The Philadelphia 76ers obviously have some high expectations and they have bigger things to worry about other than the Rising Stars Challenge at All-Star weekend, but they feel like their rookie has been wronged.
Stand out defensive rookie Matisse Thybulle was snubbed for the Rising Stars Challenge and his team spoke out in support of the rookie. Tobias Harris was the latest to make sure his voice was heard in the case of Thybulle.
“For all of us, it was really a disappointment,” he said. “100% he should have been in the game. When I read that he wasn’t in the game, I was like ‘No way’. I talked to him about and just told him to use it as motivation.”
The main challenge for Thybulle is due to the fact that he makes his biggest impact on this team on the defensive end of the floor. He only averages 4.6 points per game and he is not much of a high flyer either.
On a weekend that is catered to highlights and a bunch of dunks, he is lacking in those areas. That makes it tougher for the assistant coaches, who vote for the Rising Stars rosters, to really recognize what he brings to the table and what he can offer a team.
“One thing I’ve realized is that assistant coaches don’t watch every Sixers game,” Harris added. “I’ve been in that category of a player too of a player where if you don’t have the ultimate hype machine, then it is what it is. You’re essentially putting the voting up to assistant coaches who watch every game of their team. They don’t watch every Sixers game, it’s impossible. That’s another tough thing around it.”
On top of that, Thybulle quietly does his job. He wreaks havoc defensively as he leads all rookies in steals by a wide margin and he does it in a real workmanlike way.
“Matisse is a guy that’s big for our team, he’s a guy that’s every hardly talked about too,” the veteran Harris finished up with. “It just is what it is.”
As long as Thybulle is helping the Sixers win basketball games, that’s all that matters at the end of the day.