Adem Bona was one of the few bright spots in a disastrous year for the Sixers, and the rookie center is eager to get an early start on next season tonight in the Salt Lake City Summer League, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Injuries to Joel Embiid, Andre Drummond and others created unexpected playing time for Bona, who appeared in 58 games, including 11 starts, while averaging 5.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per night.
“I’m going into my sophomore year,” he said. “You can only go up from here, like learning from mistakes and stuff like that. Yeah, I’m really excited to see what this upcoming year has to hold for the team and also being a part of it.”
Tonight’s game against the host Jazz features a matchup of top-five picks VJ Edgecombe, whom the Sixers took at No. 3, and Ace Bailey, who fell out of favor in Philadelphia after he canceled a scheduled workout in hopes of being selected by another team. Sixers fans will also get their first look at Auburn big man Johni Broome, a national Player of the Year candidate who was selected in the second round.
“I feel like our skill sets complement each other,” Bona said. “Me and Johni, we cannot wait to be able to share the floor together, to be about to operate on the low block together, high low, sometimes space the floor. So I think that’s the goal, to work together, to be able to learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses and try to complement each other while we’re on the floor, and my goal is always to be able to help the team, even if I share the floor with Joel. I’m going to do my part.”
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- There has been “little to no movement” so far regarding restricted free agent guard Quentin Grimes and the Sixers, sources tell Kelly Iko and Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link). Iko adds that the two sides “are hoping to continue communications” in the next few days. Grimes reportedly wants to average $25MM per season in his next contract.
- Signing Damian Lillard could help the Celtics return to title contention in 2026/27, states Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. A source tells Washburn that Boston is among the cities Lillard would consider and the team has interest in the high-scoring guard, who may not play this season due to a torn Achilles. Washburn recalls that Lillard didn’t want to join the Celtics when trade rumors began to surface a few years ago, but he has since developed a friendship with Jayson Tatum. Boston has the $5.7MM taxpayer midlevel exception to offer.
- Steve Popper of Newsday doesn’t believe the Knicks should get involved if the Lakers decide to trade LeBron James. Popper contends it would be a mistake to part with Karl-Anthony Towns or multiple rotation players to match James’ $52.6MM salary, adding that the team should preserve its resources in case Giannis Antetokounmpo becomes available.
Wow, Grimes wants that kind of money? He’s a good player, not great. What team still has that much cap space anyway. Good luck, Q. Wish you were still in New York
To be fair, I want 25 million $ per annum too. He’d be perfect on the Knicks again.
He’s not getting that. He is already signed for this year. No one offers him a contract. Only few teams have cap space. He’s a sixth man at best right now. Bulls have Giddey to sign. So only Nets have the money. He probably stays for a year. Becomes a FA next year ……..
Even now it’s Bron to Knicks. There isn’t a team in NBA that would trade for a 40 yr old Bron. Go away already …….. shoo shoo
Speaking of Adem Bona he’s been the best player on the court for Philly so far in their 1st Summer League game but Utah is on a big run & has a 4pt lead late in the 1st. Ace vs VJ is the headline but there’s A LOT of top young talent in this game. I’m looking for Bona to have a huge Eurobasket tournament playing for Turkiye as well.
Man Utah went from poo to brand new just as soon as Walter Clayton entered the game for them. He’s not a true pg but he seems like he can give Utah some of the same things that rookie Steph gave GSW about 15yrs ago as a lead guard who’s gravity as a shooter helps his teammates get better looks. Ace, Cody Williams & Big Flip all knocked down treys off Clayton’s activity late in the qtr. 6pt lead for the home team after 1. Jazz fans very hype for Ace specifically
I like VJ Edgecombe a lot. But it was always obvious that Philly (or whoever got that 3rd pick) shoulda took Ace. It remains obv as they go against each other rn
Wow really? Idt Ace will impact winning for awhile, VJ will immediately. Ace looks smooth but I will be very very surprised if Philly ever regrets taking Edgecombe.
Ace in good spot in Utah. No pressure. He can take all the ill-advised shots he wants.
