should fit right in.
The offensive part of the game is where the team will need to exercise the most patience. Luckily, that should be easy to do. The two biggest areas for Edgecombe to work on are his shot creation and pull-up shooting. With Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey (not to mention Jared McCain and (very likely) Quentin Grimes) already here, those won’t be things the Sixers need Edgecombe to do right away.
While Edgecombe hit just 34.0 percent from behind the arc at Baylor, he made 46.7% of his open catch-and-shoot threes. With the other creators the Sixers have, he should get plenty of clean looks to cash in. Overall, a player with Edgecombe’s athleticism should also be able to find plenty of creases with NBA spacing. He’ll also need to improve as a finisher, but again, with the star power surrounding him, the looks should be a whole lot cleaner than what they were at Baylor.
While Morey didn’t specifically mention high-character players, he did mention how hard players seem to be playing during the regular season. And when you look at the young players the team has, they all have that high-character, improvement mindset. Edgecombe seems to fit right into that, which could be a huge intangible in building the team’s culture now and post-Embiid.
Maybe the Sixers go against the current slop and simply select Rutgers’ Ace Bailey — after all, Morey has seemingly always prioritized high upside in the draft. Morey also values shooting as much as any executive in the NBA, so maybe Texas’ Tre Johnson or Duke’s Kon Knueppel could be in the mix. Maybe there’s a trade scenario that’s too good to pass up.
But if you listen to Morey, it sure sounds like VJ Edgecombe ticks just about every box to make him The Guy at No. 3.