Doc Rivers likes what he’s seen from Matisse Thybulle during Sixers training camp
Thybulle is looking to improve on three-pointers, and cutting to the basket. The results are mixed, but Rivers is OK with that.
CHARLESTON, S.C. — The offensive work Matisse Thybulle put in this summer has had mixed results at the 76ers training camp. And that’s OK with coach Doc Rivers.
Rivers said the guard made three or four three-pointers while shooting the ball well on Wednesday. He followed that up by not making many shots on Thursday. The Sixers did not practice Friday as the city braced for Hurricane Ian. Instead, they watched film at their downtown Charleston team hotel.
“What I like is when he’s missing one, you don’t notice,” Rivers said following Thursday’s practice at The Citadel. “They actually swung to him the next play. He shot it again. So those are positive steps.”
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Thybulle could be the Sixers’ most improved player this season. He spent time this summer working out with Portland Trail Blazers perennial All-Star Damian Lillard and renowned shooting coach Phil Beckner in Phoenix, among other cities.
Improving his outside shooting was a focus. He also went to Los Angeles to work on his ballhandling and finishing around the basket with Chicago Bulls All-Star DeMar DeRozan under the direction of ballhandling wiz Johnny Stephene.
Thybulle also has displayed improvement as a cutter to the basket.
“He’s been great at that,” Rivers said. “We do a drill, one of our skill-development guys, he worked on it ... we literally call it the Avery Bradley drill because we think he’s one of the better cutters ever. So we’ve been working on it all summer with certain guys and they’re doing a great job of it.”
Embiid becomes U.S. citizen
Joel Embiid, a native of Cameroon, said he was sworn in as an American citizen two weeks ago in Philadelphia.
“I’ve been here for a long time,” Embiid, the third pick of the 2014 draft, told the Associated Press on Thursday. “My son is American. I felt like, I’m living here and it’s a blessing to be an American. So I said, ‘Why not?’”
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Embiid gained French citizenship in July, which was believed to be a step toward being able to represent that nation at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He told AP on Thursday it’s too early to think about which country he could play for internationally.