Inside Sixers: VJ Edgecombe and Ace Bailey face off, Tyrese Maxey shoots left-handed, and more from the Sixers’ trip west

SALT LAKE CITY — VJ Edgecombe grabbed a sharpie and began to sign his 76ers jersey, complete with a personalized message.

The keepsake was for Ace Bailey to commemorate their first matchup as NBA players, after the two rookies were linked throughout last year’s pre-draft process as the primary contenders for the Sixers to select at No. 3 overall.

Both players demonstrated why they were such ballyhooed prospects in the Sixers’ 126-116 victory over the Utah Jazz Saturday night at the Delta Center. Edgecombe totaled 22 points, 13 rebounds, and four assists. Bailey had 25 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and five blocked shots.

And Edgecombe believes this is only the beginning of two careers full of such matchups.

“We have a long way to go,” Edgecombe said. “ … It’s great to see him out there getting better.”

» READ MORE: Sixers-Jazz: What we learned from Saturday’s crucial win against Utah

Edgecombe, who did not play in the Sixers’ March 4 matchup against the Jazz because of a back bruise, described his relationship with Bailey as “actually really close.” It stems from them frequenting the same high school camps, and realizing they both “like to clown,” Edgecombe quipped. Following their college seasons — Edgecombe at Baylor, Bailey at Rutgers — they were sitting next to each other during the mid-May draft lottery in Chicago, when the Sixers dramatically landed the third overall pick.

Yet as speculation swirled about who the Sixers would select in late June, Edgecombe said he and Bailey never broached the subject.

“I let him be. He let me be,” Edgecombe said Saturday. “And we just congratulated each other on draft night.”

Jazz coach Will Hardy on Saturday fondly recalled his pre-draft interview with Edgecombe, noting he recognized the player’s sense of humor and energetic personality during their 25-minute conversation. The guard’s athleticism and disruptive defense also immediately stood out on film, Hardy said.

Sixers coach Nick Nurse, meanwhile, also heavily studied Bailey. Nurse called the 6-foot-9 wing a “super-talented scorer” with the size, length, and shooting release point to fire from deep range.

The Sixers, of course, took Edgecombe before Utah took Bailey at No. 5. Hardy instantly clocked “little glimmers” of Edgecombe’s offensive skill set — that he could create space to elevate for shots, and relentlessly attack in transition — during a terrific 28-point debut against Bailey and the Jazz during Salt Lake Summer League. Through 64 regular-season games played, Edgecombe has averaged 15.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1.4 steals.

But Hardy had not watched much of the Sixers until recently, ahead of that first matchup in Philly. The Jazz coach’s reaction? “Oh, Wow. He’s taken a huge jump this year.”

“I wouldn’t say that I’m surprised by the season he’s had,” Hardy added. “Because there’s not, like, an element of his game that seems like it came out of nowhere. He’s just got a lot of opportunity and he’s handled himself really well, it seems like, throughout the entire season.”

Edgecombe’s Sixers (39-32) are now fighting for postseason positioning, while the rookie is being tasked with more scoring and initiating on offense with All-Star point guard Tyrese Maxey sidelined with a finger sprain. Bailey’s Utah team is in a much different place — “tanking” again to increase its draft lottery odds for a collection of prospects that could be even better than last year’s group, which also includes the Dallas Mavericks’ Cooper Flagg, the Charlotte Hornets’ Kon Knueppel, and the San Antonio Spurs’ Dylan Harper.

That means Bailey has been granted the freedom to launch a barrage of three-pointers, such as the 14 he took Saturday against the Sixers or the 19 he fired Thursday against the Milwaukee Bucks. Still, Hardy said earlier this month that he wants Bailey to “graduate” out of rookie mistakes, such as fouling jump shooters, during this final stretch.

“We’d like to try to eliminate three or four plays a night,” Hardy said, “that, as you go on in your career, they’re just sort of ‘no-nos.’ … He’s learning a lot, and he’s learning on the fly. I think he’s handled himself great throughout this season.

“Now, it’s about can we take this last pocket and really put those things into action, where we show way more consistency on the foundation aspects?”

» READ MORE: Dominick Barlow sprains ankle in Sixers’ win at Utah Jazz

Those rookie paths finally converged Saturday, when Edgecombe and Bailey infused their statistical production with highlights that elicited “oohs” from the crowd.

Bailey buried a wild three-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer, converted a reverse dunk through contact for an old-fashioned three-point play, and turned a block on the Sixers’ Justin Edwards into a wicked alley-oop slam on the opposite end. Edgecombe spun in the lane before hitting a floater, exploded to the basket for multiple crafty finishes, and sank the game-clinching bucket with less than a minute remaining.

Here’s more from the Sixers’ 2-1 road trip West:

Trendon Watford did not play the entire first quarter against the Jazz. And shortly after the reserve forward entered the game, his cross-court pass sailed way out of bounds.

“After I threw the ball in the stands,” Watford said, “I just said, ‘You know what? I’m not going to do too much passing no more.”

Cue a 20-point, nine-rebound, four-assist performance that Nurse called “probably his best game of the year.” Watford leveraged his size and strength when the Jazz went uncharacteristically small, often playing Bailey at center. Watford also cleaned up his ball security, from three turnovers in the first half to zero in the second.

“‘Wat’ just was determined to get the ball to the front of the rim, regardless,” Nurse said.

Watford disagreed with his coach’s evaluation that this was his top outing as a Sixer. He gave that distinction to his Nov. 8 triple-double against the Toronto Raptors, when he totaled 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting, 17 rebounds, and 10 assists.

Still, he acknowledged Saturday was “definitely a good game, though.”

