CAMDEN, N.J. -- The Philadelphia 76ers just finished up a grueling draft process as they looked at a number of players to choose from with the No. 3 overall pick. The Sixers ended up selecting Baylor star VJ Edgecombe who checks off a lot of boxes for Philadelphia.
"He’s very mature for his age," President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey said on Wednesday. "For being under 20, he carries himself like he’s already been in the league which I don’t think is easy. So that’s one. Two, I think the love of his family—I think a lot of people have that, but the admiration from his brother. I think I’m just excited to get to know him. He has a great head on his shoulders, both on the court, basketball IQ-wise, but also just life IQ for lack of a better term."
Edgecombe comes from humble beginnings in The Bahamas. He had to work his behind off in order to get to this position and that's what attracted him to the Sixers in the draft process.
One has to wonder how Philadelphia got to this point. Morey and his staff, of course, lock themselves in a room and go over hours and hours of tape in order to make the right, informed decision, but Morey wanted to give props to coach Nick Nurse to help the Sixers in the process.
"Nick’s been unbelievable in this process," Morey gushed. "He’s a coach who’s in, like, every meeting. Sitting through our hours of meetings. He’s run teams when he came up and had to work his way to the NBA harder than most guys."
To Morey's point, Nurse has had plenty of roles in his basketball career. Between having to coach in Great Britain to his humble beginnings in the G League in Iowa to all his years with the Toronto Raptors and now with the Sixers, Nurse is built for situations like this one.
"In terms of running teams in Iowa, running teams overseas, so he had such a great perspective, he has not just the coach’s eye, but he also has run teams so he gets what you want to care about," Morey added. "Not just what you’re saying now, but what they can become and things like that. So Nick’s been a great partner. I would say it was awesome."
As Edgecombe and the Sixers now move forward, it will be on Nurse to make sure the rookie understands what he has to do. When considering how involved Philadelphia's head man is, Edgecombe is in good hands as an NBA rookie.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Daryl Morey singles out coach Nick Nurse in Sixers' draft process
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