Bulls forward Matas Buzelis has set lofty goals — including making an All-Defensive team and winning the Most Improved Player award — for his second season, but he’s not only interested in individual accolades and says he’s willing to do whatever is necessary for the team to be successful, according to Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune.
“I think I can be a go-to guy,” Buzelis said. “But at the end of the day it comes down to whatever the team needs to win the games. The NBA now, it’s positionless. So whoever has a heater, whoever’s playing extremely well, that’s who we’re going to go to. It’s a team sport. If it’s my night, it’s my night. If it’s not, I’m going to have to do the dirty work and rebound, defend as hard as possible, do the little things to impact the game.”
As Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times writes, head coach Billy Donovan admits he was hard on Buzelis during his rookie campaign. Rather than be upset by being pulled from games for his mistakes, Buzelis accepted his imperfections and remained driven yet humble — an approach Donovan thinks will serve the 21-year-old well, both now and going forward.
“It’s about Matas keeping himself grounded and driven,” Donovan said. “He has not arrived. He just hasn’t. And that’s just the truth. And I love Matas and think he’s got an unbelievable runway to be an outstanding player in this league if he keeps his drive and his motivation and doesn’t think he’s arrived. The great ones are always driven, regardless of what’s going on around them.”
Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic and Drew Stevens of The Bigs Media (Twitter links) share additional quotes from Donovan looking to temper expectations for Buzelis as well as areas of growth he hopes to see from the Chicago native, who was selected 11th overall in the 2024 draft.
Here’s more on the Bulls:
- While much of the media attention has been on Buzelis lately, veteran center Nikola Vucevic was the team’s top performer in Wednesday’s season-opening win over Detroit, per Lorenzi of The Athletic, finishing with 28 points and 14 rebounds and at least temporarily putting to rest any lingering concerns about how the 35-year-old might fit as the elder statesman on a young roster.
- Poe of The Chicago Tribune shares her takeaways from Wednesday’s victory, including that No. 12 overall pick Noa Essengue was completely out of the rotation.
- In a column for The Chicago Tribune, Paul Sullivan argues the Bulls can exceed expectations, be a fun team to watch, and win around 44 games this season if they play better against their Central Division rivals, perform better at home, and “do the little things that win games.”
Saw the game in its entirety last night. Patrick Williams couldn’t pass the ball for the life of him, then he tried to dribble behind his back and it went off his left thigh. Then he still couldn’t figure out how to stop the ball (Cade) in transition and by then it was and 1.
My point is, good team win (damn it), but he is just not a professional basketball player at any means. I rather give those mins to Noa and see what he can do, Atleast he can dribble and pass which you know, is essential to becoming a basketball player, right guys?
Buzelis looks pretty good though right? Something to look forward to as a Bulls fan. At this point you know what you’re getting from Williams
I need Buzelis to be a little meaner when attacking the boards. 6 boards is decent but he needs to play with a little more physicality on the boards. Offensively he does that with his dunks, but defensively I need him to be a little more aggressive and play angry.
This isnt a nice guy league by any means.
Bird/Jordan/Kobe etc all played angry and it showed on both ends of the floor.
Love the kid though, a few years ago I had him around 3-4 range for prospects but we got luck he fell to us. Now we gotta coach him the right way and see his growth unfold before our very eyes.
Yeah I totally get what you mean. I’m a Warriors fan and want the same thing for Kuminga. It’s tougher for these young guys, but it’s a long season, I expect Buzelis will get more aggressive as he continues to get experience
You’re harsh, as always :)
Be happy with a win; you played a very good Detroit team, which I felt was a bit better on the night, and you managed to find a way to win. And you really were missing Collins in that game.
Giddey with 11 FTs. If he can continue to have that kind of FT/FG ratio, just like he did late last season, you’ll control the games. Something your team hasn’t been able to do in God knows how long.
Yeah he has funny hair; yeah he looks almost feminine; yeah his muscles are not very defined; yeah he has a funky ball control style when he runs with his back forward; yeah he likes to shoot floaters too much.
