Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers Podcast network
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Speaker 1: week's edition of Tom's Talks features seventy Sixers guard small
Speaker 1: forward Matisse Thible among the league leaders and steals, deflections,
Speaker 1: and for his position blocks. Thible's numbers are amazing for
Speaker 1: a second year player. Furthermore, his overall defense is rare
Speaker 1: in an Eric chock full of so many offensive talents
Speaker 1: off the court. His video diaries or vlogs captured the
Speaker 1: attention of a white swath of America during the NBA
Speaker 1: bubble last summer in Orlando. He's an incredibly well rounded
Speaker 1: and likable seventy Sixers players. And here's my conversation with
Speaker 1: Matisse Thible. Welcome to another edition of Tom's Talks, and
Speaker 1: we're joined by Sixers guard forward Matise Thible. Matise, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for doing this. I totally appreciate it.
Speaker 1: And for you guys to go home after Boston have
Speaker 1: a little break in the road trip must feel good. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's been. It's been. It's been a tough stretch. We've
Speaker 1: had a long West coast trip and then to come
Speaker 1: back and then get right back on the road. Any
Speaker 1: days we can get in Fili are good days for you.
Speaker 1: Like what I mean, this pandemic has been tough on
Speaker 1: all kinds of people, including all of us. But when
Speaker 1: you think back in your first two years years from now,
Speaker 1: you're gonna go, WHOA, that was a lot in terms
Speaker 1: of the disrupted season. Yes, last year, and then everything
Speaker 1: that's involved in this year and two coaches have been
Speaker 1: a lot of change. Yeah, it's kind of funny, Like I'm,
Speaker 1: like you said, I'm going to look back on these
Speaker 1: years and just being a part of them. It's like
Speaker 1: I yet to experience a normal NBA season at the
Speaker 1: end of the season. I have been two years in
Speaker 1: and it's like I haven't played a normal eighty two
Speaker 1: games yet. And I mean, I'm taking it as they come,
Speaker 1: rolling with the punches, but I'm excited for things to
Speaker 1: get back to normal so I can see what the
Speaker 1: NBA's supposed to be like. But to be winning and
Speaker 1: to be in a position you guys are and makes
Speaker 1: it a little bit easier, I would think, right, winning
Speaker 1: makes everything better. Your season has been great, just it's amazing,
Speaker 1: Like even that game against Boston with Joel I mean
Speaker 1: you were you guys were so tired Sunday and understandably so,
Speaker 1: had a little bit of a blip there, but then
Speaker 1: two days later to have your MVP candidate and just
Speaker 1: see what the possibilities are. It's just it's uplifting, is
Speaker 1: it not. Yeah, I mean, I think the stretch that
Speaker 1: the Roach are be going on without him, and then
Speaker 1: last game to show how versatile we are as a
Speaker 1: team and how talented we are as individuals as a collective,
Speaker 1: and with all of us healthy and everyone well rested,
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be It's gonna be hard for
Speaker 1: a lot of teams to match up with us, and
Speaker 1: especially on defense, which obviously you play play a big part,
Speaker 1: but as a player, you know, and certainly early in
Speaker 1: the game you were watching from the sideline. Like what
Speaker 1: I think people don't under stand. They talk about Joel
Speaker 1: with rim protection, but and you know this from going
Speaker 1: up against big players like a Yokitch or whomever, but
Speaker 1: their path to the basket beers off or they pull
Speaker 1: up a dribble fitter. His impact is way more than
Speaker 1: blocking shots. I mean, it's literally paint protection. To talk
Speaker 1: about that. Yeah, that's one of those things that you
Speaker 1: have to really have an eye for basketball or to
Speaker 1: really know the game to see it, because as players
Speaker 1: it's and for me specifically being a defender and I'm
Speaker 1: playing with Joe and when I'm not, it's almost nine
Speaker 1: and day just because of the impact he has on
Speaker 1: the ball handler, because guys and you build up a
Speaker 1: reputation in this league and these things stick, and Joe's
Speaker 1: reputation being a rim protection, so guys are scared. Guys
Speaker 1: don't want to go up against him. Guys defer a
Speaker 1: lot of the times when they get downhills, So I
Speaker 1: think it's guards like me a chance to get back
Speaker 1: in front or get like my rear view contests when
Speaker 1: guys try to pull up at the nail and I
Speaker 1: get those blocks, it's he takes He takes the ball
Speaker 1: handler's out of their comfort zone and it makes a
Speaker 1: lot of opportunities for guys like need to make more plays.
