Unheralded Rookie Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot Making Some Noise For 76ers
Lost amidst the noise of fellow Philadelphia 76ers' rookies is the recent play of first-year forward Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot.
The Philadelphia 76ers have a long list of things to look forward to, despite completing yet another losing season.
Firstly, they have potentially two of the top-four picks in this year's draft, considered by ESPN draft guru Chad Ford to be the strongest in more than a decade.
Secondly, they will start next season with center Joel Embiid and last year's No.1 overall pick, Ben Simmons. Embiid's 31 games this season spoke volumes regarding his potential, whereas the anticipation for Simmons' debut remains as strong as ever.
These two factors alone are reason for supreme optimism among Sixers' fans moving forward.
But another positive to come out of a losing season has been the progress of some more unheralded Sixers' players. One of those is rookie swingman Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot.
A native of France, the 6-foot-6 Luwawu-Cabarrot was taken at pick No.24 in the 2016 draft. And despite landing on a team bereft of success in recent seasons, an adjustment period was always on the cards.
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Although they're far from being all-star caliber players, the likes of Robert Covington, Nik Stauskas, Gerald Henderson and the now-departed Hollis Thompson made it difficult in the early stages for Luwawu-Cabarrot to make an impact.
Over his first couple of months in the league, Luwawu-Cabarrot was primarily taking baby steps.
He played in just 19 games for the Sixers, which was accompanied by several Did Not Play – Coach's Decision and a three-game stint in the D-League with the Sixers affiliate the Delaware 87ers.
Over his first 19 games, Luwawu-Cabbarot averaged a measly 2.1 points on 33.3 percent shooting in just 7.2 minutes per game.
Since this time, fourth-year forward Thompson was waived on Jan. 4, naturally opening up some backup minutes at the 3 and 4 spots.
Hence, Luwawu-Cabarrot's opportunities increased, and he averaged 5.4 points on 39.0 percent shooting in 15.9 minutes per game over his ensuing 32 games. Head coach Brett Brown recently noted:
"It's very rare for a late draft pick to get on an NBA court, no matter what team he's with….His progression has presented him an opportunity of minutes and he has taken it and run with it. We're very pleased how much his game has improved."
Despite these numbers being relatively modest, Luwawu-Cabarrot was gaining confidence and showing signs of development. So much so, that during a recent West Coast road trip, Luwawu-Cabarrot was inserted into the starting lineup, a spot he has yet to relinquish.
He made his starting debut earlier in the season, filling in for the inured Covington in a road loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
Luwawu-Cabarrot has now started the past 14 games, averaging 11.7 points and 3.8 rebounds in 29.6 minutes per game during this span.
His shooting though is clearly a work in progress, hitting just 41.2 percent from the field and 31.2 from behind three on 5.5 attempts per game over these 14 games.
But that wasn't the initial attraction on the Sixers' part to Luwawu-Cabarot. As Brown recently detailed:
"I feel the thing that I was most attracted to was his competitiveness and athleticism. He really was more of a track star than basketball player when we had him early. Lately, he's used his competitiveness and track-star qualities and become a far more polished basketball player. When you watch him catch and shoot, it has a real good chance of going in. His ability to create straight-line drives by himself is elite. He can get to the rim by himself. In a halfcourt game, that stands out. He can run, he's a flier. We all knew that. But the halfcourt part of making threes, doing something with the motion we're running and finding a gap in the lane, he's gotten better."
In the midst of Luwawu-Cabarrot's recent upsurge in playing time was a career-high 23-point performance against the Toronto Raptors. Luwawu-Cabarrot was 7-of-16 from the field and 3-of-7 from behind three in his 36 minutes of action.
As can be seen in the highlights below, Luwawu-Cabarrot is now showing a great deal of confidence in both spotting up from the outside and taking it to the hole.
After the game, Brown had glowing praise for the growth of his rookie swingman:
"He's just growing. We can all see it. He jumps into the thing in a big way. What everyone would see is he's making shots. What we see is his preparation into his shot. We study his feet, we study his hands, we talk about his footwork into his spacing, and how he navigates the 3-point line. From a fundamental perspective, he's growing the technique of an NBA shot. Then, he's taken his game defensively I think to higher levels."
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Luwawu-Cabarrot followed this up with 19-points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals in a 141-118 blowout loss to the Brooklyn Nets.
So in the absence of Covington, who was recently ruled out for the remainder of the season, Luwawu-Cabarrot's last three games have produced 20.3 points and 1.7 steals in 38.8 minutes per game.
Notably, his shooting has come at a respectable 44.4 percent clip despite the added responsibility.
So despite another season of failure in the win/loss column, a number of positives have eventuated. The significant progression made by Luwawu-Cabarrot is not only a credit to himself, but to the development work on the part of the coaching staff.
With a full season behind him and still plenty of improvement ahead, things are certainly looking up for both Luwawu-Cabarrot and the Sixers.
