Matisse Thybulle signed a three year with the Dallas Mavericks, and Portland had the right of refusal, and Matisse would return to Portland. Today they matched the contract. I first thought I didn’t like the number of years and the salary per year. I want to dig deeper into what the Blazers could do to empower Matisse so I could be happy with him on the team.
Matisse is a below-average three-point shooter, with the scheme of our lead initiator getting paint touches and scoring for themselves or their gravity, drawing defenders on help, and leaving our shooters wide open.
I’ve talked about drawing contests and attacking those contests on the podcasts for a while now. Teams in the current NBA have a lot of rotations, helps, and switches in their defensive schemes. Having a player on offense that doesn’t have the sharpshooting skills to get the defense to rotate hard is a huge liability and creates the need for creativity from the coach to incorporate them into the offense.
When we do our “Future Friday” series, one of the things we say about wing or guard players that contribute to winning basketball but are questionable shooters is to put them in the Gary Payton II or Bruce Brown role. I know I’ve said this about Andre Jackson, Terrance Shannon Jr, and Kevin McCullar Jr. Now, why do I think these guys can succeed in the league while a two-time all-defense guy will fail?
One reason is they have skill sets that differ from Matisse’s. Andre is a fantastic transition passer and decision-maker. Terrance is an unrelenting slasher and can play make for his teammates, and Kevin has point guard skills and is just as good of a defender.
The second reason for the price point of these players two that they went back to school cause they had another year of eligibility, and Andre is the 36th pick of the draft.
Miami Heat playing all the undrafted players is impressive. It’s a real feather in their cap to find and develop these undrafted players and get them paid! Gabe Vincent was getting $1,8M and providing a service of 11M. When Gabe suits up for the Lakers, he’s getting paid at market value for his game.
Now what is the Bruce Brown Role? Bruce, in Brooklyn and Denver, showed fantastic versatility in his game. He played the offense’s center and did much damage in the short roll off of the pick-and-roll. As teams learned how to defend him in short roll situations, he started hitting a corner three-shot. Because of the fantastic cast around him, he got wide-open shots and, as teams started to close out on him, attacked the closeout, got to the paint, and used his floater.
My idea for Matisse in our half-court offense, I got a few rules for Matisse.
- In rotation minutes, Matisse is on the floor. He must be surrounded by shooting and spacing. No non-shooters on the floor along with him.
- An example of a rotation would be Anfernee, Shaedon, Kris, Jerami, and Matisse.
- In these rotation mins, he will be involved in pick and rolls and roll to the hoop hard.
- Defensively put him in situations to make the most significant impact.
- Take advantage of his defensive playmaking and run off those turnovers.
Bruce is 6’4, Gary is 6’2, and Mattise is taller at 6’5 and has a longer wingspand, so putting him as an undersized big man has some viability. The way he can make this easier for himself to get mins and stay on the floor is by hitting that corner three at a respectful rate.
Holy Backboard 