CAMDEN, N.J. -- As the Philadelphia 76ers head into the new season, the starting backcourt of Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe will be among the many reasons this upcoming season is any type of success. The two star guards are blindingly quick, they can shoot, and they have found ways to make it look easy on the floor.
New addition Dean Wade joins after seven seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers and is two days into training camp with his new teammates. It's one thing when Wade has to defend both guys on switches or try and slow them down, but it's a completely new thing when he's their teammate and he's seeing it on the floor in real time.
"They are unbelievable," Wade said of Maxey and Edgecombe. "They're so fast and quick. When Tyrese gets out
in transition, it’s unbelievable how fast he moves, how fast he changes direction, and I feel like the thing that's really surprised me the most is they never make the wrong decision. They're always making the right decision. If that's like mashing it out on the baseline, kicking out, scoring, like whatever it is, they always, both those guys always make the right decision."
Edgecombe, especially, is coming off an impressive rookie season and is still only 21 years old. The Sixers will be placing a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, which can be a lot for some younger players, but Edgecombe has completely embraced it. Despite trying to build off his impressive maiden season in the league, he isn't doing too much and that's something that stands out to Wade.
"That’s hard, especially for a young guy like VJ, only second year, so seeing him, he's playing like he's a vet," Wade said. "He knows the right plays and he's doing it and he's not forcing anything. That's something that's very surprising for young players. He's not forcing anything, especially after having such a good year last year, like you'd expect young players to make those little mistakes, trying to force things, but he hasn't forced anything. He's been kind of just playing in the flow and playing off people, and it's been very impressive."
While Wade is left feeling impressed by his new star guard teammates, the play of Edgecombe, specifically, stands out to coach Nick Nurse. The young guard continues to make things happen to begin training camp and everybody on the floor is noticing to begin the new season.
"The things that stand out to me, and I don't know if this is different than last year, but he just again continues to make critical plays," Nurse explained. "We're live scrimmaging; we're keeping score. I mean, he's again flying in and making that huge offensive rebound to keep a possession alive, knocking down the big shot late in those games to either push you out to almost seal it or put the game away or whatever. I think he looks more confident and I mean I thought he looked confident and really mature last year, but he's even probably a little bit more settled in which I think makes sense, but he looks great out there."
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Sixers addition Dean Wade gives thoughts on Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe
