Philly fans will love VJ Edgecombe’s ‘deceptive’ confidence

ByNBAUSA



Although he was only a member Philadelphia 76ers about six months, coming off the board with third overall pick in the 2025 NBA draftit feels like VJ Edgecombe has been in the NBA for half a decadewith the former Baylor Bear already averaging 16.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.4 steals in 35.6 minutes of action per game.

While Edgecombe has dazzled fans with his superb dunks on the rim, his scrappy defense and his willingness to do things from the point guard position, if there’s one area of โ€‹โ€‹his game that opposing teams still don’t respect 100 percent, it’s his lateral shooting.

Fortunately, Edgecombe is an incredibly confident player, almost to the point of โ€œdelusionโ€ by his own admission, telling reporters after the team’s win over the Washington Wizards that he knew he needed to become a knockdown scorer to truly become one of the best of the best.

“I have the most confidence in the world. I might be a little delusional sometimes, but I have the most confidence in the world. I swear, I think I can make the shots that I see Tyreese make. I’ve been working on it, me and Rico, we’ve been working on it every day since I got here. Um, all the mechanics, everything. As a kid, I wanted to shoot and I always wanted to shoot. And then I wanted to shoot. all of it still,” Edgecombe explained.

“But yeah, I mean, it feels good to knock down shots. I mean, as a basketball player, you know, if people keep running under screens or just letting you shoot wide open shots, you know, it’s going to kill your confidence. You don’t want to play anymore. Especially me at 6-foot-4, 6′, it’s not going to help me in any way at all.

“So being able to shoot the ball is a big, huge thing in today’s game. I’m not 7-foot. I’m not athletic 7-foot, I dunk all the time. No, I can’t do that. I’m not 7-foot. But, I mean, I have to add an aspect to my game where, because I know, I want to be the best on the floor and I want to be the best. I can be the best. So yeah, I want to be, I want to be the best, so that’s why I work so hard.

Technically, Edgecombe might just be selling himself as a shooter, because while his overall field goal percentage is just under the ideal 50 percent, his 2.2 made 3s on 5.9 attempts per game are good for a 38.2 field goal percentage, which is well above the league average. Edgecombe is average third in 3-point attempts per game among rookies behind only Kon Knuepel and Egor Demin, and when you consider the rest of his game, it’s pretty hard to see how quickly he’s taken over the NBA game.

And the best part? If Edgecombe’s own admission is correct, this could be just the underpinnings of his potential as a player.





2026-01-08 05:35:00

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