And it perhaps came at a crucial time, after starting forward Dominick Barlow left Saturday’s game in the first quarter with a sprained left ankle.

The first day of the NCAA Tournament is an unofficial holiday for basketball fans. Including the Sixers, who during Thursday’s pregame open locker room period had the big-screen television tuned into the end of the exciting North Carolina-VCU game.

When VCU guard Nyk Lewis grabbed a one-handed rebound, rookie big man Johni Broome and Edwards yelled “That’s a ‘Bari rebound!” in reference to the way teammate Jabari Walker crashes the boards. Multiple players yelled for a five-second call when North Carolina could not inbound the ball. Even Quentin Grimes, who is normally quiet during that pregame period but advanced to the 2021 Final Four while at Houston, chimed in with commentary.

» READ MORE: Kevin Willard said getting to the NCAA Tournament was a good ‘first step’ at Villanova. What’s next?

And when VCU’s Terrence Hill Jr. tied the game with 11 seconds remaining in regulation, before the Rams won in overtime, several Sixers stood up from the locker chairs and enthusiastically rushed the television on the opposite side of the room.

The pregame scene was significantly quieter inside Saturday’s pregame locker room in Salt Lake City, where Walker put tournament action on his laptop. That will change Sunday, when Connecticut plays UCLA in Philly — and former Huskies Andre Drummond and Tyrese Martin and former Bruin Adem Bona will all be in attendance to cheer on their alma maters.

For the season’s first three-plus months, Walker was the most durable Sixer. So durable that it essentially forced the reserve forward to sit out four games before his two-way contract was converted to a standard deal. Walker was active for each of the Sixers first 50 games, the maximum allowed as a two-way player.

So did Walker feel a jolt of frustration when he caught a wicked case of the flu last week, forcing him to miss three games with the Sixers already severely shorthanded? He initially told himself to play through it, but when the worst symptoms arrived, he realized “there’s no way I could play.”

“Sweating through everything. Chills,” Walker added of his symptoms. “Don’t even feel like moving.”

Still, Walker described it as “super weird” to watch his team play on television while recovering. Following the Sixers’ blowout loss in Denver, Walker was healthy enough to fly cross-country to Sacramento. He relied on hydration, sleep, and “good meals” to regain his energy, before playing six minutes in Thursday’s victory over the Kings and then compiling eight points, five rebounds, and three assists in 18 minutes in Utah.

“I can’t explain it,” Walker said of being away from the team. “It’s like things are just moving without you, and you don’t really like that feeling. Especially being connected to all the guys, you just feel kind of helpless.”

But what made Walker so healthy and uninjured prior to that illness?

He credited an enhanced focus on taking care of body last summer. He hired a personal chef, and completely cut red meat out of his diet. He now takes occasional blood tests to see where he might be deficient in certain vitamins and minerals, and replenishes accordingly.

“I take a lot of pride in that,” Walker said last month, “because the best ability is availability. … It’s definitely paid off. I continue to add more and see how it can make my body better.”

A Sixers staffer emerged from the visitors’ locker room in Denver Tuesday evening, and asked if there was anywhere one could find two espresso shots.

They were for Andre Drummond, who has implemented the caffeine boost into his pregame routine since his second or third NBA season. Following a morning shootaround and midday nap, Drummond said, the espresso is a way to “get your engine going again” for a nighttime game.

“Sometimes you feel a little foggy if you oversleep, or if you don’t sleep good enough,” Drummond said. “ … It gets the mind moving again.”

When asked which arenas boast the best espresso, Drummond immediately praised Philly and Chicago, where he played from 2022-24. He also gave a shout out to Minnesota.

What about Denver?

“They gave me regular coffee,” he said. “I was pretty sad about that. I was like, ‘I could have gotten black coffee myself.’”

During a slight lull between Saturday’s pregame individual workouts, Maxey emerged from the Delta Center tunnel.

The All-Star point guard set up at the right wing and began firing three-pointers ... with his left hand.

Consider that a sign that Maxey is antsy to return from the pinkie injury that has sidelined him for about two weeks. He yelled at the ball to “get up!” after a flat shot clanked off the rim, before sinking one with a significantly higher arc. Veteran teammate Kyle Lowry playfully messed with Maxey while sitting courtside following his shooting session. Maxey also was wearing a less clunky splint on that finger, allowing him to delicately dribble with his right hand.

And perhaps playfully experimenting with shooting with his opposite hand is not completely outlandish. While attempting to play through a similar injury last season, Maxey struggled mightily from three-point range.

Then, Maxey and assistant coach Rico Hines walked to the opposite end of the court to link with Jason Terry, the Utah assistant coach who once was a key role player for Maxey’s hometown Dallas Mavericks. Maxey quickly ducked back into the tunnel, before bringing out one of his blue jerseys as a gift for Terry.

Edgecombe and Edwards were not the only players to hit the 30-point benchmark in Thursday’s Sixers-Kings matchup.

So did Sacramento rookie center Maxime Raynaud, who made 11 of his 17 shots including a 3-of-4 mark from beyond the arc.

Somebody who already was “very familiar” with that potential? Nurse, who said before that game that he watched “a lot” of Raynaud’s film because the Sixers were considering selecting him with their second-round draft pick.

Instead, the Sixers took Broome, who earlier this month had meniscus surgery. Raynaud went 42nd to Sacramento.

“He was going this way [up] in his career,” Nurse said of Raynaud before the game, “and thought he had, obviously, size, athleticism, skill to be kind of a modern NBA-type center. I know he’s got a lot of starts under his belt and a lot of minutes under his belt. And for a rookie, that’s always invaluable.”