PHILADELPHIA–Back on Feb. 9, the Philadelphia 76ers sent Matisse Thybulle to the Portland Trail Blazers in what ended up being a four-team deal that saw the Sixers acquire Jalen McDaniels from the Charlotte Hornets.
In 10 games entering Friday night’s return to Philadelphia, Thybulle was shooting 40.9% from deep and it was obvious that he has been playing freely in Portland. Things just weren’t working for him with the Sixers and he has been able to find a way to succeed with the Blazers.
Before his return to the Wells Fargo Center, Thybulle sat down with Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer and he opened up about his time in Philadelphia compared to Portland as he has been receiving an opportunity to play more and not playing in a “place of fear” as he told Pompey.
Thybulle was talking with Joel Embiid before Friday’s 120-119 Sixers victory and after the win, the big fella stated that he didn’t like his comments.
“I loved him when he was here,” said Embiid. “I kinda told him I kinda was not happy with some of the comments that was made lately, but it’s whatever.”
Embiid then went a bit deeper with his thoughts on Thybulle’s comments.
“Playing in Philly is not easy,” he added. “It’s a lot of pressure that comes with it. Every year, you’re expected to win. It doesn’t even matter if they believe that you have a good team or a good enough team to win a championship. That’s the expectations and that’s why there’s not a lot of people that can play here and survive here.”
Here’s the thing with the comment, Thybulle wasn’t talking about the city of Philadelphia when he said “place of fear”. It was more about how the Sixers were handling his minutes. He was shooting only 33.3% from deep with the Sixers, but he only took 1.3 attempts per game and he averaged only 12.1 minutes. He didn’t get much of a shot.
With the Blazers, he’s getting more of an opportunity averaging 30.4 minutes per game and he entered Friday taking 4.4 attempts from deep. Portland is allowing him to play through mistakes that the Sixers really didn’t at times.
“Some guys have different mindsets,” Embiid finished. “For some guys, it’s all about winning, and for some guys, it’s all about just playing basketball, but like I said he was great when we had him here. I wish him well. I still believe that he has a lot of potential and it’s all about him putting the work in and especially shooting and defensively, he’s a monster.”
Old teammates catching up #Sixers #Blazers pic.twitter.com/kbTtKaB4zl
— Justin Grasso (@JGrasso_) March 11, 2023
Thybulle will continue to move on with the Blazers while Philadelphia will now turn its attention to the Washington Wizards on Sunday.
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