76ers' VJ Edgecombe, a former star at Long Island Lutheran, living dream of rookie starter in playoffs

There are days that VJ Edgecombe wakes up and he can’t believe the life he is living.

Just two years removed from his senior year at Long Island Lutheran, Edgecombe is a starter on a playoff team with two future Hall of Famers in Paul George and Joel Embiid and an All-Star point guard in Tyrese Maxey. What’s more, if that team can figure out how to bounce back from a rough start to their Eastern Conference Semifinals series against the Knicks, has a chance to go deep into the playoffs.

“Obviously, this is a dream,” Edgecombe told Newsday Tuesday when asked what his rookie season has been like. “I didn’t imagine it to happen so fast like this.”

Yes, Edgecombe, a mentally tough two-way player whom the 76ers took out of Baylor with the No. 3 overall pick last summer, has had quite a heady rookie season.

Not only did he finish third in the Rookie of the Year balloting behind Cooper Flagg of the Dallas Mavericks and Kon Knueppel of the Charlotte Hornets after averaging 16.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists, he is the only one of the three finalists in the playoffs.

“I know he’s a rookie, but his mind is so much ahead of what he is,” Joel Embiid said of Edgecombe.

Edgecombe was instrumental in getting Philadelphia to the second-round playoffs. The 20-year-old came up huge in the 76ers' win over the Celtics in Game 7 of their first round series, scoring 23 points on 8-for-17 shooting including going 5-for-11 from the arc. He also grabbed six rebounds and made four assists to finish with a game-high plus-19.

He became the first rookie in NBA playoff history to score more than 20 points and record at least five rebounds and five three-pointers in a Game 7.

Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse was asked before Monday’s Game 1 of their series with the Knicks if Edgecombe ever showed any of the typical rookie jitters in the playoffs.

“Not very often,” Nurse said. “There’s been one or two brief moments. I think in the playoff game in Orlando, he took some wild shots. But it’s better than him turning them down.”

Edgecombe, like the rest of his teammates, followed the Boston game by having a pretty rough night in their 137-98 loss in Game 1 Monday night.

Edgecombe was highly effective against Jalen Brunson in the regular season, holding him to just 19 points on 8-for-24 shooting over 106 possessions across four matchups. In Game 1, however, he and everyone else struggled to contain Brunson, who scored 27 of his 35 points in the first half. Brunson shot 4-for-7 on possessions in which Edgecombe was the closest defender, resulting in nine points, according to the NBA’s head-to-head tracking data.

“He’s a great player, so he’s going to make adjustments,” Edgecombe said. “Now, it’s time for me to make adjustments on how I guard him. Just play hard, fight through, just try to make sure I don’t get hit by any screens. Just try my best to stay in front of him and make him make difficult shots.”

Edgecombe said there’s no place he’d rather be than facing a challenge like this, and it’s something he never could have envisioned only a few years ago when he was playing outdoor basketball on the small island of Bimini in the Bahamas. When he was 15, he moved to Florida to play AAU basketball and was recruited to play at Long Island Lutheran at the start of his junior year.

Edgecombe won Newsday Player of the Year both his seasons with Long Island Lutheran and was a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year. In his one year at Baylor, he averaged 15.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.1 steals in 33 games.

Edgecombe was introduced to the intensity of a Philadelphia-Knicks playoff series two seasons ago when he attended Game 2 of the two teams’ first-round series. He hasn’t talked much to his teammates about that game, the Knicks scored six points in the span of 14 seconds to win it, but he vividly recalls the details.

“I definitely recall Donte DiVincenzo’s game winner,” Edgecombe told reporters after Game 7 against the Celtics in Boston on Saturday.

That win gave the Knicks a 2-0 lead in that series, something Edgecombe is hoping to avoid happening Wednesday night. Despite the clobbering the 76ers took in Game 1, the 76ers still have confidence they can make the series competitive, especially after the way they bounced back against the Celtics.

Two of Philadelphia’s losses in that series were by more than 30 points, yet they still found a way to win the final three games of the series and advance. He is now looking to make it a tough series in Game 2.

As he’s learned over the last couple of years, anything can happen.

“You live for surprises,” Edgecombe said. “It’s hard to set high expectations and think you are going to fulfill all your expectations. I didn’t set crazy high expectations for myself.

“I just wanted to play basketball. I’m glad I’m in the position I’m in.”

By Barbara Barker

barbara.barker@newsday.commeanbarb

Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.