Category: Sports News

Sixers pre-camp questions: What's the next step for Edgecombe? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Sixers’ new era is on deck.

With LeBron James and Jaylen Brown on board and training camp set to begin in late September, we’re taking a look at key questions for the 2026-27 Sixers. 

We’ve asked: 

• Just how dramatic of an impact will James make?
• What role will Brown play on his new team?
• Will the Sixers be healthy when it matters most? 
• Who will the Sixers run their late-game offense through?
• Can the Sixers’ retooled second unit get the job done in the playoffs?
• How will the Sixers’ backup center situation shake out?

Next up: What’s the next step for VJ Edgecombe? 

Edgecombe earned a starting spot off the bat and finished third in Rookie of the Year voting last season.

While he encountered a bump in the road here and there, Edgecombe carried over his college strengths in rather smooth fashion. He displayed special athleticism in the open floor, worked diligently on defense, rebounded very well for his position (5.6 boards per game), and averaged 16.0 points and 4.2 assists. Edgecombe improved as a long-range shooter, grew as a passer, and almost never appeared to be in over his head as a 20-year-old starter on a playoff team.

He turned 21 this summer. Edgecombe will plan to hone his game across the board in Year 2, do tons of valuable dirty work, and learn from the Sixers’ established stars. He’s far too talented and competitive to fade into relative obscurity because the Sixers’ other projected starters have historically been high-scoring players.

What specific areas can Edgecombe develop? We think outside shooting is at the top of the list.

He made impressive offseason progress on his jumper last year, shooting with better balance, rhythm and confidence than he had at Baylor. After hitting 34 percent of his college three-pointers, Edgecombe shot 5 for 13 beyond the arc in his incredible 34-point performance against the Celtics on opening night. He finished the season at 35.4 percent from three-point territory.

Edgecombe didn’t end the year on a high note, though. Counting the playoffs, he went 29 percent from three-point range over his final 18 games. That included an 0-for-6 three-point night in the Sixers’ Round 2, Game 4 loss to the eventual champion Knicks. Rookie fatigue was surely a factor, but Edgecombe offered no excuses immediately after the Sixers were swept out of the postseason by New York.

“There’s been a lot of ups and downs through this whole playoffs. … Coming into next year, a team won’t ever leave me open,” Edgecombe said at his exit interview in May. “During the regular season, I was shooting the ball pretty well. Then the playoffs come and it’s a different vibe. The intensity is higher, the closeouts are a lot quicker. 

“But I’m going to work and work and work. Whatever I’ve got to do to make life easier for (Tyrese Maxey) and the rest of my teammates. Take some of the pressure and some of the load offensively off of them. And defensively, I’m going to keep getting better and keep learning. For the rest of my career, I want to go out and guard whoever I have to go guard. I’m just excited to see how this offseason is going to look for me. Next year I’m going to come back better, stronger, faster, more athletic. Whatever I’ve got to do, I’m going to do.”

The bulk of Edgecombe’s three-point chances next season should be open catch-and-shoot looks created by the Sixers’ stars. He took 3.5 catch-and-shoot threes per game last season and made 38.3 percent. (On pull-up threes, Edgecombe was at 31.4 percent on 2.0 attempts per game.)

As Edgecombe alluded to, an important aspect of his catch-and-shoot game will be understanding the defense. 

Some opponents may still opt to leave him wide open. Others may respect Edgecombe’s jumper, close out hard, and force him to be precise with his footwork and shot preparation. Whatever the case, there’s no question Maxey will provide pointers along the way and nudge his backcourt mate to keep shooting. 

Of course, there are many nuances of the NBA that Edgecombe hasn’t come close to mastering yet. As he accumulates more reps, we imagine he’ll naturally improve at playing physical defense without fouling, cutting, screening, and scoring craftily at the rim and in the mid-range. 

Regardless, both Edgecombe’s career and the Sixers’ championship ambitions would look even brighter if his next major step is as a three-point shooter in the 2026-27 season.

Welcome to the Preseason – Basketball practice officially starts in 3 days, September 21^st.  

