Philadelphia 76ers: Matisse Thybulle needs to step up versus Trae Young

One aspect of the Philadelphia 76ers‘ series against the Atlanta Hawks in the 2021 NBA Playoffs that has been unfortunately lost to time is how well Ben Simmons defenders Trae Young.

Sure, many a fan will understandably point to Simmons’ passed up dunk in the final minute of Game 7 as the lasting image of the series, but in the previous 34 minutes he was on the court in that very game, he placed the clamps down on the New York Knicks’ public enemy number 1.

Need proof? Look at Young’s points averages over the seven-game series. 35 points in Game 1, 21 in Game 2, 28, 25, 39, 34, 21 in Games 3-7 respectively. Mind you, those numbers are still good, but only two fall over Young’s playoff average of 28.8 points per game, and his shooting percentages, 39.2 percent from the field and 32.3 fell well below his career averages.

Offensively, Simmons was a liability, especially in the fourth quarter, but on the defensive end of the court? Simmons did his job.

So naturally, with the Philadelphia 76ers set to take on the Atlanta Hawks for the first time since that fateful series, the pressure is on to show up and show out against a team rapidly gaining ground on the Boston Celtics as the least popular team in the City of Brotherly Love. But who will draw the task of covering Trae Young? I’ll give you a hint, it shouldn’t be Danny Green.

Matisse Thybulle has to improve his offensive game to start for the Philadelphia 76ers.

If Matisse Thybulle could just average 10 points per game, he’d be an absolute star.

Don’t believe me? Well, look no further than Tony Allen, the player many compared Thybulle to coming out of Washington. Over his 14 year NBA career, Allen only averaged double-digit points once over a full season, while playing for Doc Rivers as a member of the Boston Celtics in 2006-07.

Really, from a statistical perspective, Allen never turned in the sort of eye-popping season worthy of being a borderline Hall of Famer, with his most impressive individual figure coming in 2014-15, when he tied Steph Curry for the third-most steals per game of any player in the NBA at two.

And yet, Allen does fall into the Hall of Fame conversation because he landed on an NBA  All-Defense team six times over his NBA career and near single-handedly ushered in the Grit and Grind-era of Memphis Grizzlies basketball alongside Zach Randolph.

To his credit, Thybulle has already made one All-Defense team in only his second professional season, a feat that took Allen until year 7 to accomplish, but he’s still yet to crack five points per game over a prolonged period, let alone flirt with the 8.1 points per game his predecessor averaged over his career.

Why, you may ask, is this relevant? Well, because just averaging 10 points – or even 8.1 points, for that matter – would make Thybulle a must-start at small forward moving forward.

As things presently stand, Danny Green is getting starts over Thybulle because of his ability to space the field. Granted, he hasn’t been doing so much so far this season, as he’s failed to score a point in two of the team’s first five games of the season, but Green has still made an average of 1.8 3 pointers per game in five attempts per game on the season.

Thybulle, by contrast, has only attempted seven 3s on the season and has only connected on two of them. Even if the Sixers want to give Thybulle a bigger role than Green moving forward, to take on players like Trae Young when they come to town, it’s hard to do so when he has a Ben Simmons-esque impact on the offensive end of the court.

Will Thybulle still see the court against the Hawks early and often when they take on the Sixers? Most definitely. Whether playing in place of Green or alongside him in a defense-focused wing pairing in place of Seth Curry, Thybulle should still draw the Young card when the duo share the court and remain locked down on him wherever he may roam over his 34.2 minutes of action, but if the score gets out of hand, he may be subbed out for a better offensive option.

Even if his points differential will all but surely be negative, slowing down Young and his 24.2 points per game will go a long way to defining the fate of the game’s final outcome, and Thybulle needs to contribute at both ends of the court to accomplish that feat.

Maybe one day we will see Matisse Thybulle transcend his current role as a defensive sixth man coming off the bench. Maybe he’ll develop an average outside shot, finish better around the rim, and not commit horrible turnovers on full-court passes. But today? Today, the Philadelphia 76ers need Thybulle to step up, put on his best Ben Simmons impersonation and slow down Trae Young to help secure a second-straight win at the Wells Fargo Center.