Philadelphia 76ers: Matisse Thybulle remains on the All-Defensive team

To call Philadelphia 76ers wing Matisse Thybulle a polarizing player is an understatement.

To some, he’s a generationally talented, game-changing perimeter defender who has recorded at least 100 steals and 70 blocks in each of the past two seasons – a mark no other player in the NBA can boast.

And to others? Well, he’s an eccentric who cares more about his vlogs than learning how to shoot with any sort of replicable touch, and they would happily ship him off to Chicago even if the return was a redundant combo guard like Coby White.

While neither camp is completely right or completely wrong, the former received another feather that they can place in their caps on Friday, as Redbull’s favorite player just landed a spot on the NBA’s All-Defensive second-team for the second straight season. Consider that, my friends, vindication of your beliefs or another accolade to convince a team like the Phoenix Suns that they would win a Matisse Thybulle-Cameron Johnson trade.

Matisse Thybulle remains the Philadelphia 76ers’ most unique player.

Since the NBA started naming players to All-Defensive teams in 1969, only 13 players: Bobby Jones, Caldwell Jones, Moses Malone, Maurice Cheeks, Rick Mahorn, Theo Ratliff, Dikembe Mutombo, Eric Snow, Andre Igoudala, Robert Covington, Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Matisse Thybulle have earned the honors.

Surprising? A little bit; the Sixers only had two All-Defensive players between 1991-2001, Ratliff and Mutombo, and only one, Snow, between 2004-17 but hey, with players named to the team in four of the last five seasons, at least folks are looking to Philly for defense once more.

Want to know what’s even more surprising? Only seven of those players: B. Jones, C. Jones, Cheeks, Mutombo, Embiid, Simmons, and now Thybulle can claim to have made the team more than once.

Impressive stuff indeed.

While Thybulle is the only member of the Sixers to make an All-Defensive team this season, as Embiid and Simmons were notably absent from the list for very different reasons, his consideration for the honor was well-deserved, as his season was very good indeed.

Of the 605 players to log at least a minute of NBA action over the 2021-22 NBA season, how many do you think recorded at least 100 steals and 70 blocks? Yeah, that’d be a list of one, the only player, to my knowledge, with the first name Matisse in NBA history. This marks the second-straight season where Thybulle accomplished said honor and, obviously, makes Thybulle the only player to accomplish the feat over that time period.

To find another guard who recorded at least 110 steals and 70 blocks, one has to go all the way back to 2014-15, when Danny Green did so as a member of the San Antonio Spurs.

Was Thybulle a perfect defensive player in 2021-22? No, his personal fouls rose from 127 to 158 largely due to his pension for biting on pump fakes, and his willingness to let drivers pass him in order to attempt a shot deflection from the trailing position wasn’t quite as successful in his third season than his second, but even so, there’s a reason why Thybulle ranked third on the team in both On-Court +/- Per 100 Poss. and in On-Off +/- Per 100 Poss. for a reason: Thybulle was an impact player for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2021-22.

Will Matisse Thybulle become the Philadelphia 76ers’ modern-day equivalent to Bobby Jones? Will he become a fixture of All-NBA lists for the rest of his career and one day see his jersey hanging in the rafters of the Wells Fargo Center (or wherever)? Maybe so… or maybe he’ll be wearing another jersey this fall, and the Sixers will have replaced both his and Danny Green’s services with a true 3-and-D small forward. Either way, it’s clear the greater NBA community values Thybulle’s efforts, at least on the defensive end of the court, a whole lot more than some fans do after a less than ideal playoff run.