Speaker 1: Did you then press out maybe a little bit more defensively,
Speaker 1: knowing that you have a insurance policy back there where
Speaker 1: maybe you would sag just a hair or just that
Speaker 1: if you didn't have them back there. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: we saw that. We saw that last game just with
Speaker 1: how how intense we were on the ball, the ball
Speaker 1: pressure hasn't picked up throughout the game because we kind
Speaker 1: of remembered what it was like kept Joe Beck and
Speaker 1: to realize that we have that that force back there,
Speaker 1: that the land of defense going the rim, so we
Speaker 1: could get into the ball handlers and that trickles down
Speaker 1: through everything defensively. If you make it hard for the
Speaker 1: ball handler, guys got to work harder to get open.
Speaker 1: Shots aren't coming on time, and it just goes out
Speaker 1: one on a sink. Speaking of reputations, have you found
Speaker 1: in your second year now that you have this league
Speaker 1: wide reputation and with the officials that things and you
Speaker 1: still i know, get some calls against you, but where
Speaker 1: that's kind of carried a little bit more weight for
Speaker 1: you both as as a player, with the opponents and
Speaker 1: with the referees. Yeah, I will say I'm pleasantly surprised
Speaker 1: with how quickly it kind of came on. But I
Speaker 1: think the team, like my teammates, have done a great
Speaker 1: job of building me up as being a defender and
Speaker 1: then just for me to live up to the standard
Speaker 1: they've set for me is kind of allowed this reputation
Speaker 1: to build from other players to the referees, and it's
Speaker 1: been nice to get the respect, but also with that
Speaker 1: comes a greater challenge of trying to prove it not
Speaker 1: in that out because now I'm tasked with guarding some
Speaker 1: of the best players on the other team, and it's
Speaker 1: their job every night to make sure whoever's guarding them
Speaker 1: can't stop them. So it's a challenge and I'm excited
Speaker 1: about it. I welcome at every game, but I'm definitely
Speaker 1: excited about where I'm at in year two and just
Speaker 1: what comes from the future. How much did the film
Speaker 1: work where you guys are sitting down with the coaches
Speaker 1: or you personally, where you're going over the tendencies of
Speaker 1: the opposing players. Do you actually see that? Did you
Speaker 1: see the translation in the game like, oh, he always
Speaker 1: rejects the screen this guy, I know how this works
Speaker 1: with this spelt. Does it come to fruition like that? Yeah,
Speaker 1: we actually do a really good job with film, and
Speaker 1: Doc pulled me aside early in the season and just
Speaker 1: told me that tendencies, like you said, we're going to
Speaker 1: be something that would set me apart this year and
Speaker 1: come playoffs is what really allows you to lock guys down,
Speaker 1: and I mean before games, we watch film and it's
Speaker 1: like if if you see it at a home game,
Speaker 1: if you're there early enough, you can see us. We
Speaker 1: all go sit down and sometimes be groups of us
Speaker 1: where we watch. We watched the film and one of
Speaker 1: the video coordinators, d mac he we caught We basically
Speaker 1: is like we're going to class. We called our two
Speaker 1: credit Classic Defense and we go sit down and he's
Speaker 1: breaking down guys tendencies and he also breaks it down
Speaker 1: like player by players. So like for me, I'm going
Speaker 1: to be guarding a lot of guards people coming off
Speaker 1: of pin downs and dhos and ball screens, and knowing
Speaker 1: tendencies in those situations will be different from like Tobias
Speaker 1: or Mike Scott. We're gonna be guarding the guys saying
Speaker 1: the screens and the way they break it down for
Speaker 1: us really allows you to just have the success possible.
Speaker 1: When we were younger players, me, you know, you were
Speaker 1: taught not to reach, and the whole thing in a
Speaker 1: playground you reach out to teach all that, but you're
Speaker 1: reaching is really kind of like a poke away. It's
Speaker 1: almost like a precision. So one a you don't want
Speaker 1: to get beat where you're in that position where you're
Speaker 1: behind the guy. Yeah, but you're pretty adapt at poking
Speaker 1: that ball without getting called for the fun because you're
Speaker 1: not reaching across his body. You're just making one last
Speaker 1: little effort, and oftentimes that poke away goes to Danny
Speaker 1: or Ben or whomever. You talk about that for a moment.
