Bulls' Matas Buzelis' being more impactful defensively by being a step ahead mentally

One play in Wednesday’s loss encapsulated what makes Matas Buzelis so tantalizing.

In the third quarter, the second-year Bulls forward blocked Pistons forward Paul Reed’s shot and chased down a quick outlet pass from guard Tre Jones to the right corner. After he corralled the pass, Buzelis quickly set his feet behind the three-point line and knocked down a three-pointer.

Buzelis possesses immense two-way potential, which is partly why coach Billy Donovan brought him along incrementally last season.

While there’s more on the bone with Buzelis’ offensive game, his defense improvement has been impressive. That end of the floor is one of the hardest for young players to grasp with the speed and complexity of nBA schemes. It can take a while to acclimate to the speed and athleticism of NBA players.

After taking his lumps as a rookie, Buzelis’ defensive awareness is starting to catch up to his athletic gifts, which is especially seen when he’s the low man in pick-and-roll coverage. He tied a career-high in blocks (4) on Wednesday. He entered Thursday in the 100th percentile in block percentage (2.4).

“He's seeing it happen before it's happening, and he's pulling in [and] putting himself in a position to make those plays,” Donovan said. “That's probably been the biggest growth I've seen in him so far. Defensively, there are times where we talked about some of the isolation stuff, where he gets overwhelmed physically, which he'll get better at. But the one thing about his shot-blocking is he can't be there to shot block if he's not there.”

Donovan wanted Buzelis to grasp the less glamorous aspects of the NBA game — boxing out, running the floor hard — before assuming a major offensive role.

After one shootaround, Buzelis practiced post defense, a testament to becoming a well-rounded, two-way player. After Buzelis has taken on a larger offensive load after injuries to Josh Giddey and Coby White, Donovan said that Buzelis is playing more decisively, but that there’s even more offensive responsibility he can assume.

“As great as [Bulls guard Tre Jones] is at taking care of the ball, and as just an [assist-to-turnover ratio] guy. And I think as much as [guard Ayo Dosunmu] has improved, there are times with their size, with coverages that are aggressive, them seeing over, you know, or around coverages, right? Matas can do that for us.

“He's got the size where, if it is an aggressive coverage, he has the ability to kind of see it and throw it over the top a little bit more.”

White returns

Guard Coby White (right calf management) returned to the lineup after missing the front end of a back-to-back against the Pistons on Wednesday. Donovan said that White’s minutes restriction would remain in the 24-26 minute range.

“Everything coming out of the last game was totally fine,” Donovan said of White. “There [were] no setbacks in his workouts and things that he was doing. [The medical staff] is going to try to slowly start to move [White’s minutes] up, hopefully relatively soon.”

Injury report

Guard Kevin Huerter missed Thursday’s game with back tightness. Donovan said he felt the injury during Wednesday’s game, and it didn’t improve after the game or this morning.