CAMDEN, N.J. -- The first practice of the LeBron James era for the Philadelphia 76ers got underway on Tuesday as the team convened at the team's facility in Camden, NJ for the first day of training camp. Media day is over. The work now begins for everybody.
The Sixers have their eyes on winning a championship with this newly constructed roster, and in order to do that, they will need to get everybody on the same page in terms of how they want to run things and what kind of standard that needs to be set.
On the first day of camp, James made sure his voice was heard, especially on the defensive end.
"Very vocal," coach Nick Nurse said after practice. "You hear his voice. He talks, talks extremely loud on defense, and I think he obviously is an example
setter, right? He leads by example, and he was certainly vocal in everything, but especially in the defensive breakdown stuff."
Obviously, James is a newcomer in Philadelphia as he is set for his first Sixers season, but he is clearly making his presence felt. He should be the one to do this as he brings a wealth of experience and success to the City of Brotherly Love, but at the same time, it's great to see that he feels comfortable enough to be as vocal as he was on the first day of camp. It's that example he continues to set that his teammates can follow and use as they all move forward.
"Ultimate professional," Anfernee Simons added of James on day 1 of camp. "I think he's built that for 20-plus years now. You hear the stories about him being here early, getting his work done, and saw that today. He was here already getting warmed up by the time I walked through the door. Just speaks to how he's able to play this play like this for 24 years."
While Nurse and the staff are able to figure out the best way to get everybody on the same page, James' teammates are going through the process of realizing they are now teammates with one of the greatest players to ever play this game.
"It was great. That's it," smiled VJ Edgecombe. "We're in between the lines now. That’s my teammate. That’s my brother. That's who I'm going to war with for the rest of the year. In between the lines, all the starstruck, all that goes out the window. We competed, and today I think we did a really good job of that. Just trying to get to know, obviously get to know him, get to know JB (Jaylen Brown), get to know their play styles. Obviously, it's a completely new group. We're just finding ourselves."
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: 76ers assess how LeBron James looked on the first day of training camp
