CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers will undoubtedly rely so much on Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey in the upcoming season. Those three have so much talent and they can lift this group back into title contention as long as they are all healthy and can jell on the floor together.

With that being said, the Sixers now have a younger and versatile supporting cast around them that can help them through the grind of an 82-game season. One of those new pieces is rookie guard VJ Edgecombe who the Sixers selected with the No. 3 pick in the draft.

Edgecombe was only able to play in two summer league games as he was held back by a thumb injury, but what he was able to show then as well as in OTAs has impressed everybody. Especially, coach Nick Nurse as he and other Sixers raved about the team’s new rookie:

Nurse on Edgecombe

“Well, first of all, he’s got a lot of really good qualities and one of the qualities he has is he’s got a really good engine. Or gas tank or whatever you want to—and that means he’s able to put in a lot of work. A lot of work in a day, come back and do it again, and do it again, and do it again. There’s not much wavering, if any at all in his day-to-day work ethic, right? So that’s a great place to start when you’re a young player. I think I’m gonna use him on the ball and I think I’m gonna use him off the ball. I think that’ll go for a number of our guys. It’ll be some on-the-ball, off-the-ball stuff. What does he need to improve on? He’s got a pretty good tempo and feel right now. I’m really impressed with that. He, athletically, does things every single day that just pop off the page and how did he get from here to here and from there to there and whatever? He really went to work on his shooting. Kind of from day two after we drafted him and he’s made some great strides there. I think success for him this year is minutes. At the end of the year, how many minutes did he play? Because we gotta let him ride through some of the rookie ups and downs. The young rookie ups and downs. Let him play through some mistakes, but there’s a lot of positives that we’ve seen so far.”

Embiid on Edgecombe

“I like him a lot. Obviously, I’ve talked to him a lot. Even before, as soon as we drafted him, I just knew I would like him. His background kind of reminds me of myself. Coming from another country and having been through a lot of hardships growing up, and he’s an amazing kid so far. So, yeah, but he’s been good. Having him around, talking to him, trying to help. I feel like I’m at a stage of my career where, obviously, I know the job I have to do. I still have to be the guy, but I’m also at a stage where I can help a lot of these young players that are coming in. Whether it’s him, Jared (McCain), or some of the young guys that we’ve had. I was in that situation with Tyrese and I’m extremely happy and proud of the work that he’s put in to get to this level, but he still has more to do and he’s gonna do more. So, I find myself in that other situation where there’s a lot of other young guys and it’s my job. Other than the job that I have, to kind of show them the way and for them to learn from some of the mistakes that I’ve made, and kind of giving them all and let them figure out how to live their life and keep on seeing with their career, so yeah.”

Maxey on Edgecombe

“VJ’s a special talent. One of his talents that a lot of people don’t really use is how hard he plays on both ends of the floor, whether that’s offensive rebounding, defensive rebounding, guarding the ball, playing in transition. Those are little things that a lot of people don’t do, so I think he’s going to be really good at that. He likes to learn, he wants to get better. The sky is the limit for him. We did a couple workouts here. In August, I took him to Disneyland in L.A. That was fun, then I came back here. He’s the type of guy that likes to work out. He likes to actually be in the gym to work, kind of like Jared. I think those two are a good start to the culture that we’re trying to build.”

Andre Drummond on Edgecombe

“The first day I saw VJ, I was instantly impressed, because the first thing he did was just ask me a bunch of questions. He even asked me how my day was. He’s like, ‘What do you think about this, big bro? How do you feel about this?’ He’s a kid that wants to soak up knowledge, and he’s a gifted athlete, and he’s very, very good. I think he’s going to be very good for us and I’m excited about what’s to come. I think my favorite thing about him is his confidence. I think it’s mainly because he played with the (Bahamian) national team as well, so he kind of has that experience, too. He’s going to be good for us.”

Kelly Oubre Jr. on Edgecombe

“Very mature for his age. Very physical. He has a good size. He’s very athletic, and the sky is beyond the limit for him, because he has a good head on his shoulders, and he has a lot of hunger inside of him. So I’m really looking forward to just flying with him and running these wings, and just being versatile as well. I think that he works very hard as well. So I think that you can’t pinpoint his potential. It’s kind of through the roof, as long as he keeps his head on his shoulders, he keeps his ego in check because that’s a big thing too. With more responsibility comes more expectation, of course. So yeah, I’m here to help him. I’m happy to be alongside him.”

This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Nick Nurse, multiple Sixers players rave about rookie VJ Edgecombe