Speaker 1: I'll talk about it, but I don't know that anybody,
Speaker 1: any basketball coach or a parent who's listening to this
Speaker 1: is gonna hate it. Because I'm growing up. This is
Speaker 1: this is a play I've made and I've been doing
Speaker 1: since I was a kid. Just for whatever reason, I
Speaker 1: had to natural instinct for it. And every coach I've
Speaker 1: ever played for us hated it. And I mean even
Speaker 1: at this level, they don't like it. And you kind
Speaker 1: of have to make exceptions. And this goes for defensive offense.
Speaker 1: But guys who take bad shots and make them you
Speaker 1: kind of got to live with it. Guys who like you,
Speaker 1: when I make that reach and get the steel, you
Speaker 1: kind of got to live with it. And that's a
Speaker 1: risk that I take. And it's like a calculated risk
Speaker 1: I try to monitor in games is just not taking
Speaker 1: too many but it's yeah, it's not a position you
Speaker 1: necessarily want to put yourself in, but for some for
Speaker 1: whatever reason, when I find myself in being able to
Speaker 1: get my hands on enough, and you've even seen it
Speaker 1: through Ben and Danny, I've been getting a lot of
Speaker 1: them recently, and it's just been fun. And it's it
Speaker 1: sucks as an offensive player just have the ball just
Speaker 1: poked away from me like that and we're immediately in
Speaker 1: a fast break. It's it's deflating for me. Last thought,
Speaker 1: But try to sum it all up. The recipe that
Speaker 1: makes you a great defender. You your length, you have
Speaker 1: a huge wingspan, your athleticism, your intuition, and the want
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't want to play. It's it's tough,
Speaker 1: it's gritty, all of those things. But what say you?
Speaker 1: What makes you a great defender? I think, and you
Speaker 1: said it, But I've always said I just care. I
Speaker 1: want to play defense, and I put in the effort
Speaker 1: to play defense. And I think you've you've seen it.
Speaker 1: And this is not a knock on Tobias, but he
Speaker 1: hasn't really been a defender throughout his career. But I'd
Speaker 1: say within these last two years that i've been with him,
Speaker 1: like you've seen the growth. And Tobias is a defender
Speaker 1: where we've we've put him on other guys, best players.
Speaker 1: We've we've watched him shutdown Julius Randall, We've watched him
Speaker 1: last night shut down Jaln Brown. And for him, tobiases,
Speaker 1: he's been six nine and athletic and law for most
Speaker 1: of his career, but he's developed this desire and I
Speaker 1: think it's part of just a culture that we've created
Speaker 1: here and that docs created here at the Sixers, and
Speaker 1: and that's just defense. And the more people get bought in,
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be more surprising the more
Speaker 1: great defenders that we have, because at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, we all have what it takes physically to
Speaker 1: do it, and think about what it takes for us
Speaker 1: to do it mentally, and it's just within us to
Speaker 1: just want to put effort into it. Well said, speaking
Speaker 1: of Tobias, he's your friend. He took you under his
Speaker 1: wing as a rookie player. Part of what Coach Rivers
Speaker 1: is trying to preach to you guys is, you know,
Speaker 1: the shared sacrifice, the camaraderie, what it takes to be
Speaker 1: a successful team. That part of that is reveling in
Speaker 1: the success of your teammates. Well, I don't think it
Speaker 1: takes a lot for you to enjoy the play of
Speaker 1: your friend. Your teammate Tobias Abert paris having an incredible season.
Speaker 1: It has to bring you and your teammates great joy
Speaker 1: to watch him and how he's excelling right that absolutely,
Speaker 1: and I mean and like I just said, it is
Speaker 1: both ends. Just watching him do it on both ends
Speaker 1: at such a high level, and it's so cool to
Speaker 1: be able to know you can count on someone as
Speaker 1: consistently as he's played. It's just when it comes on
Speaker 1: the crunch time or when it's things get slow and
Speaker 1: we just know to run his play and get into
Speaker 1: a spot and we got it better than what feels
Speaker 1: like at he's gonna score by dodds. I feel like
Speaker 1: when when devices binder stand the odds are always in
Speaker 1: our favor, that's something's good, it's going to happen. And yeah,
Speaker 1: as as his friend as a fan, like watching to
Speaker 1: buyas this season has been so fun and then being
Speaker 1: able to play with him just makes super better. And
Speaker 1: I would imagine you guys have learned a lot from
Speaker 1: each other. He's a little bit older, whether you guys
Speaker 1: are going over books or going to a bookstore, and
Speaker 1: then to take it even a level further for everything
Speaker 1: we're going through as a country, but specifically last summer
Speaker 1: with the marches and the efforts in the area of
Speaker 1: social justice to when you were there, but to watch
Speaker 1: your friend be a leader and show it and be
Speaker 1: out there, that had to be special and pretty cool. No,
Speaker 1: it's great. I mean, he he's influenced me to grow
Speaker 1: in a lot of those areas where he's really devoted
Speaker 1: and interested in. And like the march that you saw
Speaker 1: us that he texted me and was like, hey, let's go.
