{"id":797629,"date":"2026-07-13T13:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T13:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/797629\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T13:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T13:40:09","slug":"sixers-johni-broome-aims-to-keep-proving-myself-during-summer-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/797629\/","title":{"rendered":"Sixers&#8217; Johni Broome aims \u2018to keep proving myself\u2019 during Summer League"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">LAS VEGAS \u2014 One thought popped into Johni Broome\u2019s head upon receiving a slick bounce pass in the lane from Labaron Philon Jr. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">\u201cI see two people that [weren\u2019t] on my team,\u201d the 76ers\u2019 big man recalled. \u201cAnd I just think, \u2018Bodies! Bodies! Bodies!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">No matter. Broome elevated to dunk the ball over both defenders, embodying his Summer League so far. He has compiled a double-double in both of the Sixers\u2019 games in Las Vegas, the types of forceful performances his team wants to see from a second-year player. More impressive is that those efforts have come in his first legitimate game-like action since late-February knee surgery, which essentially ended a rookie season that never got off the ground. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">\u201cMy first season wasn\u2019t the best,\u201d Broome said Thursday. \u201cI can see that myself. That\u2019s why I put in a lot of work to have a better second year. Obviously, I want to make a better impression and I\u2019ve got more to do. I just want to keep proving myself each and every day, for Philly.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p type-interstitial text-primary\">\u00bb READ MORE: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-link-type=\"interstitial\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/sixers\/nick-nurse-sixers-offseason-takeaways-jaylen-brown-tyrese-maxey-joel-embiid-20260712.html\" class=\"no-underline text-blue-mid hover:shadow-lightmode\">Nick Nurse discusses Sixers\u2019 \u2018really good\u2019 offseason, next steps for Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, and more<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">Broome was the Sixers\u2019 second-round pick last summer, after blossoming into an All-American for a college basketball powerhouse Auburn. The 23-year-old only played in 11 NBA regular-season games as a rookie, but did excel in stints with the G League\u2019s Delaware Blue Coats. Less than a month after a 50-point, 17-rebound outburst with Delaware in January, Broome tore his meniscus in what he described as his first significant injury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">He called his early surgery recovery \u201cvery smooth\u201d and \u201cperfect,\u201d before an unexpected setback when swelling increased as he attempted to up his workload. By the end of the Sixers\u2019 season, though, Broome had progressed to full-contact pregame workouts and off-day scrimmaging. He played garbage time in two playoff games against the New York Knicks. Broome then spent June working out with young teammates at the Sixers\u2019 facility, often returning at night for a second session. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">Leading into Summer League, coach T.J. DiLeo set goals for Broome: shoot three-pointers (he is a shaky 2-of-12 through two games in Las Vegas); defend with physicality and proper positioning; take care of the ball; and \u201ccontrol the game\u201d as a sound decision-maker. Those winning traits could help Broome make up for his limited athleticism, which the most skeptical could say make him a \u201ctweener\u201d who is too good for the G League but not quite NBA-caliber. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">\u201cWe should be able to play through him a little bit,\u201d DiLeo said of Broome. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">Broome acknowledged feeling \u201ca little fatigued\u201d after his first game Thursday, yet still totaled 19 points and 13 rebounds in a Sixers 101-93 victory over the Detroit Pistons. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">He followed ballhandlers downhill to get in range to grab eight offensive rebounds and go back up for putbacks. He established immediate chemistry with 2026 first-round pick Philon, which has flowed from the court to their NBA 2K video game battles. After Thursday\u2019s win, Broome and Philon stood at the back of the media scrum to playfully ask each other a question. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p type-interstitial text-primary\">\u00bb READ MORE: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-link-type=\"interstitial\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/sixers\/dominick-barlow-sixers-summer-league-success-story-20260711.html\" class=\"no-underline text-blue-mid hover:shadow-lightmode\">Dominick Barlow is back in Las Vegas, as a success story for the summer Sixers<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">Broome carried his production over to Saturday, when he amassed 23 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists in a 100-93 overtime win over the Indiana Pacers. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">When Broome followed his own miss just before halftime, several members of the Sixers\u2019 bench flexed and hollered in celebration. After the break, Broome hit a baseline jumper and a three-pointer to ignite his team\u2019s dominant third quarter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">Later, the Sixers went to Broome out of a timeout for an inside finish, an attempt to squash the Pacers\u2019 rally. In overtime, Broome collected the go-ahead putback to help seal the Sixers\u2019 victory. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">It was another step in Broome\u2019s quest to prove he is healthy \u2014 and still has NBA potential. <\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">\u201cHe\u2019s hopefully past what his injury was,\u201d DiLeo said, \u201cand better than what he was before.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min LAS VEGAS \u2014 One thought popped into Johni Broome\u2019s head upon receiving a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":797630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,374686,590,85],"class_list":["post-797629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-johni-broome-rookie-season-injury-proving-summer-league-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}