Long before Matisse Thybulle emerged as the video star of the NBA bubble, it was clear he was ready for his closeup — that the Sixers’ rookie swingman had the look and feel of someone capable of thriving in the spotlight, which is exactly where he now finds himself.
With Ben Simmons out, Thybulle has emerged as one of the team’s primary defensive options against the Celtics’ snipers, in a playoff series that begins Monday. Philadelphia coach Brett Brown has already confirmed that Thybulle will play a crucial role, and on Sunday Brown suggested he might start the rookie.
Prudent move, as it is far better to set the defensive matchups at the opening tip, as opposed to hustling a defender like Thybulle off the bench after a guy like, say, Jayson Tatum is already cooking. And Tatum, who during the regular season put up over 23 points a game while shooting 45 percent from the floor (and 40 percent from 3) is the big concern, though far from the only one. There’s also Jaylen Brown. And Kemba Walker. And Gordon Hayward.
All of them score over 17 a game. All of them shoot over 38 percent from the arc. So while the C’s will be hard-pressed to deal with Joel Embiid inside, their perimeter corps makes them the tougher cover, and the reason Boston is favored in the series.
Simmons, down with a knee injury (likely for the season), checked Tatum during the teams’ four regular-season meetings, three of them Philadelphia victories. Tatum averaged 19 points in the matchups on 33 percent shooting (41 percent from downtown).
Now it appears Thybulle is the best alternative, after a season in which he showed energy and diligence on the defensive end, not to mention un-discourage-ability — always crucial against NBA scorers, who are so creative, so explosive.
Even before the season began it was clear that Thybulle, who played collegiately at the University of Washington, possessed unusual defensive abilities, having broken the Pac-12 career steals record held by no less a player than Gary Payton, while also eclipsing the school record for blocks established by ex-Sixer Christian Welp, who stood over a half-foot taller than the 6-5 Thybulle.
In an intrasquad scrimmage last October, he raised all kinds of havoc, notably when he covered about 15 feet of hardwood in an eyeblink to swat Josh Richardson’s 3-point attempt. A few weeks later, on opening night against (ahem) Boston, Thybulle played a sizable role in Walker’s 4-for-18 night, and continued to provide adrenaline shots the rest of the way. Not for nothing did the Sixers go 40-17 when he played 14:18 or more, 3-13 when he did not.
His personal record stood at 21-5 when I informed him of that correlation, after a January game against the Bulls. His teammates were long gone from the Wells Fargo Center’s locker room. Attendants were buzzing about, at one point rolling a rack holding all the uniforms into the middle of the space. But contrary to his on-court persona, Thybulle seemed unhurried.
He had no explanation for his winning ways, saying only he thought it was “pretty cool” while adding, “It kind of shows that I’m doing something good out there.”
Which was always the goal, even though he was a latecomer to the game. Born in Arizona, he was more inclined toward swimming when he was very young and his family was living in Australia. He finally took up hoops when the Thybulles moved to Seattle.
“Offense never came naturally for me as a kid, so my dad (Greg) would just harp (on) defense,” he said after that October scrimmage, “because he’s like, ‘As long as you can play good defense, there will always be a place for you on the court.’ From a young age I took that and just kind of ran with it.”
Literally. At Washington he was free to roam, as he manned the top of the zone Mike Hopkins brought with him from Syracuse, where he had been an assistant under Jim Boeheim.
“Coach gave me a huge leash to just go out there and make plays,” Thybulle said that night in January, in the quiet of the locker room, “and that quickly was biting me in the butt when I got here. Just being able to adapt to that — kind of just reining it in, but still being able to make the plays I want to go out there and make, so I can impact the game defensively — I would say that’s been the biggest (adjustment). It’s been a lot of the mental side of the game — whether it’s on offense, making the proper spacing, or on defense just not gambling so much, or finding the right times to do it.”
Former Sixer Raja Bell said the other day on Bill Simmons’ podcast that he could envision Thybulle having a career much like his, or that of another ex-Sixer, Bruce Bowen — as a guy who locks up big-time scorers while developing into a reliable catch-and-shoot guy at the other end. That’s not a bad comparison, as Thybulle seems certain to improve on this year’s offensive numbers — 4.7 ppg on .423 shooting from the floor (.357 from the arc). It’s also not a bad goal for him to keep in mind, as Bowen lasted 13 years, Bell 12. At the same time, the 23-year-old Thybulle appears more athletic than either of those guys, more live-bodied.
Also more telegenic. Thybulle’s vlog has been one of the more entertaining diversions to emerge from the bubble. At various times it shows the rookie mulling his monogrammed pillow in the Grand Floridian resort (“That’s how you know you’ve made it,” he tells the camera), solving a Rubik’s Cube, golfing poorly, floating aimlessly after a boat piloted by teammate Kyle O’Quinn stalls and generally kibbitzing with teammates.
“The way I’ve been trying to describe it to people is like, you know in high school no one really loves waking up early, going to class and all the homework,” Thybulle told Good Morning America’s Michael Strahan on July 21, “but you’re all kind of in it together, so you just make the most of it. That’s the kind of situation we find ourselves in now.”
He will try to do the same now, while serving not as Ben Simmons’ wingman, but rather as the first line of perimeter defense against Boston.
It is the Celtics, you might remember, who took him at No. 20 overall in the last draft, 14 months ago. (Seems like 14 years ago.) Then the Sixers traded the rights to Virginia guard Ty Jerome and Purdue guard Carsen Edwards — taken at Nos. 24 and 33, respectively — for him.
Gotta admit, I was unenthused at the time. Hadn’t Jerome just led UVa to a national championship? Hadn’t Edwards just lit up not only the Cavaliers but Villanova for 40 in separate NCAA Tournament games? And shouldn’t the Sixers have known better than to deal with Celtics general manager Danny Ainge, given the Markelle Fultz-Tatum debacle on draft day 2017?
But Edwards and Jerome have made little impact this season. Each averaged 3.3 points a game — Edwards in 37 games for Boston, Jerome in 31 for Phoenix, after he was traded a second time. Neither Edwards nor Jerome shot better than 34 percent from the floor, nor 32 percent from 3.
Thybulle, meanwhile, remains in the spotlight. It’s about to get brighter and hotter, no doubt, but there’s no reason to believe he can’t handle it. None at all.