What Matisse Thybulle Can Learn From Bruce Brown Jr.
The defense is excellent, how does Thybulle get the offense where it needs to be?
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One of the few positives from the past couple weeks of Sixers basketball has been the defensive performance of Matisse Thybulle. Whether it’s locking up All-Stars like Devin Booker, or collecting steals and blocks off the ball, Thybulle has been a defensive menace, and is racking up stats at an impressive clip.
More and more each game, it feels like Thybulle’s defense is going to be a necessary tool in the playoffs, especially if the Sixers end up facing the Brooklyn Nets. No other player on the Sixers’ bench can legitimately fluster the likes of James Harden or Kyrie Irving.
The caveat that comes with that conversation, though, is whether Thybulle’s offensive flaws are too severe to warrant playing him major minutes in the postseason. And while that question will always warrant serious consideration, what I’m proposing here in this piece is an adjustment that could potentially help Thybulle offset some of his weaknesses by playing a different style of basketball. And as for what that style of basketball looks like, he should look no further than Brooklyn’s Bruce Brown, Jr.
Brown is a third year player who has had somewhat of a breakout season for the Nets, starting 32 games for them despite shooting just 29.1 percent from deep. Brown, like Thybulle, is known for his defense, but has managed to play major minutes for Brooklyn in spite of being a similarly inept jump shooter. Let’s dive into exactly how he’s done it.
It’s become somewhat of a cliché to say this -- any player under 6-9 who can’t shoot gets labeled a small ball 5 -- but the Nets have used Brown more similarly to a big man than anything else. He lurks in the dunker spot during drives, flies around the court setting screens, and constantly moves around when he’s doubled off of.
Synergy data gives a glimpse into just how different his offensive role is to Thybulle’s. For two players of identical size with similar weaknesses, the discrepancies here are stark.
The first thing that catches the eye is how Thybulle’s offense is dominated by spot-ups, whereas Brown’s diet is more diverse. He gets far more offense out of cuts, pick and rolls (as the roll man), and offensive boards compared to Thybulle. Brown’s 11.8 percent of possessions spent as the roll man in the pick and roll, compared to 0.2 percent for Thybulle, is particularly notable. The Nets have been able to make use of Brown in a way that the Sixers haven’t even dreamed of for Thybulle.
The Nets especially love to employ Brown as a screener in early offense. They have him screen for Harden or Irving after they get the ball across half court, and Brown has developed a knack for slipping these screens and getting layups.
Brown can even assume playmaking duties on the short roll -- a la Draymond Green -- which is certainly beyond Thybulle’s capabilities, but these types of quick-hitting screens would still hold value for him. The Nets even use Brown in half court, spread pick and rolls, and he’s able to be a weapon against drop coverages.
Thybulle isn’t going to become a huge weapon in the pick and roll -- neither is Brown -- but he should be operating as a screen setter in way more than two percent of his offensive possessions. It’s a way to involve him in a possession here or there rather than have him stand in the corner and clog up the offense.
Speaking of standing in the corner, that’s something that Brown does very little of. As you saw above, Brown gets far more offense out of cuts than Thybulle. Brown is in constant movement off the ball, and has mastered the art of flashing to the paint and making plays when he’s doubled off of. He has solid lob throwing ability to his big men in the dunker spot, and can also throw up a floater when the situation calls for it.
Naturally, those opportunities are less available to Thybulle due to the team he plays on -- it’s hard to lurk in the dunker spot and flash to the middle when Ben Simmons is already doing that. But that being said, you’ll see in most of these clips that they involve Brown working with another teammate in the dunker spot. He’s able to connect with Nic Claxton, Deandre Jordan and others with timely interior passing, and he finds the appropriate spacing with relative ease.
Being active in this area also allows Brown to be a menace on the offensive glass. With his activity and movement, it’s easy to lose track of him when a shot goes up. With Thybulle’s length and vertical leaping ability, there’s no reason why he couldn’t do the same. It comes down to a matter of effort.
Is any of this ideal? No, of course not. I’m sure that both teams would prefer that Brown and Thybulle were average 3-point shooters and were able to play the role of normal shooting guards. But what I’m pointing out here is that one player is flying around the court making heady plays, and the other is either hiding uselessly in the corner or is trying to operate in a guard-type settings, where he’s simply not capable.
Currently, Thybulle’s role is that of a normal low-usage guard -- space the floor, take a few dribble hand-offs, throw some entry passes -- but he’s simply not good at it. My proposal is that instead of handling all the duties of a guard, Thybulle should embrace more of a screen-setting, board crashing, frantic cutting type role that Brown does.
There are obvious differences between the two that limit Thybulle’s ability to parody Brown. Brown has a better handle and is a better passer, which makes him more interesting as a roll man, and allows him to attack in open space more effectively. Brown also has more of a disposition to play like a big man, which allows him to fill the role more naturally.
But it still warrants an attempt on the part of Thybulle and the coaching staff to try to tilt his play style more towards that of Brown. He has the physical tools necessary to be effective as a roll man, and can be effective on the glass if he puts his mind to it.
This type of adjustment to his game will become even more necessary in the playoffs, once good defenses are paying Thybulle even less mind on the perimeter. When things tighten up and Thybulle can’t make teams pay with a jumper, he’d better have a backup plan, and my recommendation is that he study Bruce Brown for how that plan should look.