Speaker 1: I was like, I'll be there. And he's for me.
Speaker 1: He's been like a big brother and the greatest role
Speaker 1: model and big brother and you could ask for. And
Speaker 1: just being able to have him as someone you can
Speaker 1: talk to and he's I mean now to buys me
Speaker 1: and him talk about this offical things. We will discuss
Speaker 1: lectures from Alan Watts and like reading things, and it's
Speaker 1: it's just been it's been cool to see him going
Speaker 1: and I think this it's kind of just been a
Speaker 1: narrative of he's just been growing immensely as a human being.
Speaker 1: And to be a friend watching it a part of
Speaker 1: it has been great and it just makes me more
Speaker 1: and more excited to see what he has in the future,
Speaker 1: hopefully more Golfer's commercials. That's great. Those are so funny.
Speaker 1: That's another great relationship. Let's turn if we could to
Speaker 1: your vlogging, your video diaries, the YouTube and obviously like
Speaker 1: photography and using the camera was a hobby for you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it went, you know, viral in the literal sense.
Speaker 1: It went national. It was crazy. People love seeing the
Speaker 1: inside stuff, and you have a you're a very likable
Speaker 1: person and a great personality, and you know, even as
Speaker 1: we watched you go through the gift bag in Orlando
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh, I don't like this, not like that,
Speaker 1: people just really wrapped their arms around that and exploded.
Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit hard. I think for me
Speaker 1: it was just kind of it was good timing. And
Speaker 1: like you said, everyone wants to see the inside and
Speaker 1: the bubble was one of the most closed off situations
Speaker 1: that we've seen in sports, and for me to be
Speaker 1: able to give people a glimpse, I think part of
Speaker 1: me wants the thing that I did a good job,
Speaker 1: but the other part of me as to acknowledge that
Speaker 1: people were gonna watch regardless just because they wanted to
Speaker 1: know what was going on. Yeah, I go on Twitter
Speaker 1: occasionally and everything. I always see people tweeting like we
Speaker 1: gonna start vlogging and making videos again, And you said it,
Speaker 1: but for me, it started as a hobby and it
Speaker 1: got to a point in the bubble where I was like,
Speaker 1: this feels like it's my job, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I can't lose sight of the fact that I'm here
Speaker 1: because of my real job, and that's to be an
Speaker 1: NBA player. And so for me, this season has been
Speaker 1: mostly about finding myself on the court and like devoting
Speaker 1: myself more so of that, and then when things get
Speaker 1: more comfortable, if they ever get more comfortable, finding more
Speaker 1: time to I do my hobbies, make videos, photos, those
Speaker 1: kinds of things. As you said, other people did it,
Speaker 1: but you did it better. I mean, you were really
Speaker 1: really good at technical aspects. But like when we would
Speaker 1: get the notification that like Matissa is going to be
Speaker 1: talking to the La Times or the New York Times
Speaker 1: Morning America definition of blowing up, that ended it. And
Speaker 1: you were that when they brought you back to Philly
Speaker 1: and I believe it was ESPN. You must have was
Speaker 1: a pinch me moment. I would think, right, I mean
Speaker 1: I would I would text my friends or call my
Speaker 1: friends after. I think my agent called me and he
Speaker 1: would be like, so Jimmy FOWLN once you be and
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, cool, cool, and then I would pick up,
Speaker 1: I hang up, pick up my phone, call my friends,
Speaker 1: mean you got Jimmy Fowl Like, I think, it was
Speaker 1: so hard for me to wrap my mind because videos
Speaker 1: photography is stuff I've done, like throughout my life, throughout college,
Speaker 1: Me and my friends did it. We still do it
Speaker 1: at similar levels. And to think that it became something
Speaker 1: that was so big and so widely enjoyed, it's it's
Speaker 1: still hard for me to believe. I sometimes go on
Speaker 1: YouTube and if I see the views on those things,
Speaker 1: I'm like, wow, it's incredible your generation, you know, like
Speaker 1: the editing and when my kids are outside doing do
Speaker 1: perfect shots and there's one like the dog shot, I'm like,
Speaker 1: they're I'm giving that. So it's not that unnatural to
Speaker 1: be to, you know, with the new medium and social
Speaker 1: media and whatnot. But like when you went to Sedona
Speaker 1: and you know, like you're and I was in television,
Speaker 1: so I did photography and all that, so I know.
