As the Philadelphia 76ers get set to begin their preseason schedule on Tuesday when they get set to take on the Boston Celtics at home. It will begin a new journey for them as they look to bounce back from a tough 2019-20 season.
The team did not live up to any expectations they had for the season as they were swept in Round 1 of the playoffs which then set off a chain reaction of changes.
The team fired Brett Brown after seven seasons at the helm and they brought in Doc Rivers to be the new head coach who comes in with a 943-681 coaching record as well as a championship on his resume. That type of success in this league brings a certain level of respect to the job.
“It’s great,” said second-year guard Matisse Thybulle. “I think I speak for everyone we say we love playing for him. Obviously, things are different in practice so we’ll see when we have games where we got a lot of momentum, a lot of good vibes going into it.”
There were a lot of accountability questions under Brown in the past from guys like Ben Simmons and Josh Richardson, but it seems like that is not the case under Rivers. Thybulle notices something new with the team.
“I think just across the board, the level of focus,” he added. “Whether it’s the attention to detail, just being locked in, respect across the board, everyone’s dialed in, and you see guys who are already playing at a high level playing at an even higher level. Then you see guys like these new guys coming in and just feeding off that energy and myself included. It’s just bringing us all to another level.”
Another thing that Rivers has been implementing with this team is more of a pick-and-roll offense. He wants the team to be able to use Simmons and Joel Embiid for all of their talents and let the team react to whatever they do. That new wrinkle–along with the addition of shooters–has given everybody space on offense in camp.
“I think we have a lot more space,” Thybulle added. “I think guys have a lot more space to just do what they do whether it’s a shooter shooting, a slasher slashing, or the big fella making it work in the paint. I think there’s a lot more space for everyone.”
Thybulle worked on his 3-point shot all offseason in order to become a better offensive player and he notices that there is more space for him on the offensive end of the floor.
“The biggest difference is where we’re finding our shots,” he finished. “It’s a completely different offense, you got guys in a lot of different positions, and where we’re finding shots and how we’re finding shots is a little bit different. At the end of the day, we’re just playing basketball, it’s what we do. Find a shot, see a shot, hit a shot.” [lawrence-related id=40198,40195,40190]