CAMDEN, N.J. — The answers Anfernee Simons gamely tried to offer about the first day of 76ers training camp were suddenly drowned out by the furious whirring overhead of a helicopter leaving the team's complex.
LeBron James ' helicopter.
James indeed used the rotorcraft for the rich to take him after practice from New Jersey to presumably close to wherever he decided to live in New York. The helicopter noises are usually reserved for when billionaire team owner Josh Harris lands at the complex for the NBA draft or a major news conference.
Not anymore.
The Sixers were quickly caught in the whirlwind of the first days of the LeBron Effect, even as a pair of players and coach Nick Nurse professed all was good on the court.
Off the court, make room.
Sixers staff moved the news conference backdrop from a corner where a few dozen reporters are usually stuffed to shout questions at Joel Embiid or Tyrese Maxey to a spot closer toward midcourt for a roomier feel for the more than 50 credentialed reporters, bloggers, TV camera operators and more that came to get an early report card on James' official first day as a Sixer.
James was gone Tuesday by the time media was allowed on the court to watch practice. Embiid, Maxey, former Boston star Jaylen Brown, they were all absent, too, a day after holding court on media day.
Nurse is starting his fourth season as coach of the Sixers. He's used to handling the demands that come with working in a major market and dealing with star players in Philly such as with Embiid and his daily injury report or the high drama that surrounded former Sixer James Harden.
Nurse did say he had conversations with the team about looking out for each other and staying connected while navigating a spotlight season — especially early — that already has a postseason-type of aura around the franchise before the Sixers even played a game.
“It is going to be different,” Nurse said. “More people, more eyes, more stories, more national TV. All that kind of stuff. It's the same, just a little more. I'm just trying to get to the practice floor and to the game floor. If we can do those two things, all that other stuff, we'll just kind of handle it as smoothly as we can.”
Nurse called the sight of so much talent “impressive” once the Sixers hit the floor for practice. James is a future Hall of Famer. Embiid has certainly built a strong case. Brown was an NBA Finals MVP and champion with the Celtics. Maxey earned his first All-Star start last season and has blossomed into an elite talent.
The fifth starter is more than just, oh, that other guy.
VJ Edgecombe was third in rookie of the year voting last season and his buoyant personality and defensive playmaking made him an instant fan favorite and immediate force in helping the Sixers return last season to the playoffs. Edgecombe worked out with James over the summer and volunteered that he orchestrated the starting five group text thread — well, once he asked Maxey for James' number.
That was all cool. Yet the magnitude of the moment truly hit him ahead of practice when James put on his No. 23 jersey in the same locker room as Edgecombe.
The 21-year-old Edgecombe tried not to get starstruck. He called James a teammate, a brother, a Sixer who will fight on the court side by side with them to chase the franchise's first championship since 1983.
Maybe. But he's still LeBron James.
“It's like, damn, that's still Bron,” Edgecombe said with a laugh. “He was in the locker room and I'm like, oh, that's Bron over there. His locker was open. He was in there before everybody as usual. He dapped me up, he's like, ‘what up? what up?’ We know each other for a minute.”
Edgecombe smiled as he tried to convince himself he's expunged the fan boy from his system.
“I ain't gonna be like that no more,” Edgecombe said to laughter.
True to his word, Edgecombe said he had to get loud during practice and give James some defensive instruction on when to switch off.
“We forgot. We messed up a switch,” Edgecombe said. “But that's what happens. We're getting to know each other. It's a new system for him. Everything is on the fly right now.”
It was soon time for James to fly home — all while the Sixers basked in the successful first day of what could be the NBA ride of a lifetime.
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