Speaker 1: But even today, like my kids are like my son's like, oh,
Speaker 1: he had to run back and put the camera there
Speaker 1: and get in order to get those walking shots. You know,
Speaker 1: there's a there's a part of it that is like
Speaker 1: more than just click and shoot, right, I mean, you
Speaker 1: have to know a lot more. Yeah, And it for me,
Speaker 1: like this is sometimes I'm pretty passionate about So I've
Speaker 1: given a lot of time to learning like the art
Speaker 1: of making a video and just I find a lot
Speaker 1: of joy in the shooting of it and the editing
Speaker 1: and yeah, so being able to go out there and
Speaker 1: I've been I've been a fan of people who've created
Speaker 1: in this field for a long time. So trying to
Speaker 1: emulate my favorites like these guys like Casey Nice that
Speaker 1: Peter McKinnon or YouTubers I've loved, and to be able
Speaker 1: to put my own twist on things I've learned from them,
Speaker 1: It's been cool, and it's just it's nice. I think
Speaker 1: for other people, it's nice to see an athlete doing
Speaker 1: things that they're also interested in or things that they
Speaker 1: also enjoy outside of basketball. Because and all kids, everyone
Speaker 1: my age and younger. We watch YouTube like that's what
Speaker 1: we do and to sort of see an athlete that
Speaker 1: they like also become a you tuber like the like
Speaker 1: is I bring two worlds together. That just makes it
Speaker 1: even better. And so as you go back on the road,
Speaker 1: you might end up guarding Zion. Oh my right, I
Speaker 1: mean talk about that and just that you I know
Speaker 1: you don't get ahead of yourself, but different players and
Speaker 1: you might have to check Williamson. Yeah, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: it's every night, it's something different. Like I when we
Speaker 1: were going to play who was it? When Blake Griffin
Speaker 1: is on the pistons And I didn't even know it's
Speaker 1: gonna guard Blake Griffin until the game it started, and
Speaker 1: you look at you look at some of these physical
Speaker 1: matchups and you're like, well, how can I gain an
Speaker 1: advantage in this situation? And in that game, I was
Speaker 1: able to find one and take advantage of it. And
Speaker 1: I think going into this next game, I'll probably be
Speaker 1: a little bit more prepared and just look for those
Speaker 1: advantages that you can take because even though they're guys
Speaker 1: are great in certain areas, they have everyone has weaknesses
Speaker 1: you can exploit and it's just looking for those and
Speaker 1: also having four other guys on the on the court
Speaker 1: who can have my back and help me with my
Speaker 1: weaknesses and let me play to my strengths. It bringing
Speaker 1: the whole picture together is really when makes makes the
Speaker 1: defensive team. Lastly, the stretch run is really packed. I
Speaker 1: just looked at this week and may you guys play
Speaker 1: five games in seven days, so there's a lot to
Speaker 1: go before the playoffs. But what's the ceiling? How can
Speaker 1: this end with the best possible outcomes for your team
Speaker 1: of Philadelphia seventy six years. I mean, the way we
Speaker 1: look at it, there's I don't think there's any games
Speaker 1: on our counter that we mark as potential losses. We
Speaker 1: go into every game expecting to win, and I think
Speaker 1: at this point a lot of a lot of people
Speaker 1: expect it too. And even though these the stretches brutal,
Speaker 1: it's not just us, Like as much as we complain
Speaker 1: about being tired or banged up, every team are playing
Speaker 1: against going to the same thing, some worse, and it's
Speaker 1: just this. It's it's what's the NBA right now? And
Speaker 1: like we said at the beginning of this, it's not
Speaker 1: a normal year. And I haven't experienced one yet, but
Speaker 1: this is why we're the pros. We had to be
Speaker 1: able to adapt and be prepared to play at a
Speaker 1: high level regardless. And I think it's just going to
Speaker 1: be a mental a mental game at this point because
Speaker 1: everyone physically is going to be beat up and whoever
Speaker 1: can fight through it the best and I think that
Speaker 1: we have a pretty good chance of doing that. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. We'll let you get on your way.
Speaker 1: We appreciate it. Natis good luck to thank you for talking.
Speaker 1: If you like what you're hearing, consider subscribing to the
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Speaker 1: give us a rating. I'm Tom McGinnis. Talk to you
Speaker 1: down the road.