he’s really not a great defender. He has instincts on D and anticipates passes, which leads to his breaking up passes. He doesn’t rebound - averaging 1.6 rpgs this season
never in Blazer history had a player won Defensive player of the year….and you have to go back to 1990-91 when Portland had a first team All Defense player - Buck Williams
It's odd to me that you claim Thybulle is not a great defender pointing to lack of rebounds but one post later are lauding Buck for making 1st team All D. Matisse has made two All D 2nd teams... he's consistently excellent on that end. As the guy who is usually charged with guarding the opposing team's lead guard/wing, he's typically on ball out on the perimeter & not boxing out. STOMP
To me, it's like judging a TE in the NFL by catches. There are TE's that are huge contributors to their teams success, but mostly block and hardly ever catch the ball....and there are TE's that area also huge contributors to their teams success, but hardly ever block and go out on routes. Both attributes are important in the game, depending on the team and the scheme.
The team currently has no rebounding from anyone - we were killed on the boards by Utah. Thybulle is good coming off the bench however our best defender is Cámara, hands down. Thybulle is a hustler and will break up passes and is good with help side D. He’s averaging 1.5 steals per game and 1.5 rebounds per game. Not 2nd team defense level. Cámara is averaging 8.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals and often guards the opponent’s best player
Last 5 games, he is shooting 6/14 from 3, or 43%. If you don’t include his 0/3 game from last night, he shot 55% over a four game stretch. His first 14 games, he shot 8/36 from 3, or 22%. He currently shoots 2.6 per game, I think 3 3’s a game is the right amount of opportunities for him to pick and choose when to take them. Making 1/3 bumps his percentage. His 3 ball is going to get better as the season progresses. Camara is someone that I hope to start until there is a player with higher potential to replace him. Even if we land someone like Buzelis, he is not going to be good enough to start over Camara from day 1. The only way for him to get better on his 3’s is to keep shooting them.
Not sure where you’re getting 8.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals from, but I agree on your points on Camara vs Thybulle.
The thing is, a lot of the things that makes Thybulle exciting on defense also works to his detriment. He gets a lot of highlight blocks on 3 point attempts, but the amount of times I’ve seen him fly by someone after a pump fake, I can’t even count. The fly by hurts worse when the opposing guy hits the shot. Christian Wood this year, who has not been good from 3, took a pump fake and took a step into a range he was comfortable in and took a mid range jumper after Thybulle flew by him. It’s really more of a wash than you’d think. Thybulle was also playing with Embiid, who covered up a lot of mistakes. I don’t think I’ve seen it as too much of a problem this season, but he has been known for gambling a lot on the ball in years past. Letting a guy go by you and relying on your long arms works well when you play behind a great defender like Embiid. Otherwise, it’s more of a coin flip whether or not it was a good decision. That isn’t to say he’s overrated on that side of the ball. His overall skillset is great for a player off the bench. His deflections other activity bring a lot of energy to the game.
Again, any player tasked with being the on ball defender of the other teams lead guard or wing is going to be out of position to rebound more times then not. In trying to quantify defense, rebounding is not the metric to point to for guys like Matisse in that role. Though there is not a stat for it, are they able to stop penetration? is a much better question to ask and thats subjective. In general with all the switching, I don't think any stat(s) accurately capture an individual players effectiveness as defense is mostly a team effort and thats especially true for on ball defenders... but (fwiw) Thybulles steal rate is 91% of what it was the last time he made 2nd team All D in 2021-22 The primary reason I think he and no other Blazer will receive much consideration for league honors this year is that they don't win much. STOMP
I may be slow to the show but I think I better understand the "Ayton" deal. Ayton was the salary filler so we could get Toumani. Well done Joe.
Blazers like big salaries. Jody gets a massive kicker at end of season if Cronin can flirt with the luxury tax.
