Getty Sixers rookie Matisse Thybulle was snubbed from the NBA Rising Stars Game by the assistant coaches around the league.
Matisse Thybulle has been one of the best perimeter defenders all year. Apparently, defense doesn’t matter in the NBA these days.
According to Yahoo! Sports’ Chris Haynes, Thybulle was not voted in by assistant coaches to be a participant in the Rising Stars Game. The Sixers rookie ranks fourth in the entire league in adjusted defense, with 0.099 defensive win-shares — win-shares is a metric that estimates the number of wins a player produces for his team due to his defensive ability. Thybulle also boasts an impressive 101.9 defensive rating in 41 games played.
The Sixers took Thybulle with the 20th overall pick in the first round out of the University of Washington where he had built a strong reputation as a stout defender. He has lived up to the hype, too.
His 1.6 steals per game leads all NBA rookies while ranking 15th in that department in the league. Per Haynes, Tybulle may have been omitted from the Rising Stars roster for not being a prolific scorer. Remember, the All-Star game annually rewards players who can shoot at a high volume.
On the offensive side, Thybulle has actually been slightly better than advertised. While he’s only averaging 4.9 points per game, the 22-year-old is shooting 36-percent from three in 20.1 minutes per game off the bench.
Brett Brown Thought Thybulle Was Lock for Rising Stars
On Thursday, Sixers coach Brett Brown shared his feelings on Matisse Thybulle’s candidacy for the Rising Stars Game. In his mind, it wasn’t even a question. Thybulle was a lock to make the roster.
“How can he not [make it]?” Brown rhetorically asked reporters, via Sports Illustrated. “I mean, really, how can he not? He’s played incredible basketball. He has started a handful of games. Just connect the dots to when he plays x-amount of minutes to what our record is — and we’re a pretty good team.”
Unfortunately, Brown’s peers around the league didn’t see it the same way. Rosters for the Rising Stars Game are voted on by the league’s assistant coaches. The full lineups for the Eastern Conference and Western Conference haven’t yet been released (click here for updates). The game is slated for Feb. 14 at 9 p.m. at Chicago’s United Center.
Zion Williamson Qualifies for Rising Stars Game
Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson will reportedly play in the Rising Stars Game. He was swapped in for the injured Wendell Carter Jr.
Williamson, the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft, has only played in four games so far this season after sitting out six to eight weeks with a serious knee injury (torn meniscus). He is averaging 18 points and 8.3 rebounds in 24 minutes per game for New Orleans.
.@Zionwilliamson will represent the U.S. Team 🇺🇸 in the #NBARisingStars while @NickeilAW will represent Canada 🇨🇦 for the World Team!
“There’s a lot of potential there. It was good to see him do that, but you know I think there’s a really really high ceiling that he can reach,” Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said of Williamson after his NBA debut on Jan. 23. “So we’ll just continue on, and we’ll continue to practice.”
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