The tone has been set in training camp. While everyone deserves their fair share of credit for establishing some major defensive intensity, perhaps a chunk of it falls onto the shoulders of veteran defensive superstar Matisse Thybulle.
“Lakers coach JJ Redick made the mandate to the team’s crop of wings clear: It’s on them to establish the team’s defensive physicality,” wrote Khobi Price of the California Post. “They’re the ones who can set the tone in front of premier rim protector Walker Kessler. After Tuesday’s practice, the second of the team’s training camp sessions, consider the message heard and fulfilled, to the point where Redick and his coaching staff had to cut a couple of drills and modify the latter third of practice because ‘these guys were just giving great effort and physicality.’”
Thybulle, 28, will have to show as much as the next guy that he belongs in the main rotation and can contribute big minutes. The good news is that he is already well on his way.
Thybulle Already Exceeding Expectations
The sure-fire way to make your mark in the NBA? It’s a textbook. It’s obvious.
Impress your head coach.
“Redick said Matisse Thybulle is really a unique player, where it’s not easy to replicate what he does as a young guy trying to learn,” Lakers reporter Mike Trudell wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Early in camp, Thybulle has lived up to his reputation in terms of getting a ton of steals while hounding passing lanes.”
Fellow Lakers newcomer Ziaire Williams made a revealing comment recently that should stick in everyone’s mind, saying that the players who are best built to thrive around Luka Doncic are the classic 3-and-D players. Make of Thybulle’s career 34.9 percent 3-point shooting all you want — he shot nearly 44 percent and 40 percent in the last two seasons, respectively! — but what is for certain is what he brings to the table as a lockdown defender.
“For players averaging under 20 minutes per game, Thybulle led the league with 3.9 deflections per game,” Lakers reporter Raj Chipalu wrote for the Silver Screen and Roll. “… Throughout his career, Thybulle has been a thorn in the side of the league’s top ball-handling playmakers. In his limited games, Portland matched him up on all types of stars and he held his own. Whether it’s against isolation or ball screen actions, his wingspan and textbook technique give him the tools to be an elite on-ball defender.”
Thybulle Could Make L.A. a Stout Defense
Want to challenge those two big guns at the top of the conference? It starts on defense. It starts with assembling a five-man lineup, no matter the permutation — that is connected, communicative and deliberate on that side of the floor. The Thunder and Spurs are teaching the rest of the NBA just that.
“Listen, I think we’re going to be a nasty defensive team,” Kessler said Tuesday. “I think people aren’t taking into account how good our perimeter defense is going to be. A lot of guys are very smart on the perimeter and positionally can play really good defense. We have guys who are just ball hawks.”
That talk is great. Now the Lakers have to show it.
From Thybulle to Williams to 22-year-old athletic swingman Adou Thiero, the Lakers surely have the components of an elite defense.
Lakers Get Great News as New 6’6″ Stud Forward Already ‘Living Up to Reputation’