Before last season, BTP posters were saying, “I can’t remember who’s on the team this season.” We’re here to help!

We’re counting down the 10 days to the beginning of practice ’26-‘27 by taking another look at this season’s roster, focusing on the 10 players most likely to make an impact. This article is about Coach Gainey’s biggest win of the offseason; despite being outbid by other schools, Paul McNeil has returned to the NC State Wolfpack.

Basketball News

• Generally the weight gains reflect what we have already been told – EXCEPT WILKINS
• Finally we have Jurkovic’s weight, and he’s a little taller than we thought
• Smartly, McNeil added an inch to boost his NBA resume
• Whitty got busted

Predicted breakdown of minutes per player:

#2 Paul McNeil

This will be Paul’s third season on the Wolfpack team, and his third (and most expensive!) coaching staff. Paul will be forever loved by fans for sticking with the program through the coaching changes, just as much as for setting the program record for most made 3PT shots in a season and having a 47/10 double-double in last season’s Heritage game. It’s becoming less common that players of his ability stick around 3 seasons, so we probably won’t get another.

• Ht / Wt:6’5” / 190
• Position: Guard
• PPG / RPG / APG:13.8 ppg / 3.6 rpg / 0.8 apg
• Shooting: 43.3% / 42.7% (105-246) / 82.4%

’25-’26 season Highs:

• Points: 47 points, double digits 23 games, 20+ 8 games
• Double-Doubles: 1
• Rebounds: 10

Strength

• Usage – Probably exactly what you want for his role as designated marksman
• True Shooting % – Excellent
• Assist %  / A/TO – A designated catch & shoot guy is not expected to pass much, but when he does, he’s very good at getting it to the right guy.

Weakness

• No surprise, overall Paul is not a strong defender
• Block % – He ranks in the 59^th percentile, but if you compare only to other guards he ranks very well, the 83^rd percentile.

Strength

• Three-point percentage – obviously

Weakness

• Doesn’t take a lot of shots inside the arc, and doesn’t pick up shooting fouls

Patrick Stacy

“Only player in history to make that volume of 3’s [last season] with that accuracy”

Coach Gainey

“Paul is coachable, I’m excited about the things he is doing with the ball, excited about the things he is doing on defense, he’s taken his leadership role very seriously. “

Expectations – Wolfpack nation LOVES Paul. He’s come back twice, and we’re told he turned down a big offer to move to Baton Rouge. But even the biggest fans (including me), have always had a few concerns:

Concern: Size – Paul has always been skinny, and we all wondered how that impacted the fact that he doesn’t often successfully drive to the basket. In pictures from the offseason workouts, Paul’s recently added muscle definition is very impressive.

Concern: One-dimensional offense – As noted above, Paul seldom takes it to the rim. Obviously, a big part of that is his role in the offense. But to be a well-rounded NBA player, he probably needs to increase the perception that he can beat you from 3PT and he’s a threat take it to the rim, as well. Last season only 23.9% of his made shots were inside the arc. But he did dunk it 4 times (4/4, 100%) and made 25 of what Torvik calls ‘Close 2PT’ shots. ( at 62.5%) A few steps further away his shooting percentage drops to 24.2%. Coach Gainey’s comments (above) on what he is doing with the ball, are encouraging.

Concern: Defense – (You can’t be a ‘3 & D guy’ if you can’t ‘D’ – Confucius) Last season he ranked 10^th on the Wolfpack in DPBM (Defensive box plus/minus) at -0.1. That means the opponent’s offense does better when he is ON the court than off. He beat out only teammates Jerry Deng, Jordan Snell, and Colt Langdon in that metric. Not good company, Robert.

I believe this will be Paul’s best season, but I don’t see him breaking his 3PT record. With the Wolfpack having 3 or 4 very good (38% +) 3PT shooters on the court at all times, the team might set a 3PT record as a whole, but the made shots should be distributed across more players. The floor spacing this team will cause should allow Paul, Hammond and Adams room to attack the rim. Defensively, I believe in Coach Gainey. He’s talked about Paul’s “coachability”. I believe Paul’s improvement on defense, as well as the entire team’s, will be the single most significant improvement by the Wolfpack this season positively reflecting on this season’s coaching staff versus the previous. However, there’s a caveat. It will not be immediate. Hopefully we’ll see the individual defensive effort there out of the gate, but it’s going to take time to become a really good defensive team.

