Another great example of the Sixers front office finding value in the NBA Draft to help their team reach the next level at a position of need is the draft night trade last year to get the former Washington Huskies 6-foot-5 and 200 pound standout defensive shooting guard Matisse Thybulle. Originally the 20th overall pick of the Boston Celtics in the 2019 draft, the Sixers pulled off a solid deal to get Thybulle to Philly.
The overall efficiency of Thybulle doesn’t necessarily show in the overarching advanced metrics. All-encompassing stats like player efficiency rating, real plus-minus rating, and box plus/minus rating, don’t tend to show the value that the Sixers get out of Thybulle. And that is the main argument that people tend to have against advanced metrics, is the lack in showing the true value of defensive stoppers.
Moreover, Thybulle played in 57 games during his rookie campaign (started in 13 of them). He averaged 4.7 points per game, 1.5 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and an impressive 1.4 steals, and 0.7 blocks. He shot 41.0 percent from the field, 35.2 percent from beyond the arc, and 61.0 percent from the charity stripe, good for an effective field goal percentage of 51.7.
That allowed Thybulle to post a box plus/minus rating of 0.1, 0.6 value over replacement player rating, 103 offensive rating/105 defensive rating, .084 win shares per 48 minutes, 3.5 percent steal rate, 3.1 percent block rate, and 53.0 true shooting percentage. Thybulle was truly great value to find for the Sixers and decent/improving shooting efficiency as his rookie season moved along showed the eventual two-way potential of Thybulle.