PHILADELPHIA — Collin Gillespie knows what it takes to wait for the opportunity to be right. He knew it in high school, when he entered his senior year at Archbishop Wood so unheralded in the Catholic League that his offers were from Albany, Maine and Holy Family. He knew as a freshman at Villanov a, when he watched for six weeks in December and January before returning to a team that went on to win the national championship in 2018. And he knew as a rookie in the NBA, waiting out the rehab of a broken leg that delayed the start of his professional career. So Tuesday, as the 26-year-old prepared to play his first NBA game in Philadelphia three and a half years after not hearing his name called on draft night in 2022, the Huntingdon Valley native was plenty comfortable with the path he’s taken and where it’s led him. “I’ve learned a lot about the NBA game since being here with Denver,” Gillespie said from the Phoenix Suns locker room before a 116-110 win over the 76ers. “I’ve gotten valuable experience on the court as well. So I think it’s just experience, being able to learn while being off the floor, while being on the floor, just a little bit of everything, trying to continue to get better every day.” Gillespie made the most of all that waiting, and now he’s making the most of the minutes that has earned him. Gillespie is averaging 13.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.8 assists for the suddenly resurgent Suns. He has garnered chatter in the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year race, though Tuesday was the 25th straight game he’s started for the Suns, slotting in splendidly next to the high-scoring Devin Booker. Gillespie had 12 points on 3-for-6 shooting, four rebounds and four assists in 28 minutes Tuesday. He had 22 the night before in a win in Brooklyn, the Suns going 8-3 in January. Gillespie has, most impressively, translated the flashes he’s shown in the 2023-24 season with Denver — he traveled with the Nuggets for one game in Philly then but didn’t play — and a 33-game stint last year into sustained production at 28.1 minutes a night. He’s looked the part of an NBA regular. Which should be a surprise for anyone who’s watched him seamlessly adapt each time the level around him has raised. Gillespie did a little of everything in 156 career games at Villanova. He scored 1,858 points, averaging 15 or more in both 2019-20 and 2021-22. In his final year on the Main Line, he shot 41.5 percent from 3-point range. But there were no takers in the draft, leaving Gillespie to follow the two-way pathway. He signed with the Nuggets, but after Summer League, he fractured his lower left leg in a workout at Villanova. His rookie season, for the team that would go on to win the NBA title, was over before the end of the July. Gillespie learned as he watched. Like at Villanova, during his six weeks out as a freshman on a championship team, he came back better. “I think I learned a lot about the NBA game, the pace, the details, tendencies of certain guys,” he said. “There’s a lot that you could learn about the game, about yourself, about teammates, other teams, especially when you’re just sitting watching. I did it when I was in college when I got hurt, so I kind of have that experience of being able to do that.” Whatever doubts there might be about the measurables for a 6-1 guard, his quickness or his defense, there was never a question about the makeup. Kyle Lowry, the 76ers guard and his Villanova forebear, starts with calling him a “winner.” It’s what Suns coach Jordan Ott calls out first, too: “Ultracompetitive, has won at every level, fearless.” Gillespie extracted the most he could from sitting in Denver. Then he did the same with limited minutes as a Nugget. Then as a two-way guy with the Suns, then a rotation piece and so on into the lineup for a team with playoff aspirations. An average of 3.6 points in 9.4 minutes over 24 games with the Nuggets in 2023-24 turned into 5.9 points in 14.0 minutes over 33 games (nine starts) in Phoenix last year, putting up 20 ppg any time he’s been in the G League. This season, he’s been with the big club the whole year. And he’s a significant reason that a club thought to be in rebuild-mode after firing Mike Budenholzer in April and trading away Kevin Durant in July remains in sixth place in the Western Conference. “I always go back to his ability to shoot off the dribble, which I think is an elite skill of his and something that’s needed in today’s game with so many pick-and-rolls and so many drives,” Ott said. “He’s able to defend his position for his size. You cannot target him. He became super competitive to take those challenges, and now he just got the opportunity.” Gillespie is proving that last year’s numbers weren’t just the result of opportunism on a sub-.500 team. He averaged 20.8 ppg per 100 possessions last year. This year, with better guys who demand the ball more, he’s at 23.2. His assist total is the same at 8.4 per 100 possessions. Defensively, he’s eighth in the league with 1.4 steals per 48 minutes played, a spot behind the 76ers’ Tyrese Maxey, who leads the league in steals per game at 2.1. Gillespie traces his knack for rapid improvement to his time at Villanova, where, “we treated it like it was our job in college, and now it is our job.” The number of his compatriots excelling in the NBA would vouch for that mentality. Now, he’s adapting to what’s put in front of him. And as he has everywhere else, he’s flourishing. “I think I know my role,” he said. “I play with really good players. I play with Book, and he has so much gravity on the floor. Jalen (Green) has an immense amount of gravity on the floor, able to put a ton of pressure on the rim. So just being able to play off those guys, I feel like I’m pretty good in terms of just being able to find my role, whether I need to go out there and score, whether I need to go out there and find guys, get rebounds, kind of run the offense, or just contribute to winning in any way possible.” ...read more read less