Ramp to Camp: What will be Mitchell Robinson's biggest contribution? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Boston Celtics newcomer Mitchell Robinson was absent from this week’s introductory press conference while tending to a personal matter, but the man nicknamed “Big Country” left a sizable impression on his new team during his offseason visits.

“When Mitch came into the building for the first time — first of all, it’s kind of jarring how big he is, obviously,” said Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens. “It’s a good thing that we don’t have to block him out.”

Later, when we asked new teammate Paul George about pairing up with Robinson, he offered a similar sentiment.

“Obviously, Mitch is one heck of a specimen,” George told NBC Sports Boston. “He’s a phenom in terms of the ability to rebound and be a vertical threat from a pick-and-roll guy. I love that opportunity to play with bigs that play above the rim.”

Robinson’s “Big Country” nickname might be a nod to his Louisiana roots and his love of country music but it’s also a pretty accurate description of the real estate taken up on the court by the 7-foot, 240-pound center. Amid all of Boston’s offseason changes, the addition of Robinson and his ability to solidify the Celtics’ frontcourt might have flown further under the radar than typically possible for a man of his size.

For Day 9 of our Ramp to Camp series, we asked our panel to predict Robinson’s biggest contribution to this year’s team.

Any conversation involving Robinson invariably starts with his offensive rebounding. Robinson cleaned up a staggering 21.1 percent of his team’s misses last year for the world champion Knicks, far and away the best mark in the league (the next closest qualifier: Zach Edey in Memphis grabbing 17.7 percent of his team’s misses). Robinson finished second in the NBA in offensive rebounds per game (4.2) despite playing only 19.6 minutes per contest.

For a Celtics team that clearly values second-chance opportunities under Joe Mazzulla, Robinson’s presence has a chance to make the Celtics maybe the best rebounding team in basketball.

The advanced metrics also love Robinson’s defensive impact. Opponents shot 6.3 percent below expected output when Robinson was the primary defender, and 10.6 percent below expected inside of 6 feet.

The knocks on Robinson are his ability to stay on the floor and his free-throw shooting. The Celtics famously went Hack-a-Mitch trying to exploit that in previous seasons. Boston’s skills staff has to help him get his free-throw percentage up from last year (40.8 percent) and above the 50.8 percent he’s shot for his career.

In our mind, the biggest benefit beyond the obvious with his rebounding talents, is simply bolstering a Boston frontcourt that has been rebuilding itself since the departures of Al Horford, Luke Kornet, and Kristaps Porzingis.

Now, Neemias Queta has a running mate. Queta and Robinson can each play hard in their on-court stints and, if there are additional minutes needed, Luka Garza showed he can infuse energy (and even more offensive rebounding) off the bench.

Once perceived as the team’s biggest area of concern, we’d go so far as to suggest that center depth is now a strength of Boston based on Queta’s development and the addition of Robinson.

In signing Robinson, the Celtics also weakened a primary rival in the Knicks. As Stevens and Co. can confirm, it’s a sizable void.

Kevin Miller: Vice President, Content Creation & Strategy

Energy at all times, creating at least five extra possessions per game.

Jason Levine: Executive Producer, Content Integrations

He’s going to rebound, so I want him to be able to stay on the floor (fouls, poor free-throw shooting not a factor in minutes)

Justin Leger: Producer, Multi-Platform Content

Durability will be critical.

Robinson has struggled with injuries throughout his career. His 60 games played last season marked his highest total since 2021-22 (72). He has played more than 60 games in a season only three times in his eight-year career: 2018-19, 2019-20, and 2021-22.

If Robinson misses a lot of time again this season, the Celtics will be back to square one with the center spot as their most glaring weakness.

Josh Canu: Celtics Editor

Impact on the rim.

