NBA Draft: How Baylor's VJ Edgecombe Creates his own Buckets

VJ Edgecombe possesses a high floor as an NBA draft prospect, but creating his own buckets is how he'll rise up draft boards and potentially secure a No. 2 spot.

Dec 10, 2022; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Long Island Lutheran guard VJ Edgecombe (1) against Wasatch Academy during the HoopHall West basketball tournament at Chaparral High School. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

VJ Edgecombe, who's set to star for the Baylor Bears in the 2024-25 college basketball season, is on the short list of players with the possibility of locking in their spot as the No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 draft behind Cooper Flagg at No. 1. This list includes other names such as Rutgers' Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey and France's Nolan Traore.

The bulk of Edgecombe's appeal is as a dribble, shoot, pass wing who can also defend. He's an excellent shooter who can attack closeouts decisively and make impressive passing reads. When going downhill, he's an explosive scorer who pairs that explosion with body control as a finisher.

While Edgecombe is certainly capable of guarding at the point-of-attack, he's best utilized as a low-man and helpside rim protector who makes rotations to protect the paint. At 6-foot-5 with a 6-foot-6 wingspan, he pairs solid length with his vertical explosiveness, timing, and ball tracking to block shots. The ability to provide secondary rim protection as a scoring guard/wing is something that's supremely valuable to NBA teams.

This intersection of shooting, finishing, passing, and defensive aptitude gives Edgecombe a very high floor as an NBA prospect. But to truly ascend and lock down a No. 2 spot, he'll have to show more as an on-ball creator.

While his creation is currently limited by a basic handle, he does a couple of things well already. He's adept at using quick hesitations, crossovers, and a half-spin move to freeze a defender and/or shift their momentum. From there, he's able to cleanly blow-by them with elite burst and finish in the paint. This gives him a building block to improve upon as a self-creator.

VJ Edgecombe’s on-ball creation is currently limited by a basic handle but he’s adept at using quick hesitations, crossovers, and a half-spin move to shift a defender’s momentum and then cleanly blow-by them with elite burst. The margins are larger for athletes of his level,… pic.twitter.com/gLt9Lxegqz

— Maurya K. (KR) (@TheFlarescreen) August 7, 2024

The margins are larger for athletes of Edgecombe's level; small improvements to his handle will lead to large leaps in his creation ability. This is since, with his burst and explosiveness, the windows he needs to create to score buckets for himself are smaller than the ones non-elite athletes have to create to score for themselves.

With improvements to his handling creativity and adding more dribble moves, Edgecombe could become a great self-creator. From there, he already possesses the passing and feel needed to create looks for his teammates. This type of outcome is what makes him intriguing as a potential No. 2 overall pick, especially when considering his high floor as a two-way dribble, pass, shoot wing.

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