Doc Rivers explains why Matisse Thybulle is playing more for Sixers
PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers have a logjam of players who play the wing position off the bench in the form of Matisse Thybulle, Danuel House Jr., and Furkan Korkmaz. Therefore, coach Doc Rivers has had to make some tough decisions with his rotations to find the right combination.
To begin the season, Thybulle was used more for defensive purposes. His minutes were up and down as the Sixers were looking for the right mixture of players out on the floor so House Jr. got the majority of the minutes.
Recently, as Rivers has done with the backup center position in terms of guys being in and out backing up Joel Embiid, Thybulle has gotten his turn to play and he has been very helpful.
After playing 21 minutes in Wednesday’s win over the Indiana Pacers, the Sixers are now 8-0 when Thybulle plays at least 20 minutes in a game.
“I think Matisse is playing terrific defense and it’s really helped us,” said Rivers. “He’s staying aggressive. Indiana was smart. They started trapping because they knew he was on the floor, we had to get him off, but overall he’s been fantastic for us.”
The Sixers have been preaching that the 2022-23 season is a “we season, not a me season” so this is all about having a mentality of just staying ready when the time calls for it. While a guy like House Jr. will get another opportunity, but at the moment, Thybulle is playing well and he deserves the playing time as the Sixers are a plus-13.2 with him on the floor per Cleaning the Glass.
On the offensive end, a lot of people focus on his 3-point shooting, and he’s actually shooting 34.9% from deep on the season with his limited attempts, but his movement off the ball has been helpful.
He’s so athletic and he has understood the art of cutting. Any time a defender moves his head and takes his eyes off Thybulle, that is when he’s going to the basket for a layup. The defense then reacts and it opens up looks for others on offense.
“I feel like a lot of people don’t notice it, but the way I move and cut on the floor gets a lot of other people shots so I think I do it a lot,” said Thybulle. “It just goes, as you can say, unnoticed.”
Thybulle has stayed ready and he has taken advantage of the opportunity put in front of him.
“I think a lot of guys, even Danuel House, like a lot of guys—we said it in training camp, we got a pretty solid roster to where throughout the course of a long year, guys are gonna get left out for a couple games at a time,” added James Harden. “An injury or a guy goes down, then you’re name is called so Matisse is one of those guys who just stuck with it.”
Harden’s words go back to the theme the Sixers want to use with the team-first mentality.
“He might not play one game and tonight (Wednesday), he made some shots and cuts, and defensively he’s being Matisse,” Harden added. “That’s our team in a nutshell.”
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