They paid Robinson to be the perfect replacement for when Queta is off the floor. He is an elite rebounder and a presence inside on both ends. They need him to be exactly what they got him for and provide the depth they did not have a season ago.

Nick Goss: Producer, Multi-Platform Content

Offensive rebounding.

We all know Robinson is an excellent rebounder. If he can dominate the offensive glass and give the Celtics extra possessions, he’ll have a huge impact on the success of this team. Robinson’s 4.2 offensive rebounds per game ranked second among qualifiers in the NBA last season.

Michael Hurley: Producer, Multi-Platform Content

For those of us who come from a different era of basketball, I think we’re all a little excited to see what a throwback kind of player looks like with this team. Get in the paint, get your nose dirty, get the basketball. He’ll have a notable on-court impact, no doubt. But if he can help Neemias Queta develop in some needed areas, you’re really cooking with gas here.

Adam Hart: Executive Producer, Content Strategy

I want 60 percent free-throw shooting. If he’s rolling to the hoop, stacking assists for Jayson Tatum? Teams will be hacking. MAKE THEM PAY.

Max Lederman: Content Producer

Rebounds. Rebounds. More rebounds.

A player like Robinson can help end opponent possessions by defensive rebounding and give the Celtics extra shots by hitting the offensive glass. Sometimes it’s really that simple.

Birthday smash.

A Florida man irrationally claimed he was celebrating his birthday as justification for destroying an NYC taxi in Manhattan following the Knicks’ historic Game 4 comeback in the NBA Finals.

Saul Vargas took a plea deal Thursday for a disorderly conduct charge after he was caught shirtless on video jumping on the hood and roof of the yellow cab and smashing its front windshield as thousands of Knicks fans flooded the streets near Madison Square Garden on June 11.

“I just want to be 21,” Vargas complained as he exited a Manhattan courtroom, according to the Daily Mail.

“At the end of the day, I’m 21. I was being a kid, I was being stupid,” he added, admitting it was a lame excuse for the destruction he caused. “It was my birthday, I was trying to have fun but that’s not a good excuse.”

Vargas conveyed his regret to cabbie Noueddine Bitat, who fell victim to his antics.

“To the taxi driver, I do apologize. It’s something no driver should have to go through,” he said.

Bitat, 59, was driving down Seventh Avenue at 36th Street around 12:30 a.m. when the mob attacked the vehicle and ripped him from the cab.

“The crowd came and they attacked him. They grabbed him out of the cab. They grabbed him by the neck. Someone punched him in his head,” Bitat said through a translator at the time.

“They shattered the windshield. They opened the front doors and even the trunks. They were yelling, ‘Knicks in five! Knicks in five!’”

Vargas, of St. Cloud, Fla., joined other rowdy fans on the car for the celebration — including a man wearing a keffiyeh and another holding a Palestinian flag, perched atop the destroyed cab.

Bitat suffered a diabetic attack and was left with “a lot of trauma.”

Bitat, who is from Algeria, said he was not planning on returning to the chauffeur gig following the beatdown and was “lucky to be alive.”

“It’s just that from what happened, he couldn’t believe doing a job like this could be so risky.”

Vargas was ordered to pay $500 in restitution as part of his plea deal.

The Knickerbockers, who went on to win the NBA Finals in Game 5 two nights later, had erased a record 29-point deficit in the closing minutes of the game to ignite the mass celebration.

Game hero OG Anunoby sent the city into a frenzy with his tip-in with 1.2 seconds left, rebounding a missed three from Finals MVP Jalen Brunson.

Police sought Vargas on a criminal mischief charge after video of the incident of the incident went viral.

The alleged birthday boy later turned himself over to police just before heading back to Florida after learning he was a wanted man.

Tweaked Warriors roster puts onus on Steve Kerr and his revamped coaching staff originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Autopsies of the Warriors’ 2025-26 season concluded that injuries to Jimmy Butler III and Stephen Curry were such severe wounds so that one could overlook contributing causes.

If those causes are unaddressed, they’ll be fatal next season – even if the aging roster somehow achieves optimal health.

