Guerschon Yabusele’s wizardry in win over Washington proves he thrives as a small-ball five

Check the tape, study the numbers, or watch the bear dance — it’s too obvious to ignore.

Anyone else would be scrutinized, scorned, and scoffed at if they had a smile like his after that game. But Guershon Yabusele earned that grin. He donned a toothy one after blocking the Washington Wizards’ Bilal Coulibaly — his French Olympic teammate — with 20 seconds left, maintaining the Philadelphia 76ers’ two-point lead.

That lead was as high as 16 at one point, but in the fourth quarter, it quickly diminished, bringing back the expectation of crushing loss that has become all too familiar to this past decade’s Sixer fans. Boo birds circled and Hell was ready to accept a payment. If this team lost to that Wizards’ team, the worst team in the league, made worse by their slew of injuries… Oh boy.

Thank God for Yabu. The Frenchman finished with 21 points, was a team-high plus-16, and added an electrifying and-1 dagger dunk in the final seconds. For his highlight reel, statistically, and vibe-wise, it was his best performance of the season.

“I was feeling good,” Yabu, as his teammates call him, said after the game.

Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images

Due to injuries to Joel Embiid and Andre Drummond, Yabu, standing at just 6-foot-8, played all 34 of his minutes as Philly’s only big on the floor. To start, he looked puny. Outmatched. Outbrawned. On the game’s first play, Washington’s starting center Jonas Valančiūnas raised a palm far above Yabu’s head, grabbed Kyle Kuzma’s missed three, and put the ball in the hoop.

Although the taller and stronger Valančiūnas would finish the first quarter with five offensive rebounds (including some plays that looked like a father playing against a fetus in the driveway), he would not play a single minute in the fourth quarter.

Yabu, as he has his whole professional basketball career, kept the faith, locked horns with his behemoth matchup, and acutely saw the end goal in his mind.

“When we play guys like this and I’m at the five, Imma try to fight my ass off,” he said. “Just give everything to try to block him and make him as uncomfortable as possible. Bigs like that, [Valančiūnas] doing that, he’s not going to do that the whole game and they’re not going to win the game like that. So, I’m just trying not to get frustrated and just keep on defending as hard as I can.”

This intrinsic ass-shedding fight, combined with basketball IQ and a growing confidence makes Yabu so valuable to the team — even if it’s not in the way he, or anyone involved, expected.

With Embiid the centerpiece of the squad, and Drummond signed this offseason to fill in the center minutes Embiid sat, Yabusele was brought in to be a floor-stretching, relatively agile power forward that complemented the burlier bigs. But forced out of that position due to injuries at the beginning of the season and now throughout, Yabusele has proved to be the most effective backup center on the roster.

According to Cleaning The Glass, which filters out garbage time, Yabusele has won the minutes he plays at center by a +1.0 point differential (this is in minutes without Jared McCain, as the rookie is out for the season and is therefore unfortunately irrelevant to any analysis for this campaign). Of the five lineups that have played more than 40 non-garbage possessions together with Yabu at center, three have a point differential of +20 or more, including one lineup at a mouthwatering +45.7.

CleaningTheGlass.com

In comparison, the other backup bigs are not close. Drummond has lost his minutes by a -9.2 margin and Adem Bona, the Sixers’ second-round pick of the 2024 draft and the third ‘center’ on the roster, has too, currently at a -32.4.

This doesn’t mean Yabu is now a center and only that. “I consider myself a real four,” he admitted after the game. And he is effective at the four, but only when sharing the court with Embiid.

Those two are a +7.7 in 184 possessions together. Compare that number with the disgusting -24.7 Drummond and Yabu minutes have been and the lineup picture becomes clearer: Yabu is a five, that can and should play next to Embiid in spurts. Whether those spurts include starting, closing, both or neither is up to Nick Nurse.

NBAVisualiser.com

Despite Yabu’s self-actualization, no one in the NBA can define a ‘real four’. Gone are the days of Zach Randolph and LaMarcus Aldridge. Draymond Green is the position’s modern example. But he was at his peak power at the five, ushering in the small-ball era and contributing to the extinction of the four-bearers.

Whatever Yabu is, he’s a genuine player in this league. One many teams would love to have (and will get the chance to acquire this offseason).

“Yabu knows what we’re going to need from him,” Tyrese Maxey said after the Wizards game. “He’s going to play big minutes, going to have to guard fives, going to have to switch some, hit some threes, space the floor.”

Re-read that list of requirements. Not many in the league can tick those off. If you asked Yabu at the beginning of the season if he could have, he may have said no. But he’s learned with time. In the unpredictable and forever-changing nature of the Sixers’ big-man rotation, he’s proven himself by staying calm.

“I’ve been having a lot of games at the five now so my feeling in the game is completely different now than the first games,” Yabu said.

“When I go on the court I don’t think too much. If it’s a real big that’s dropping, I’m going to try to pop a little bit more. If it’s a big that’s a little more active then I’m going to try to roll more, set the screen, and hold the screen. Those kinds of reads; I’m just reading what the player brings and try to adjust from there, offensively and defensively.”

“Don’t be stressed,” he tells himself during games. “[I] get the ball and I tell myself somebody’s going to be open if it’s two guys right there. So, when I get the ball I gotta look first to see if I’m open or not, and if I’m not, somebody’s gotta be open.”

That’s composure. It’s patience and grace. You’d expect such from a man nicknamed the Dancing Bear. And so far he’s exceeded any expectation put on him, if there were any to begin with. He’s earned the right to play where he wants when he wants. All with a smile.