How V.J. Edgecombe Set the Standard for Labaron Philon Jr.

CAMDEN — From the moment his face broke in jubilation as the Sixers came calling at the 22nd overall pick, Labaron Philon Jr. had big shoes to fill.

No, not as the first defined asset coming to Philadelphia in the infamous Jared McCain deal at February's deadline.

Rather, as the rookie following up V.J. Edgecombe.

To Nick Nurse, there are not really negotiables for young players. His goal for Edgecombe was to rack up minutes in year one. He just wants Philon to give him reasons to put this year's rookie on the court.

"He's talented enough to play. That's kind of where it starts," Nurse told reporters late Tuesday night.

The Sixers feel Philon can contribute immediately. It will be up to him to determine just how long that leash runs.

But Edgecombe set the standard a year ago.

"The things that V.J. did was the second we got him, he was everywhere we wanted him to be or everywhere he thought he should be to get better," Nurse said.

Edgecombe cancelled trips to return to the Bahamas last summer because the team wanted to work on his shooting.

"Just things like that I think take a rookie, listen, they know they're making a big jump here and they better get to work," Nurse said.

The little things are just that.

But they're an excellent first foot forward. They show a committment to a 12-month development program, something the Sixers believe in deeply.

"We believe in group development because it's a team game. We try to set up as many of those things as we can. None of that stuff is mandatory, but we hope the guys that really want to get better and improve themselves jump into that stuff," Nurse said.

Edgecombe graded excellently in all of those things.

The result was a rookie year that restored some faith in the Sixers' future.

Even with the league trending toward size and athleticism, even at the guard spots, Nurse notices that the NBA is also trending faster. Speed still matters a lot.

"Will there be some length issues? Yeah. Will there be some rebounding issues? Things like that. But we're going to have to figure that out. My concerns a lot of times start with a couple basic things," Nurse explained.

"Can we get our asses back and guard them? Can we keep up? Can we keep them off the glass? We need to be able to do both those things just to get started before a pass is thrown or a scheme is put in place or traps are made or rotations are made. We got to get back at the start of a possession and we got to be able to keep people off the boards at the end of a possession. All the stuff in between doesn't really matter much if you can't do those two things."

The speed between Tyrese Maxey, Edgecombe and Philon excites Nurse.

The Sixers are going to have to figure out the other stuff, be it with transactions or on-court strategy.

Nurse likes that there will be continuity in athleticism with Philon coming off the bench to relieve either of Maxey and Edgecombe. "He's similar to those guys athletically. He's similar to Tyrese in his ability to get perimeter shots up and he can get to the rim and finish a little bit," Nurse said.

He thinks it's great that Philon profiles as a full-court pressure defender. "That's always great to come off the bench with as a chance to change rhythm in a game or jam up the other team's point guard a little bit" said Nurse.

Even though Nurse envisions Philon coming in as a reliever for the two established guards, he won't rule out lineups that feature all three.

"I certainly see him as playing both of those positions. Those three guys kind of sharing that position. But, yeah, I would never rule out going three guards and seeing what it looks like. Usually to do that, probably two of the three have to do a couple of things extraordinarily well," Nurse explained.

"One is guard up, who is going to be able to bang the bigger wing that's out there that's trying to post. V.J. can do that stuff. He's got a little work to do on it, but he can do it. Tyrese is getting better at that kind of stuff all the time, playing bigger. Don't know quite yet what Labaron can do with that kind of stuff. And then they got to rebound, and I think that V.J., for his position, is an excellent rebounder. Tyrese, again, is getting better. We'll have to see how they can rebound the ball."

But as names went off the board earlier than expected, pushing Philon into the Sixers' dreams, the concern of fit alongside the tentpoles took a back seat to the opportunity presenting itself.

"Mike probably said it. It was just probably too much talent to not take in that position at 22."

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