Sixers: Ranking every player on the roster after James Harden trade

Ranking every Sixers player — 5. Matisse Thybulle

Matisse Thybulle is the best one-on-one perimeter defender in basketball, and one day he will win Defensive Player of the Year. Just not before Joel, as the big man likes to say. Matisse is currently second on the Sixers in blocks per game, first in steals per game, and he has greatly increased his personal numbers.

This year he’s averaging a new career-high of almost six points per game, and also career highs in rebounds, assists, steals, and shooting percentage from the field and the charity stripe. Matisse is also forcing opponents to average 39.1 percent from the floor while he’s defending them, which is easily the best on the team of anyone defending more than 10 shots per game. He also holds his opponents to score six points under their average, which is the best on the team of anyone who actually plays on the regular, and that’s also the fifth best ratio in the NBA. For reference, the only people above Matisse in that stat are All-Defense team staples Jarrett Allen and Robert Williams III, the newly emerged defender that is Maxi Kleber, and also LeBron James. Oh, and Matisse is also third in the NBA in passes deflected per game at 3.8. He’s also the only player in the NBA to have recovered more than 80 percent of defensive loose balls while playing as much as he has in as many games.

For the Sixers, Matisse is their guard stopper. He’s going to be crucial for the team come the playoffs when he’s forced to guard the  best perimeter player on the opposing team and lock him up. The best part of all this is how much everyone, myself included, trusts him to do that.

— Aaron Palsgrove