Philadelphia 76ers should sell high on Matisse Thybulle

The Philadelphia 76ers should explore Matisse Thybulle’s trade market. 

To answer the question you’re likely asking: no, the Philadelphia 76ers cannot necessarily “sell high” on Matisse Thybulle. A sell-high trade would have happened before the season — before Doc Rivers virtually bucked him from the rotation.

That said, the uncertainty around Thybulle’s role and future in Philadelphia makes exploring the trade market an obvious next step. While he has struggled for stretches this season, teams will still value Thybulle as a young body and well-marketed defender, even if the 23-year-old’s offense is borderline offensive at this point.

While the deck is stacked against them, the Sixers are contenders. The goal is to maximize the window around Joel Embiid, and right now, Thybulle is not helping in that department. Thybulle puts together a nice highlight reel on defense, but his clunky jump shot, inability to dribble, and his erratic decision-making have led to mostly unproductive minutes this season. He wasn’t particularly good the second half of last season, for that matter.

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In 11 games this season, Thybulle is averaging 13.5 minutes per game. Isaiah Joe, Philadelphia’s second-round pick who was only pushed into the rotation due to a slew of COVID protocols, is already averaging 19.1 minutes across nine games. Thybulle is quickly losing his grip on any semblance of a rotation spot, and his trade stock will plummet accordingly.

There is a place in this league for Thybulle’s defensive acumen and springy athleticism. Some team will have the time and rotational flexibility to get him on the floor and develop his basketball I.Q. That team is not Philadelphia, where shooting and quick decision-making are at a premium.

No teams are built like Philadelphia. Embiid domineers possessions out of the post and in the middle of the floor. He sucks in defenders, and this season, has shown an improved willingness to use his gravity to create for shooters. The Sixers cannot afford multiple non-shooters next to Embiid, because it makes his job exponentially harder. Simmons makes due because he’s one of the 30 best players in basketball. Thybulle is not, and there’s little reason to have him patrolling the 3-point line when defenders have no need to guard him.

It is also important to correctly characterize Thybulle’s defense. He is a tremendous roamer who generates turnovers which, on a good day, generates points in transition. He is not, however, a lockdown isolation defender who Philadelphia can rely on late in games. Not yet, at least. He’s too foul-prone and too jumpy to consistently succeed in high-pressure situations.

In the Sixers’ few instances of full health this season, Thybulle has been deployed as nothing more than a situational defender — again, not really the best use of his talents. He is outside Rivers’ 10-man framework, and is losing ground to Joe, who is one of the best shooters on the team.

The Sixers don’t really need another defensive roamer who specializes on that side of the floor. Embiid and Simmons guarantee an effective, even elite, defense. The Sixers’ defense will not suffer in Thybulle’s absence. The offense, however, often suffers from his presence, and there’s no indication he will make meaningful improvement on that end. He’s shooting 29.2 percent from 3-point range this season, and his career mark of 34.8 percent feels deceptive, not indicative of a return to form.

Thybulle is bad offensively by NBA standards, and Philadelphia cannot have players who are bad offensively when there are high-end shooters — namely Joe and Furkan Korkmaz — at their disposal. Thybulle’s skill set bears intrigue, sure, but it is better served on a more traditionally structured team. One that does not rely on post-ups and a non-shooting creator.

Right now, there is still league-wide interest — I’m assuming — in Thybulle, who made a decent enough case last season under Brett Brown, who clearly believed more in Thybulle than his new coach does. While there is still novelty to his game, and before Rivers buries him under rookies and minimum contract players, the Sixers should try to flip Thybulle for a useful rotation piece. Think George Hill or P.J. Tucker.

Put me on the record as saying both Korkmaz and Joe are more beneficial to Philadelphia’s current setup than Thybulle. Take advantage of his trade market while it still exists.