Gym speaks volumes about Thybulle

Rookie earns preseason start after a strong training camp

PHILADELPHIA » Brett Brown, veteran of international basketball coaching, master of the Maine accent and comfortable in conversational Australian, knows one language more than the rest.

He knows it, listens to it, obeys it, appreciates it, understands it and applies it in his professional life. The man comprehends gym. Gym, the man speaks. “The gym,” the 76ers’ coach will say, over and over, “will talk to me.”

Having found it was the best way to cope in his profession, Brown has needed that skill more than ever during this preseason. His team popularly assumed to be championship ready, yet loaded with new players, many at the same position, he knew he would have to wait for the signs.

So he would hear the echoes, the rattling rims, the grunts and the crumbles. He would watch his many Sixers compete through training camp, and he would be quick with the interpretation. And there was one thing those sounds kept revealing: Matisse Thybulle was ready for the show.

“They will tell me,” Brown said, “and so far, he has spoken loudly.”

That’s why the first-round draft choice had his first career professional start Tuesday in a preseason game against the Detroit Pistons.

An exhibition in October is not a Game 7 in Milwaukee in May. Ben Simmons was taking the night off with a modest lower-back irritation and Al Horford would miss the game for load management. So Brown had a small opportunity to dispense training-camp rewards. And that’s exactly what Thybulle’s first start was: Validation.

MATT ROURKE — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Sixers rookie Matisse Thybulle has had an excellent start in the preseason, so much so that he started Tuesday night in an exhibition against Detroit.