The Philadelphia 76ers first round pick from the 2019 NBA Draft has had a strong begining to the season, including getting a start.
With a new NBA season, comes a new weekly edition of the “Rookie Report” for the Philadelphia 76ers. Like last season, The Sixer Sense will be doing weekly updates about what is going on with all the team’s rookies. Despite the short opening week, one rookie is already making headlines for the Sixers.
20th pick, 2019
Matisse Thybulle has been nothing less than spectacular on the defensive end for his first two games in the NBA. He’s averaged 1.5 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.0 block. Thybulle has been able to effectively neutralize players like All-Star point guard Kemba Walker of the Boston Celtics in the Sixers first game of the season.
With Joel Embiid out versus the Detroit Pistons, head coach Brett Brown inserted Thybulle into the starting five, per Keith Pompey of Philly.com. This is a big deal for 76ers head coach as he isn’t known for having faith in young players, for example Zhaire Smith isn’t even with the team and he’s in his second season, per Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice. Thybulle’s defensive skills are so far advanced for this stage in his career, he has been able to gain Brown’s trust.
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The only thing Thybulle needs to improve upon is his offensive. He’s only averaged 1.5 points on 20.0 percent shooting from the 3-point line. Considering he had potential as a 3-and-D player coming into the draft this isn’t a good sign, but he has 80 more games to turn it around, so fans shouldn’t be too worried about it yet.
54th pick, 2019
Sadly, Marial Shayok will have the hardest time of all the rookies playing for the Sixers this season due to him being on a two-way contract and the depth at the wing position already in place. According to Neubeck, Shayok didn’t travel with the team to Detroit as he stayed back to begin training camp with Philly’s G-League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats. It should be fun tracking how much he should dominate in the G-League this season.
Undrafted
Norvel Pelle spent last year with the Blue Coats and he simply dominated with Delaware. Now he’s an undrafted rookie on a two-way deal for the Sixers and could occasionally. Unlike Smith and and Shayok, Pelle did go to Detroit as the club was without Embiid, per Neubeck. It was a close game for the Sixers, but if it did up being a blowout there was a chance Pelle could have seen some minutes.
It may only be the first week for the Philadelphia 76ers, but there is already a clear picture of what roles the rookies will be playing for the club as long as health prevails.