The Philadelphia 76ers will continue the 2019-20 season on August 1 when they head down to the “bubble site” and take on the Indiana Pacers. In an effort to keep everybody safe right now, the league is barring fans from entering arenas and there are tons of safety protocols at the moment to continue that effort.
For rookie Matisse Thybulle, this season was already going to be tough for him. He had to adjust to the NBA game as well as continue to grind through the season and get ready for the playoffs. Combine that with a global pandemic passing through to shut the season down for a bit and it adds to the unique challenge that is now presented to him.
So, for this young rookie out of Washington, he is taking this process day-by-day.
“I think for me was trying not to set expectations,” he said on Friday via Zoom. “It’s a very unique situation, nobody knows what’s really going to happen, nobody knows what to expect, so instead of setting expectations for myself or what I think the experience is going to be like, it’s been just trying to take each new step of this process as a new challenge and figuring it out when I get there how I’m going to get through it. If you want to look at all the unknowns, you’re going to go crazy.”
Thybulle does not have the answers as the season does resume in Orlando. He knows what he can control which is what he can do individually as a person, but for the Sixers as a team, they need to figure out what they are going to do as a team. The talented rookie will just have to adjust to the situation presented to him.
“No team knows what they look like,” he added. “I know what I’ve been doing individually in my workouts. I know that I feel good, my shot feels good, I feel like I’m in shape, but in terms of what that means for the 76ers or any other team in the league, it’s fairly unknown. I think for me it’s all about the challenge of hitting the ground running and then trying to hit every team we see first.”
Matisse Thybulle on any expectations that he has for himself as the league gets set to resume in Orlando #Sixers pic.twitter.com/nOi7uZVq8D
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) July 3, 2020
There is one huge unknown about this team and that is their play in an empty gym. The Sixers relied so much on their passionate fans in Philadelphia and it allowed them to come up with the league’s best home record at 29-2. They were just 10-24 on the road though so that is something that is concerning for a team that feeds off the energy of the fans.
“I think the energy we’re so used to having from the fans will have to come from the bench,” Thybulle explained. “We have amazing guys on the team across the board so I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”
A lot of eyes will be on the Sixers when the season does resume for Philadelphia. For Thybulle, this will be all part of his “NBA education” that coach Brett Brown has wanted to grow all season. [lawrence-related id=33946,33954,33939]