👋 Good morning! Probably should have worked out for the two teams picking ahead of them, my guy.

Highlight of the night for me was Yang Hansen. Here is this gigantic Chinese kid, who was not considered a first-round pick by anyone. No invite the green room for Yang. But he shockingly gets picked 16th overall, and just so happens to be sitting in the stands with a huge white suit on. And Yang slowly descends from the nosebleeds, with his massive white suit, to meet Adam Silver on stage. I enjoyed the whole thing.

No trivia today after nearly five hours of poddin’, I just do not have the bandwith. I will make it up to you tomorrow, y’all. Thanks to everyone who tuned in to the show, or showed up to The Boozy Mutt. — Rich Hofmann

As always, you can reach me at [email protected]

The NBA can have some wild nights, but sometimes the newsbreakers can get a little ahead of themselves. What got billed as a wild Top-10, with potential trades all over the place, was actually pretty darn chalky. Well, until Brooklyn started picking the same (bad) player type over and over again, but that is neither here nor there.

“Chalk” happened with the Sixers. We thought they were gonna draft Baylor shooting guard VJ Edgecombe, and that is exactly what they did. And that is exactly what I would have done, for two main reasons: Athleticism and character.

After the season, Daryl Morey correctly said that the NBA is more physically demanding than it was, say, 10 years ago. He said that youth, depth and athleticism are more important than ever… and then the playoffs spelled that out for him. The Sixers had a bunch of old and unathletic guys on the roster last year, which was much more of a problem than it would have been in 2015.

VJ Edgecombe is a good start towards fixing that problem. He is the best run-and-jump athlete in the class. He is someone who should be a terror in transition on both ends of the floor. Kyle makes some good points in the video below, but check out some of the dunks in the accompanying video. This kid is a nuclear athlete.

VJ averaged 15 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists on a team that had two small guards who dribbled the air out of the ball. He made his 3s and free throws at a decent enough clip that he already is considered an adequate shooter (not good, but adequate). I think the skill level is high enough that Edgecombe is working with a solid enough base.

Now, VJ definitely needs to refine his ball-handling and shooting. Every prospect in the Sixers’ range had questions — Kon Kneuppel’s lack of athleticism, Ace Bailey’s lack of passing and rim pressure, Tre Johnson not doing anything but shooting — and this is the weakness that the Sixers are banking on improving. Johnson is the other player I thought was in VJ’s tier, but I would have picked VJ.

A big part of the reason that I am betting on VJ is his character. The background on him is generally considered to be as good as it gets. As I have written about, the Sixers have bet on that high-character guy before (Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain) and it has worked out. Not a guarantee that it will do so again, but my guess is that VJ will hit whatever ceiling he is capable of reaching. He is not just a nice kid, he is a nice kid that works. That has not always been the case for this franchise in recent years (cough, BenSimmons, cough).

I wrote about this last week when Ace Bailey skipped his workout, but I am kinda tired of dealing with mercurial personalities. I am tired of covering players who have their work ethic questioned. Just give me guys who wanna work hard and hoop, and let the chips fall where they may. I think the Sixers fanbase will like VJ regardless because he is an easy kid to root for, but they will love him if he is actually good.

One other point here is that I am happy with Daryl Morey. I know that has not been the case for most of the fan base, but hear me out. That guy does not have a ton of job security, and in a weak Eastern Conference, it would have been easy to trade down, get a vet back and sacrifice the long-term for next year’s team. He did not do that, sticking at No. 3 and taking who he thought was the best player available.

Maybe Morey is wrong, but I applaud the process nonetheless. He is certainly not lighting picks on fire like Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver down in New Orleans.

Morey spoke to the media, I will recap that tomorrow after I have a chance to watch his availability. The Sixers have the No. 35 pick at the top of the second round, and it would be cool to see them pick St. Joe’s swingman Rasheer Fleming. Kinda fits a need at the 4 for them, an older player who might be able to push for minutes earlier.

Houston 2, Phillies 0: Perfect night to not watch baseball. Score some runs, you cowards!

Getting shutout by Framber Valdez is one thing, especially when your right-handed bats are generally pretty weak. Getting shutout in a “Colton Gordon” start? What are we doing here, y’all? Two excellent starts from Ranger and Wheeler get completely wasted.

Union 1, Chicago 0: Now, here’s the second-best team in the city behind the Super Bowl champs. Always good to get a win at Soldier Field.

Phils are playing baseball, Sixers are drafting some second-rounders. Check your local listings.

Your tentative Thursday schedule at ​PHLY​:

Let's make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
PHLY SPORTS