How Danuel House, Matisse Thybulle Learned From Each Other

Although he’s been in the NBA since 2016, Philadelphia 76ers veteran Danuel House Jr. is still learning as a veteran in the league.

When House signed with the Sixers in the offseason, he was recognized as a veteran that would not only be a reliable piece off the bench but also be a mentor to some of his younger teammates, considering he has six seasons in the NBA under his belt.

To a guy like Matisse Thybulle, who is currently amid his fourth season in the league, House has done all that could do to help Thybulle improve his shooting confidence from beyond the arc.

“We are each other’s greatest allies,” said Thybulle when discussing his teammate. “I learned that really early on when we got to training camp, and Danuel pulled me aside, and he was like, ‘Hey, let’s shoot together.’ He starts talking about the playoffs and saying we need you, and you need to be able to shoot and take these shots confidently.”

Last season, Thybulle’s lack of value on the offensive end affected his playing time in the playoffs for the Sixers. Therefore, he entered the 2022 offseason with a plan to zero in on growing offensively. And House understood just how important Thybulle’s growth in confidence was important to get him to where he needed to be.

“To have the guy that’s supposed to be my mortal enemy [for minutes] be the one who, like, brings me under his wing to do this together was like an awesome experience,” Thybulle continued. “I think it played a lot into our relationship now and played a lot into our team in general.”

House brings a lot of value to Thybulle as a teacher, but he’s also been a student to the young veteran as well. As much as House looked to help out Thybulle with his shooting and confidence, the former Houston Rockets veteran mentioned that he had learned a lot from Thybulle as well.

“He’s a second-team All-Defense guy, can guard, so if he says so defensively, why not listen?” said House. “Just as much as he says he’s learning from me, I’m learning from him, too. It’s a building process. We’re building into each other. I told him I believe in his jump shot. Stop doubting yourself, shoot it. You work too hard. You put in a lot of work, and I shoot with you. You can shoot the ball. Shoot it.

Despite the fact that Thybulle and House are competing for minutes on the Sixers, they recognize that, at the end of the day, they are allies. Therefore, they’ve continued working together and pushing one another to improve on both their strengths and weaknesses.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.

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