PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia 76ers look much different now than in VJ Edgecombe's rookie season. He didn't have LeBron James and Jaylen Brown surrounding him along with Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid when he was a rookie and being one of the team's top contributors.
In his second season, Edgecombe has had to adjust to taking a step back and finding other ways to get the job done. In Thursday's win over the Toronto Raptors, the young guard contributed 15 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists. He has been terrific in this new role as he has not complained or acted out or anything of the sort. He has kept his head down and worked hard, which endears him at the NBA level.
"VJ is a dawg, and he was aggressive tonight," Brown said of Edgecombe
after the win. "He looked good tonight on both ends, on offense and defense. VJ is just going to continue to accelerate his game, and it's a joy to watch."
Edgecombe has the support of his peers in the locker room who marvel over the stuff he can do on the basketball court. Not only does he possess a high basketball IQ, but he's also athletically gifted and is able to come up with plays that many others can't. It's why Maxey has chalked it up to one aspect: It's just VJ stuff.
"I just tell him to go do that VJ stuff," Maxey shrugged. "Literally, that's exactly what I tell him. I say, hey man, go do that VJ stuff that you do. And he literally goes out there and does VJ stuff. He had 15, eight, and eight tonight. Who knows? Next game will maybe be 20, four and four. He just does VJ stuff, and he gets us loose balls, he makes winning plays, he defends, he scores. He does it all."
One thing's for sure, Edgecombe is going to continue to go out there and produce. No matter what the Sixers ask of him on a night to night basis, he is going to show up, put his hard hat on, and give Philadelphia whatever it needs on that night in order to walk away with a win. That's impressive for a young player.
"I'm blessed to have a group of guys around me that's encouraging," Edgecombe stated. "So, I say they help me obviously with confidence, seeing the floor. Obviously, when I'm on the floor with those four other guys, it's kind of in a way where it's like it's helpful for me because obviously I'm in different positions, and obviously in year two, I'm seeing basketball from different standpoints."
This hasn't been easy for Edgecombe, but with guys like Brown, James, Maxey, and Embiid continuing to push him to be the player he possibly can be, it does make life a bit easier for the young native of The Bahamas. He has thrived in his new role for Philadelphia as he continues to push forward.
"They always just tell me ‘keep going, keep going.' And so I'm just so I'm just blessed to be in this position," Edgecombe finished. "And it's at the end of the day, I just want to keep getting better. Some opportunities might not be there, but I think I'm getting better mentally, and that's that's the most important part of the game. Sometimes you know you got to be you got to be mentally strong, obviously."
The Sixers will take on the Indiana Pacers on Sunday afternoon.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Two Sixers stars give credit to VJ Edgecombe for his contributions