Ace probably won’t be an impact player for a contender for a few yrs but patience is a virtue that is usually rewarded. This guy has elite NBA basketball player written all over him. Guys like him are the hardest to acquire, just look at how much Houston has to give up for a 37yo KD. Plus they already have 2 young big time guards. When drafting top3 you wanna be swinging for the fences and looking for HOF type guys more than worrying about the short term. If they were that worried about the short term they should have traded the pick for a vet. Ace was the obvious pick tho. He can do things other guys can’t.
All that being said, VJ is looking great in this 3rd qtr especially. Very chippy game as well.
This Bona/Filipowski matchup been pretty fascinating all game. Bona was better in the 1st half but Flip been great so far in the 2nd. VJ Edgecombe been sensational throughout
Sheesh, Bona just dunked all over Flip to give Utah a 2pt lead w/ 6mins to go
VJ is just out here dominating at this point. Again I love this kid’s game. Philly seems like the absolute worst spot for him tho bc of Maxey & McCain already being there. This kid should have his own team. But much like I’d be looking to keep Dylan & move Castle if I’m SA, I’d be looking to move off McCain & roll with a Maxey/VJ backcourt if I’m Philly
VJ just knocked down his 13th fg in this his 1st NBA game. He’s done everything except knock down the trey (also 1-3 from the line including a clutch missed ft). Utah has some really good young guards (Collier, Clayton, JSpringer) & VJ is just giving it to em. 2pt Jazz lead under a min left…
Obvious what game you watching …….
😱😱😱😱😱😱 ?????
VJ — 29 mins, 28 pts, on 13/27 FG, 10 rebounds, 4 asterisks. And he didn’t even shoot well. Otherwise he woukd have had 40 lol.
Bailey — 25 mi s, 8 pts, on 3/13 FG
I’d give him 20 per year but anything more is pushing it. Reminds me of the Tobias Harris situation. Yes I like him and want to keep him but I don’t want to overpay to keep him.
Grimes is dreaming if he thinks he’s worth 25
He’s been on 4 teams in 4 years.
In his 400 odd games he’s been a starter in half.
He looked great in the 30 games he played for us last season but that was with almost everyone out and him playing as the number 1 option a lot of the time hence why he put up good numbers and overall in those games we lost way more then we won. Also we just drafted VJ who plays the same position and will have McCain back so the minutes will reduce.
Malik Monk as a comparison gets 19mil.
Klay Thompson signed not so long ago for 16mil.
Nickiel Alexander-Walker he got 15.5m and he’s on par with Grimes
LeVert was 14.5m and that’s again about right.
Grimes is worth about 15m and in todays market when there isn’t much teams with money to spend like that I glad the Sixers aren’t just caving in and meeting the demands.
$15M is exactly what I would think as well, and only because of his potential.
I like Grimes a lot; have from the start of his NYK career. But its hard to see a path for him to get that type of contract this year. He was great in the second part of last season, but it wasn’t even one full season. PHI won’t give it other than maybe on a match. Only BKN could sign that size offer sheet.
Liked him with the Knicks too. Thibs had a lot of success developing young players, but Grimes was one that didn’t benefit from his coaching. He hit his stride at just the right time.
Financially, Philly can just about meet his asking price and still avoid the second apron Might offer slightly less but I wouldn’t low-ball him.
For the dozen or so games when they’re all healthy enough to sit up, a lineup of Maxey, McCain, Grimes, George, Embiid, with Edgecombe leading the bench, is pretty good. But they’ll always be injured and the rest of the roster blows
I thought Grimes was one Thibs’ best development projects, at least early on. Late FRP became a starter and defensive lead by early in season 2. Then there were certainly issues, but none of them justified throwing him away in the BB deal. He wasn’t needed for matching. Was it Thibs or the FO? IDK. He was good in DET too before he got hurt. He beat us in a game. So, it wasn’t like he sucked when he played for 3.5 years. Late FRPs don’t get those starting opportunties as of right.
PHI intends to match. But they certainly want to lowball. He’s potentially their 4th G, without a true PG in the group. Salary-wise, it looks clear for this year, but going forward they’ll have two 35% max deals, another 25% max deal, Grimes plus a top 3 pick RSC. They COULD be very good team, but more likely they’ll need surgery and that payroll will make it hard. Other teams up against the 2nd apron have more balanced rosters.
Laughing
If Philly was going to max Flopping Injured Embiid. Why not give Grimes 25m.
Nonsenseical take and airhead to.
