For the Philadelphia 76ers to move forward in the 2021-22 season, they will need Matisse Thybulle to step up and provide good play on both ends of the floor. The Sixers need him to provide some more offense and continue to be a defensive menace with Ben Simmons on his way out.
The third-year guard out of Washington had a strong showing at the Tokyo Olympics for Australia and he is ready to use that and continue to grow for the Sixers in the NBA. Two days into training camp, Thybulle is catching the eye of everybody around him.
“He’s really worked on his shot, which we just got to keep working on, but there’s other ways for him to score,” coach Doc Rivers told reporters. “With his speed, I asked him ‘You get one breakaway every 30 games. Like how is that possible with your speed? You should get two a game.’ Yesterday, he had one and so we laughed at it today, he had one. I really believe we get a rebound he should be releasing with his speed and he’s been catching and finishing.”
Veteran Danny Green has noticed a different Thybulle as well. He has noticed that the defensive stud has much more confidence in himself early in camp.
“It’s a big difference in this league when you can tell a player’s confidence level,” said Green. “That can make or break a player or change a player’s whole game. You can tell he’s come back a lot more comfortable within himself, within the offense, and he’s played his game, and do what he does best. He’s got a medal, I’m jealous of him. It’s great to see, but he’s coming back as a more mature player and a more confident player and we’re going to need that from him.”
Furkan Korkmaz, who regularly plays for Turkey every chance he gets, praised Thybulle for playing in the Olympics. He knows what that can do for him and his development as a player.
“I’m really glad that he played those games and he played good too,” he explained. “He showed his character, because it’s hard to do it. It’s two totally different games here and [the] national team, but I was talking to him in the summer too. I was super happy for him and then I hope he’s gonna keep playing those games because I think this will help him a lot because it’s a totally different game, but I’m really glad to be back with him.”
Thybulle can take on a larger role in the coming season if he can continue to add to his offensive game. The experience in Tokyo is obviously helpful, but there was something else that he did in the summer that is also very helpful and that was his work with Tobias Harris.
“I thought he had two good things this summer,” Rivers continued. “Australia was huge and then I thought even bigger, he went down and he stayed with Tobias, and he saw what a pro does. How a pro actually works in the summertime. When he talked about it, he said he’s never seen anything like that and that was the point. Like Tobias does this 4 and 5 a days. There’s all these different things. It’s maniacal. You have to be up for the workout.”
Thybulle realized that he had to change his mindset in order to take the next step forward in the league and it’s something that has stood out to Rivers in the early going.
“I think Matisse was saying after the third day, he called Tobias and said ‘let’s go later tomorrow I want to go surfing’ or something like that,” the coach laughed. “Tobias said there will be no surfing this week, but it was good. It was great for Matisse and he’s come with a whole different mindset you can feel it. So I’m really happy for him. It’s good to see.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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