Stock down: Matisse Thybulle
Portland matched a three-year, $33 million qualifying offer Thybulle received from the Dallas Mavericks during the offseason. It’s a reasonable contract for a player who’s proven to be one of the league’s best perimeter defenders and showed flashes of a 3-point shot last year with the Blazers.
The 26-year-old hasn’t necessarily played poorly this season. His averages of 6.3 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.0 assists hover around his career averages. His shooting stroke has carried over to this year as well, as he’s hitting 38.2 percent of his 3.8 threes a night.
Thybulle is basically the same player he’s been throughout his four-plus seasons in the NBA. The issue is that he’s getting passed over by players who are actually improving.
Thybulle is only averaging 19.5 minutes per game. In the guard/wing pecking order, he plays less than Sharpe, Henderson, Malcolm Brogdon and Simons, who’s only played one game. Once Ant returns, Thybulle’s minutes will dwindle even more.
Perhaps the most damning number of all is that Camara has bypassed Matisse in the rotation. While Thybulle is technically the starter, Toumani averages 5 more minutes per contest and has played more than 45 more minutes total this season.
The former Sixer simply isn’t as important to this year’s team as he was to last year’s, and he could be a name to watch as this season’s trade deadline inches closer.