With Sixers aiming to dial up discomfort, old college foes an intriguing duo

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Behind (usually) closed doors, it doesn’t appear Matisse Thybulle’s defense is any different than in games.

The NBA’s website and app live streamed the Sixers’ entire training camp practice on Thursday at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, and head coach Doc Rivers wrapped his final huddle up by highlighting Thybulle. 

“Tisse, you’re defending your butt off. I don’t think I’ve ever said that,” Rivers joked. 

An offseason pickup looks set to receive plenty of similar compliments this season. Former Grizzlies guard De’Anthony Melton has a nearly 6-foot-9 wingspan and, just like Thybulle, racks up deflections, steals and blocks with an air of inevitability. 

Thybulle has led all wings in both steal percentage and block percentage outside of garbage time for two straight years, per Cleaning the Glass. Melton last season was in the 96th percentile among combo guards for steal rate, 97th for block rate. 

Thybulle first got a sense of Melton’s talents at the University of Washington when he faced a pesky USC freshman. 

“You know what’s funny? If you ask him, he would tell you that I stole the Defensive Player of the Year award from him in college,” Thybulle said with a laugh Monday at Sixers media day. “I stand by the fact that I deserved it. But he’s been doing this for a long time. We’ve been playing against each other for a while now, so I’ve been able to see his evolution, but then also just see his ability — and his ability to do some of the things that I thought were just unique to me at some of the highest levels. 

“I think being able to have this type of tag-tagging effect where we can throw different looks … because it is one thing to have guys who can get steals and blocks, but it’s another thing to have guys who do it in different ways. So being able to throw two players who are really effective in that area at some of the best players in the league, I think it’ll be a really exciting tool for us — and then for me and him, just something to really get into.”

Though Thybulle’s recollection wasn’t perfect, he and Melton were indeed among the Pac-12’s best defensive players during the 2016-17 season, which was Melton’s lone year playing college basketball.

Jordan Bell won the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award — Thybulle would snag that honor the next two years — but Melton did lead the Pac-12 in steal percentage. Thybulle was second in that category and topped the conference in steals per game.

USC won all three of its meetings against a Washington team starring Markelle Fultz, and Thybulle and Melton combined for 21 steals across those matchups. 

“Given his ability and what he can do — especially at his size, can defend pretty much one through five — I think it’s special, because I think I can go out there and do very similar things,” Melton said. “And we can definitely just raise havoc out there and give offenses trouble, not only just stopping them … but tiring them down so when the fourth quarter comes around, they’re a little bit more gassed because me and Matisse are out there running around, getting steals — staying out of foul trouble, hopefully. I think us two out there is definitely going to be havoc.”

We’ll see if the defensive duo vision ultimately comes to fruition. The Sixers believe they’re a significantly deeper team than a year ago, and Thybulle’s current standing would seem to support that position.

After starting 50 games in the 2021-22 season, he spent much of Thursday's practice wearing a red jersey. Melton, Shake Milton, Danuel House Jr., Georges Niang and Paul Reed sported blue jerseys as a “second unit” of sorts, though it’s clear internal competitions are ongoing and roles might fluctuate early in the season. Rivers didn’t keep those five-man groups constant, switching things up regularly during the Sixers’ late-practice scrimmage. 

If everything pans out, perhaps Thybulle and Melton will be a throwback to the days when Ben Simmons and Thybulle were a menacing twosome. That pair was fantastic at forcing turnovers and especially potent at the top of a zone. Against lineups featuring the Simmons-Thybulle duo, Sixers opponents turned the ball over 19.3 percent of the time during the 2020-21 season (100th percentile), according to Cleaning the Glass. 

The major flaw was, in the simplest terms, lack of shooting. No opponent expected Simmons or Dwight Howard to take jump shots, and no one tended to mind when Thybulle fired three-pointers. 

In contrast to Simmons, Melton has made major shooting progress as a professional, knocking down 38.8 percent of his triples over the last two years. Both that fact and P.J. Tucker’s viability as a small-ball center option mean a Thybulle-Melton pair would come with fewer on-paper offensive concerns than Thybulle and Simmons. Thybulle's offseason shooting work yielding results would clearly be helpful, too. 

Overall, it’s important for the Sixers to dial up the discomfort on other teams — ball pressure, turnovers, stars being weary as they try to reach their favorite spots down the stretch of games.

The Sixers dropped from third in defensive turnover percentage to 17th last season. Increased opportunities to play in transition with James Harden exploiting off-balance defenses and Tyrese Maxey flying ahead of everyone would be an excellent byproduct of a bounce-back season on that front. 

The team is certainly capable of playing a more aggressive style this year without worrying as much about risk. And Thursday's practice provided a glimpse into some specific aims. 

In his huddle to begin practice, Rivers mentioned that he’d liked the Sixers’ team ball pressure early in training camp but wanted to see even more, since players should feel comfortable in the help behind them. Assistant coach Dan Burke said, “We’re going to be good at scrambling” as the Sixers worked on double teaming the post, though Rivers emphasized sharp rotations are necessary because “you’re not going to outrun the pass.” 

He’s typically correct. Thybulle and Melton are atypical players, though, and that’s worth remembering as the former college adversaries get used to life as teammates. 

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