VJ Edgecombe mighty impressive as Sixers fall to Jazz in first Summer League game

VJ Edgecombe recorded a double-double and looked like the best player on the floor as the Sixers fell to the Jazz in their first Summer League game in Utah.

What better way to kick off Summer League than with a moral victory?

The Sixers fell to the Utah Jazz 93-89 despite an excellent debut for VJ Edgecombe.

He led all scorers with 28 on 13-of-27 shooting, but just missed the game-tying three. He also had 10 rebounds, four assists and three stocks.

Justin Edwards and Johni Broome finished with 13 points apiece while Adem Bona finished with 16 points and eight rebounds.

Ace Bailey finished with eight points on 3-of-13 shooting. Kyle Filipowski led the Jazz with 22.

We’ll be focusing on the starters tonight. There are plenty of interesting names deeper down on the roster, and it’s pretty likely they’ll be getting the bulk of these minutes in the coming games.

Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.

VJ Edgecombe

• His athleticism first showed itself in how he would attack rebounds. The Sixers just haven’t had someone who aggressively hunts rebounds in quite some time now, but he was doing just that. He even nearly stole a putback from his own teammate in Broome, but was able to sail out of the way in time.
• It took him a few minutes to get a jumper to fall, but it was clear he was focused on getting up as many shots as he could. His 26 shot attempts were a team-high. He only got one three-pointer to go down, but he was able to get himself open midrange pull-ups at a very high frequency. Seven of his 13 makes on the night were jumpers from that area. Between using screens and his athleticism, he was able to get to his spots without much of a bag. Perhaps even more encouragingly though, when he attacked in the fourth quarter, he started to get all the way to the basket.

• While his handle still needs a lot of work, he did better handling defensive pressure than most of his teammates. Perhaps just as importantly, he made some nice reads on passes into the post, specifically in the first half. He was frequently looking to find someone in the dunker spot.
• And of course, he comes just as bouncy as advertised.

Johni Broome

• He definitely did not reach the impact of his fellow rookie, but he made a good first impression. Broome is a guy who seems to know where he’s always supposed to be, which will go a long way for success in Summer League. He was able to wiggle his way into some offensive rebounds and short roll opportunities.
• He did smoke a handful of layups. Pairing that with shooting numbers in college, his touch could be a concern. At the same time, he did knock down a couple of threes on the night and they looked pretty good.

Adem Bona

• Bona picked up right where his rookie season as he started this game by dunking on Filipowski. He was quiet for much of the game as the rotation expanded, but he got active again towards the end of the game. He had another monster dunk while trying to push Filipowski around on the other end. The two of them got into it quite a bit in this game. Bona doesn’t have much to prove this summer, but he’s still a fun watch nonetheless.

Justin Edwards

• Again, Edwards doesn’t have a ton to prove this year, but he also got off to a hot start. He cut through the paint for a couple early baskets and drilled down a three well behind the perimeter. He cooled off much more than Bona as the game progressed, but he was able to knock down a couple jumpers in the fourth quarter to get his shooting line back to 5-of-13. He wasn’t able to get a last shot up down the stretch though as he accidentally stepped out of bounds first.

The summer Sixers will be back in action Monday night when they take on the Oklahoma City Thunder at 7 p.m. That game will once again be on ESPN.