Daryl Morey didn’t wait for the end of the first round to get on the mic. After selecting VJ Edgecombe with the No. 3 overall pick last night, the Sixers’ President of Basketball Ops pulled up to the draft broadcast to talk shop and actually provided some decent insight on the current state of basketball in Philadelphia.
Here’s the quick rundown of what was said and what to make of it.
No surprise, VJ Edgecombe was the guy
Morey says the Sixers started with six names and narrowed it down to four, ultimately landing on Edgecombe as their guy. The Bahamas native is a strong, physical wing who checks a ton of boxes for what the Sixers need.
Wow. VJ Edgecombe seems like an incredible person. He says his family lived on a generator for years without electricity. He breaks down and cries when thinking about what his mom went through to feed him and his family. pic.twitter.com/6NdCwXoT7P
There was some chatter that Edgecombe looked “nervous” in his workout with Philly, but Morey couldn’t care less. “I put 0.0% stock into that,” he said, noting that these workouts aren’t real basketball.
Read Between the Daryl Morey Lines on Quentin Grimes
Morey dropped this little nugget while talking about the guard rotation:
“We think we’ll have one of the best back courts in the league, with Grimes, and Maxey, and Jared McCain, and now V.J…”
Notably, Quentin Grimes isn’t on the roster…yet. He’s a restricted free agent and a classic Morey-style under-the-radar target. If he’s name-dropping him on draft night, that feels like a “keep an eye on it” moment.
Joel Embiid’s Recovery: All Systems Go
Morey said he talked to Joel Embiid earlier in the day and things are “on track” with his recovery from knee surgery. He even threw in a NASA reference for good measure:
Embiid is attacking rehab, meeting with Dr. Glashow, and the team expects him to be ready right around training camp.
I will point out that getting that little of an update on Joel Embiid and considering it to be positive is just because of how vague and downright embarrassing it’s been from the Sixers Front Office when it comes to rehab and recovery.
It’s not like we haven’t heard that Embiid is going to be “fine” a million times before, only to see him actually take the court and look like he’s still missing one leg, right? Either way, I think we can all breathe a little easier…for now.
The Ace Bailey Saga
As for the now-infamous Ace Bailey saga, Daryl Morey didn’t sound particularly bitter, but he also didn’t sugarcoat the bizarre pre-draft handling.
“It was opaque. We were in communication with his agent, and he didn’t work out for anyone. That had no impact on our decision-making… I don’t try to judge, they were doing what they thought was best for them. We were doing what was best for us.”
Basically, they weren’t waiting on a kid who refused to show up and still somehow expected to control the board.
Ace Bailey had no workouts and a mystery agent who happens to be Sharife Cooper’s dad. There were reports of seeking a “promise” from a specific team to go along with a weird last-minute cancellation on the Sixers that rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.
Now he’s in Utah, a destination that his camp was specifically trying to avoid. Good riddance.
At least for one night, Daryl Morey sounded like a man with a plan.
Daryl Morey and the Sixers think they’ve got something in VJ Edgecombe, they’re confident in their guard room, and apparently, Joel Embiid is on track for training camp.
There’s still a ton of work to be done before the Sixers and Daryl Morey start earning the trust of this fanbase again, so we’ll have to see how Grimes, Embiid, and free agency play out before officially declaring that we’re back in this year.
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