Philadelphia 76ers guard Matisse Thybulle is known, for the moment, as an elite defensive player. He doesn’t do much on the offensive end to take any attention away from his defensive acumen, but little wrinkles in his game on the offensive end should get attention.
While Thybulle has such a huge impact on games without scoring, eventually, it will be nice to see him morph into a guy who can at least contribute somewhere around 10 points per game to go along with his defense.
Right now, Thybulle is averaging 5.4 points per game, which is a career-high. Despite shooting only 28.1% from deep, he is averaging 2.3 3-point attempts per game, which shows a willingness to take those shots. He has done a better job of running off screens and getting himself open for easy looks off the cut.
“Just his confidence and willingness to let the 3-ball go which he’s gotten a whole lot better at,” said teammate Tobias Harris. “His game is just going to continue to evolve as his career moves on. A lot of people haven’t been able to see, but he has a very quick first step already, as a young player. He can cut, he knows how to read the basketball on the court and different plays, he’s extremely athletic.”
As long as Thybulle continues to add to his offensive game, as Harris and others have seen behind the scenes, he should be on his way to becoming one of the elite two-way players in the NBA. He is already an elite defensive player, but he has to start knocking down those open 3s and becoming more assertive on the offensive end.
“A lot of people look at Matisse as just a defensive player, but I’ve seen him in workouts and things of that nature,” Harris added. “You can see where his game is gonna be at. It’s gonna take continued effort and time in the gym and growth, but he’s gonna be a heck of a player.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
[mm-video type=playlist id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01eqbvq570kgj8vfs7 image=https://sixerswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
[listicle id=56333]
[lawrence-related id=56362,56359,56356]