Bulls rookie Matas Buzelis finding his way with swagger, confidence

CLEVELAND – The rookie doesn’t have a lot perfected in his game just yet.

What Matas Buzelis does have? Unwavering confidence in his ability and a definite swagger to him. For now, that will have to do.

Making his Bulls preseason debut in the the team’s comeback win over the Cavaliers on Tuesday, Buzelis came off the bench to score 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting, grabbed five rebounds and handed out three assists. He had a few eye-popping moments, like a nifty turnaround jumper in the paint and a blocked shot, but what mattered to him most was the final numbers on the scoreboard.

“The main thing for me is winning the game,” Buzelis said. “We had a couple mistakes down the stretch, but we got it done.”

That they did, as the 11th overall pick from the June draft played the power forward spot, but also slid over to the five when coach Billy Donovan wanted to match Cleveland’s smaller lineup.

Welcomed versatility from the rook.

“We’ll give him some opportunities to get some minutes at the five, but I thought he was good,” Donovan said of Buzelis’ debut. “He was active, he runs the floor, he’s aggressive, he’s physical, he’s going to get stronger. There were some things that he obviously made mistakes on, which you expect, but overall, I love his mentality. That’s the thing I really like. He’s got a really good work ethic, he wants to get better, and he’s got a toughness to him competitively, the way he plays.”

It's a big reason Buzelis was drafted by his hometown team after playing last season for G League Ignite.

Of course, the skillset and physical tools have been there, but there’s an “it” factor that Buzelis plays with. It was seen first-hand in Las Vegas when he finished as one of the Summer League standouts, both with how he defended opposing players at the rim and how he wanted to posterize them on the other end.

While that’s been tempered a bit going against veteran NBA players in practice these days, make no mistake that it’s still there, almost biding time before it comes out.

“I think in talking to him a little bit, he acknowledged the first week you’re trying to get all this stuff in, you’ve got like six practices, and then you’re playing (Tuesday in Cleveland), right?” Donovan said, when discussing the fearlessness to Buzelis’ game. “But he just doesn’t get rattled.

“I think he knows in his mind, ‘This is going to be a process for me, but I’m going to lean into whatever the struggle is and whatever the learning curve is.’ I’ve seen guys get overwhelmed, frustrated, get down on themselves, beat themselves up, not to say he’s not self-critical because I think that he is, but he has I think an eternal belief in himself, and he likes the competitive part. I would say that’s the thing that’s going to allow him to constantly get better, because I think he does have that.”

That’s been on display most of training camp, and not just in the scrimmages, but the extra work he puts in before and after practice. Buzelis is self-aware enough to know that he needs it.

“Staying in the gym, staying consistent, always getting my work in, but I know what I have to work on,” he said, when asked where the fearlessness comes from. “Me staying in the gym, I think that’s what’s going to build my confidence even more on the floor.”

The unknown remains what exactly he can be built into — confident or not. Donovan feels like it will be something special.

“Now, he's got to develop and find a game for himself offensively, which I think will come in time in terms of when to shoot, drive, those types of things,” Donovan added. “But overall, that (swagger) is going to be what allows him to be good.”