The Warriors too often were guilty of sloppy late-game execution, silly turnovers, curious shot selection and defensive rotations that were too late or entirely missed. They sometimes looked clueless under coach Steve Kerr.

The holes within the roster and lapses in quality coaching were too much to overcome. After presiding over four championships in his first nine seasons with Golden State, Kerr concedes as much.

“We’ve studied everything over the offseason, taken a lot of time to watch film and see certain combinations, what we did well, what we didn’t do well,” Kerr tells NBC Sports Bay Area. “And I think we have a chance to be much better this year than we were last year.

“I really believe we’re going to be better, and I think I’ve got to be better.”

In one of his first steps toward that end, Kerr sifted through several candidates to replace three departing assistants: Chris DeMarco, Jerry Stackhouse and Terry Stotts. DeMarco left during the season to become head coach of the WNBA New York Liberty. Stackhouse and Stotts left after the season to explore other opportunities.

The only outside hire was veteran coach Frank Vogel, who coached the Los Angeles Lakers to victory in the 2020 NBA Finals. As associate head coach, Vogel will focus on defense, formerly the domain of DeMarco and Stackhouse.

“Frank’s a great coach,” Kerr says. “He’s been obviously a head coach for many years in the league. He’s a great defensive mind. I’m excited. I think he will be a good voice for our team. He’s a great defensive mind, especially, but he’s someone who I feel very comfortable with right next to me. I’m going to turn the defense over to him.”

The Warriors last season posted a 114.4 defensive rating that ranked 16th in the NBA. They were punished in transition, allowing 15.7 fast-break points per game to rank 20th (the lowly Milwaukee Bucks were 19th) and ranked 20th in effective field-goal percentage defense at 55.3 percent. Golden State was second in steals but 25th in defensive rebounding and 26th in blocks. And only seven teams allowed more points in the paint.

There are numerous details to address and plenty of ancillary repairs required to fix this sub-mediocre aspect of the team.

“When (DeMarco) left for New York last year, I thought the void was apparent,” Kerr says. “He and Jerry really kind of tag-teamed the defense, and we had a good we had a good thing going. And then Chris’s void was real, and I thought between the injuries and losing Chris, our defense suffered a little bit.”

Vogel will coordinate the defense, with returning staffers Jacob Rubin and Anthony Vereen acting as lieutenants. The trio is, in essence, replacing Stackhouse and DeMarco.

Vogel is a four-time NBA head coach, beginning with Indiana in 2010. He spent six seasons with the Pacers, then two with the Orlando Magic, three with the Lakers and one with the Phoenix Suns before working under Jason Kidd last season with the Dallas Mavericks.

Vogel’s teams typically play strong defense, as his resumé includes three No. 1 finishes in defensive rating and two more seasons within the top five.

Even if Vogel and his crew coax Golden State’s defense back toward the top 10, the offense must find ways to improve. That will again be Kerr’s priority, with the aid of assistants Bruce “Q” Fraser, Seth Cooper and Nicholas Kerr. Cooper and Kerr have spent time as head coach with the G League Santa Cruz Warriors.

“I will collaborate on the offensive side,” Kerr says. “Seth and Nick have done a great job coming from Santa Cruz. We’ve really instituted some changes over the last couple of years from our G League coaches; I think they have a finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the league.”

It’s incumbent on Kerr and his sidekicks to generate scoring beyond the gravity created by Curry. Even if uninjured, he’s going to miss a few games. Even when he plays, his minutes will rarely exceed the low 30s.

As Curry ages, the response when he’s off the floor has become more indicative of the team’s fate. When the “non-Steph” minutes are productive, the Warriors can float. When they’re not, the tumble is predictable.
Golden State’s offensive rating (113.8) last season left it in 19th place. But the most salient truth was exposed after injuries to Butler and Curry. The Warriors were 14th (114.8) before Butler and Curry were sidelined in January and 22nd (112.3) after.

After a summer in which the roster was tweaked rather than significantly upgraded, the task falls to Kerr and his revamped staff to find ways to improve. Injuries surely doomed last season, but let’s not forget the other inadequacies that played a significant role.

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