This has to be the absolute WORST market I can recall for restricted free agents.
When there is no competition to worry about signing any of these guys to a huge offer sheet the teams with their rights can just play hardball, wait it out, and see if the player finally caves in.
Although, even with that being said, if you really do want the player to return, then those teams have to walk a very thin line between playing hardball and not offending the player or ruining the relationship between the player and the team’s front office/owner.
It’ll be interesting to ultimately see what Grimes and Giddey sign for, as I fully expect them to resign with their former teams. The question is just how far off is each player going to receive compared to their alleged asking prices.
Supposedly, Giddey is asking for 30m per year and Grimes is at 25m per year. I can see a world where both guys end up resigning for roughly 5m less per year than their original.asking prices…
In today’s market, and with both players ending their respective seasons on very high notes, I think Giddey at 23-25m and Grimes at 18-20 seems like reasonable prices for both the teams and the players.
Giddey has done a lot more to deserve 30 than Grimes to deserve 25, IMO.
In real free agency as UFAs, and with teams having space, Giddey would get above 30, possibly above 35, Grimes would get above 20.
Your opinion is incorrect
The way the nba players and owners did the cba is the issue. RFA that aren’t max players aren’t going to be able to get big offers since all but like two teams in the league are either against the cap or flat out over it. Although Grimes doesn’t deserve 25 million a year for playing two good months on a tanking team and being slightly below average the other 3 years.
Grimes is a prime bust candidate. He had a chance to rack up a bunch of numbers on a bad team when other teams were blowing away the Sixers and not defending him all that particularly hard.
Sure
Ok then.
So did Cam Thomas for the Nets.
Another guy I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole.
VJ has a big future. Anyone can score on Jazz ….
Sixers are deep with VJ and Grimes. Sixers don’t have to rusg VJ. I keep him in G-League. He can up for second half. Sixers should be a contender this year.
Vj in the G league? Knick Al please.
I doubt you know what that means ….. don’t waste my time lol. Tell us what he’s going to do on Sixers ….
Don’t waste time with foolish talk. Vj isn’t doing time in the G league. Still stunned by the Knicks brutal choke?
Bwa bwa
As for a LeBron trade, how do you value him?
He’s in the final year of his contract. He’s closer to 41 than 40 now. His defence has really fallen off recently but he is still LeBron James.
He still averaged just under 25-8-8, he just set a career best in FT% and in the past two years has been great from behind the arc. He’s arguably still a top 15 player definitely top 25.
If the Heat offered Andrew Wiggins, Terry Rozier, Nikola Jovic and a protected first round pick would that be good enough?
Heat would then have Herro LeBron and Bam as a big 3 in a very easy eastern conference. Still got some depth with Mitchell, Jacquez, Larson, Highsmith, Anderson and Ware.
As for the Lakers, AR and Luka in the backcourt, Wiggins and Rui the forwards with Ayton at centre. You’ve then got Rozier as a sixth man, Knetch and Jovic as young guys plus LaRavia and Vando as role players.
Building for the future with some tradable chips and still trying to be a competitive side?
Or maybe Cavs, DeAndre Hunter plus one of Garland or Allen if they are willing to part with either?
Maybe GSW swap for Jimmy Butler plus bits?
Maybe New Orleans involving Zion Williamson?
Or lastly San Antonio, they give up a Vassell and whatever change they have?
Like is say to my kids… it’s nice to have “wants”.
Look the MLE is honestly a little too much unless he is 100% a starting guard or a high minute 6th man.
So he can’t just go sign and trade somewhere – literally no one has cap space or the ability to do the S&T at the moment without getting hard capped.
Theoretically yes he can get somewhere up to 20M, but for a S&T to happen because of the stupid CBA… the Sixers can only take back half that salary he gets and the team taking him on needs to be able to fit him under the cap after doing so and I think the last piece of that is that you can’t have both teams hard capped at the first apron after the transaction one can but both both? That’s a Luke question.
So I think he signs the tender eventually. And is unrestricted next year when more cap space is open.
Lillard to the Celtics? Noooo! It would be Kyrie Irving or Kemba Walker 2.0.
Maybe, but I hope not. I don’t think any comparison with Kyrie is valid but maybe with beloved but older and injured Kemba.