Thybulle arrives at just the right time
CAMDEN, N.J. >> Matisse Thybulle had the vision, the one that every player in highlevel college basketball has every year. The NBA. The riches. The fame. The freedom from taking another final exam. The dream.
At 6-5, with a wingspan as wide as Joel Embiid is high, with pure basketball instincts, Pac-12 training and no known off-court issues, it was clear by his second season at the University of Washington that someday he’d make money as a wing defender with a decent outside shot. But before turning pro, he had a too-rare plan: He wanted to be ready.
“Yeah, I started thinking about it after my sophomore year,” Thybulle was saying after a Sixers minicamp practice. “And then, after my junior year, I really considered it. But for me, when I sat down with my family and my coaches, my main thing was, ‘Why leave early when you can stay another year, make yourself even more valuable to these teams, and then be ready to step into a role off the bat, as
opposed to being a like a project?’”
Ben Simmons spent one quick year at LSU, complained the entire time, flamed out in the SEC tournament, essentially bigtimed the NIT, never bothered to learn to shoot and became a $170,000,000 pro. So staying four years in college is hardly the only formula for basketball success.
But Thybulle had his own way of approaching his career, and four years later, he was not just a firstround draft choice, but the only player the Sixers really wanted when they edged up to No. 20 overall to secure his rights. Yes, every team, in every sport, in every round, in every draft says about the same thing. But for multiple reasons, including that they are no longer deeply in the player-development business, the Sixers wanted a polished, accomplished wing defender to help complete what they felt was a championshiplevel roster. Repeatedly last season, Brett Brown would mention how the NBA playoffs are for veterans and how “the adult in the room” mattered. Thybulle will be 23 by the next NBA postseason, the right age for the right moment.
“We viewed him as a high-character guy,” general manager Elton Brand said. “That’s what we need to add to our team, and his onthe-court stuff just blew me away. His speed, his agility, his sense off-the-ball on defense and where he’s growing as an offensive player. After that workout, I was blown away.”
By the end of last season, the Sixers had plenty of scoring options. But they
were flawed defensively. J.J. Redick, his shooting valuable in a 51-win regular season, was exposed as an onball defender. Embiid rarely moved quickly enough on the perimeter. There was some defensive value on the bench, but not enough to matter. Thybulle, the national defensive player of the year last season and a player who broke Gary Payton’s Pac-12 record of 321 career steals, will have a chance to be Brown’s perimeter stopper. That much was clear after a handful of summer practices.
“He always seems to find a way to get his hands on the ball,” Zhaire Smith said. “So that’s good. We can have a pretty good defensive team.”
Though Washington often played zone defense, Thybulle’s leading strength was to use his length and anticipation to disrupt a defensive flow. And it was his four years of seasoning that made him so alluring to a team no longer interested in acquiring random assets, but in addressing that need. For that, the Sixers-Thybulle connection was strong, and it was strong early. The Sixers let him know they were interested, and he returned the compliment by choosing not to try out for other teams. So open was the Sixers’ interest in the wing guard that the Celtics, ever savvy, made Brand toss in the No. 33 overall pick just to move up four spots. That pick turned out to be Purdue scorer Carsen Edwards, who has the scoring ability to trouble the Sixers for years.
But Brand wanted Thybulle.
And Thybulle wanted the Sixers.
“As a team that was arguably, as they say, a couple baskets away from being
in the championship, how could you not want to be a part of something like that?” Thybulle said. “Just the way the franchise is run all across the board, it’s just a great situation. And for me being a three-and-d guy, and this being a team that hangs its hat on defense, I feel like it’s a great spot.”
It would not necessarily have been a great spot for him three years ago or two years ago or last year. But in making steals, and in heading to the NBA, timing matters.
“I think just being more valuable, being more experienced, being more mature will help me,” he said. “Just having laid down a pretty good foundation for myself and showing people what I am capable of will help. And coming into a situation like this, we all know what to expect because I thought I made it clear in college what my strengths are.”
He’s long. He has rare defensive instincts. He will not be out of place, age wise, in a veteran locker room. He will not be expected to make an immediate difference offensively, but he did show a responsible outside shot in college.
“Everybody has been kind of a pleasant surprise, especially Matisse coming in at the defensive end,” said Sixers summer league coach Connor Johnson. “He really kind of caught my eye with his hands and his awareness of what’s going on.”
Thybulle is ready to be a professional.
He’s ready, because he didn’t want it to be any other way.