But he is the best back-court rebounder in the league; he has an assist/turnover ratio that is better than Cade’s; he’s not a ball hog and has a rather low usage rate, which allows teammates to play and stay in rhythm; he has size so he isn’t an automatic target on defense; the game looks kind of easy for him.
He turned 23 only 2 weeks ago. Plus, you have him on a good contract. That’s a lot to like, imo.
Matas so far is the most promising player from the 2024 draft, and already a winner.
You played 4 starters age 26 or younger, and only one player above age 27.
Always have to be harsh to my own team. 90’s spoiled me lol.
Like the way Giddey doesn’t just hog and pound the ball the way Doncic and Harden do.
Matas coming out the gate, let that man cook!
My observations from the game were:
1. Vujevic must have had about 3 Red Bulls before the game because he had a little pep in his step.
2. The Bulls REALLY need to get Ayo signed long term. Without him they don’t win that game.
3. Matas was solid and I hope his ankle is OK
4. Bulls will really miss Collins more than Coby
5. Williams is still useless
6. Dalen Terry is useless
7. Huerter needs more Playing Time
8. Donovan is bad
9. Tre Jones is a steal
10. 82-0?
4. Bulls will really miss Collins more than Coby
Yeap, that’s a good one. Chicago need to be careful with Coby White. They don’t need to get too obsessed with him, certainly don’t need to overpay him next summer.
They should have traded Coby White at the draft when they had a chance. Bulls have guys who can score. They only have a couple of guys who actually play defense. Basketball 101.
Nice observations Mike,
Yep, Williams is the worst NBA player I have ever seen in year 36 of watching this sport. Dalon Terry needs to be cut. Huerter has great value and should fetch us back something. Donovan still can’t coach. Tre Jones might be the best value FA resigning in the league.
Raz and uncle : and they drafted patwill over halliburton. Really bad decision by akme. And they gave another contract for a bad hc.dalen,patwill,billy donovan must go.
Except 2 of them just got big extensions so they aren’t going anywhere sad to say.
LoveBullsHateJerry, I saw Hali during college prior to Covid. What popped out to me was the way he directed the offense and set plays for everyone involved. He has a funky shot, but who cares as long as it goes in at an efficient rate? I screamed for Hali the entire way until draft night. He was the perfect PG that we needed for a team that hasn’t had a transition game since Rose MVP days. When they drafted Patrick Williams, I screamed bloody murder while watching with my dad. To this day I still get quite upset watching Hali being passed up by us. This franchise is inept. If he had drafted, Hali then no need for Lonzo which would have given us approximately 20M to play with for other depth pieces and didn’t need to trade for Vu and give up a light protected 1st which turned out to be Franz Wagner. The domino’s of not drafting Hali turned out to be the downfall of this organization. To make matters worse, Patrick Williams was the first pick in the AKME organization…and they were too scared that he would evolve elsewhere (see Markkanen and WCJ and a few others that the franchise gave up too soon on).
I didn’t mind the Jalen Smith deal at the time, we needed a stretch 4, what I just didn’t know or was aware is how bad of a rebounder he was last year. He’s a one trick pony at best. I can see why Phoenix and Indy let him go now.
Donovan is here to stay, and we will die as a franchise as long as AKME and Donovan are all here. Our only hope is that the NBA finds Donovan on betting and Bulls have to get rid of him.
Not holding my breath on either by the way lol.
Raz : i really wanted him too at that time. But g0d d4mn akme, he was available, but they drafted patwill, a bench player in college. I smoked a lot after that night. I still hate that night.
Not just a bench player, a 6th man who was ranked 20-30 in most NBA mock drafts. Lmao I will never understand it.
You are completely wrong about Donovan. Donovan is the reason why the Bulls are competitive without big time talent.
BTW, I appreciate all the Bulls fans reading my thoughts on this team and also sharing yours. We are THE best fanbase in the NBA and attendance and merch sales says otherwise. I’m sure you guys feel the same way about our team as passionately as I do, if not more. One ECF appearance since 1998 makes me more angry every time I see this team attempt to win when they should not be winning.
Thanks for being here thru the tough times and my TedTalks after every Bulls post.