There’s plenty to review in this “Rookie Report” with the Philadelphia 76ers top rookie recently seeing an increased role with the franchise.
Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown gave expanded roles to two of the club’s three rookies this past week. As the season has progressed, it appears that Brown is starting to trust his first year players a little bit more.
20th pick, 2019
Matisse Thybulle was essentially the Sixers sixth man to begin the season, but had his role reduced so that he could learn the ins-and-outs of the NBA game. For the month of December, but especially this past week, Thybulle has seen his role increase. In three games this past week, he averaged 27.7 minutes, 7.3 points and 1.0 steal. He never shot below 50.0 percent from downtown in those games. Hopefully, Thybulle will be able to hold onto this role moving forward.
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54th pick, 2019
The Delaware Blue Coats, the 76ers G-League affiliate, only played one game this past week and Marial Shayok was the only rookie to play in that victory against the Raptors 905. Sadly, he only finished with 16 points on 6-17 shooting from the floor. He did impact other areas of the game as he had six rebounds and five assists. Not the type of performance that one would want to see out of Shayok. Unless injury occurs, expect him to be stuck playing for the Blue Coats the majority of this year.
Undrafted
In a surprising move, Brown used Norvel Pelle in the 76ers win against the New Orleans Pelicans. The rookie center played well for the most part, he finished with six points, five rebounds, three blocks and five fouls. In a postgame interview, Brown gave praise to Pelle and explained why Pelle played in this game.
Brett Brown on Ben Simmons getting intentionally fouled: "My belief is he's going to have to go through some of that to get where we want to deliver him...”
— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) December 14, 2019
On Pelle: "He's sort of Nerlens-like to me."
On Harris: "He's been so steady, responsible, reliable, a go-to guy." pic.twitter.com/kb1Nck8KOX
That was the reason why Pelle played ahead of Kyle O’Quinn in that game and it was a very nice compliment to compare Pelle to former Sixers big man Nerlens Noel. Moving forward, don’t expect this to be a normal occurance due to the fact that Pelle has limited days to be with the 76ers this season because of his two-way deal. Still his play with Philly this season has to beg the question, will he get a regular NBA deal this year?
Two out of three Philadelphia 76ers rookies had a good week and a big reason why they did well was because Brown trusted them in bigger roles.