Matas Buzelis - GLI

[azcatz11]

I genuinely don't understand any of what people see in Matas.

I don't think I've ever seen a guy who led his team to a 2-32 record and moped the entire time have his intangibles questioned less.

I've never seen a guy who shot 26% from three and 68% from the line have his shooting questioned less.

Never seen a guy with a negative assist to turnover ratio have his skill level and BBIQ questioned less.

Like, this dude just blows. He is bad currently. If he turns his attitude around and focuses as hard as possible on gaining muscle and shooting threes, he can be like... an average starting PF one day?

But that's not super likely and he lacks the upside to be worth taking a risk before the end of the first round.

6'8 big wing who is a good defender has a good shot. He can also create for himself and others. The Gordon Hayward comps are spot on IMO

[HadAnEffectHere]

I genuinely don't understand any of what people see in Matas.

I don't think I've ever seen a guy who led his team to a 2-32 record and moped the entire time have his intangibles questioned less.

I've never seen a guy who shot 26% from three and 68% from the line have his shooting questioned less.

Never seen a guy with a negative assist to turnover ratio have his skill level and BBIQ questioned less.

Like, this dude just blows. He is bad currently. If he turns his attitude around and focuses as hard as possible on gaining muscle and shooting threes, he can be like... an average starting PF one day?

But that's not super likely and he lacks the upside to be worth taking a risk before the end of the first round.

6'8 big wing who is a good defender has a good shot. He can also create for himself and others. The Gordon Hayward comps are spot on IMO

His feet are like lead, he closes out on shooters horribly. He also is too slow to play SF and will get shoved out of the way by every PF who can dribble. I see almost no positives on defense other than being OK at shotblocking if he can stay in front of his man (which is not often)

The only things he has in common with Hayward

-Tall
-Extremely mentally soft
-Short arms
-Handle is basically as good I guess
-White

Hayward athletically is tough to judge as Hayward was only athletic for his second contract year when he bulked up a lot and was really good that one year. That was the only time he was a star player in the NBA. He wasn't that athletic or strong in his first six years in the NBA. Then his leg blew up in his 8th year and he hasn't been very athletic since. I don't know if Matas can ever reach the athleticism of 7th year Hayward (again, the only year where Hayward was actually a star player)

But Hayward was a massively better passer than Buzelis and was a much better shooter. Hayward was very inconsistent from three his first eight years in college/NBA, but his FT% was consistently very good. Buzelis' 68% from the line is a massive red flag.

Buzelis' form also really sucks bad. It looks really ugly and he's slingshotting it.

[Pattycakes]

I genuinely don't understand any of what people see in Matas.

I don't think I've ever seen a guy who led his team to a 2-32 record and moped the entire time have his intangibles questioned less.

I've never seen a guy who shot 26% from three and 68% from the line have his shooting questioned less.

Never seen a guy with a negative assist to turnover ratio have his skill level and BBIQ questioned less.

Like, this dude just blows. He is bad currently. If he turns his attitude around and focuses as hard as possible on gaining muscle and shooting threes, he can be like... an average starting PF one day?

But that's not super likely and he lacks the upside to be worth taking a risk before the end of the first round.

Imagine an 18 year old who ever had the potential to improve

Everyone must be on meth besides you.

[HadAnEffectHere]

I genuinely don't understand any of what people see in Matas.

I don't think I've ever seen a guy who led his team to a 2-32 record and moped the entire time have his intangibles questioned less.

I've never seen a guy who shot 26% from three and 68% from the line have his shooting questioned less.

Never seen a guy with a negative assist to turnover ratio have his skill level and BBIQ questioned less.

Like, this dude just blows. He is bad currently. If he turns his attitude around and focuses as hard as possible on gaining muscle and shooting threes, he can be like... an average starting PF one day?

But that's not super likely and he lacks the upside to be worth taking a risk before the end of the first round.

Imagine an 18 year old who ever had the potential to improve

Everyone must be on meth besides you.

He does have the potential to improve to one day be an average starting PF.

But he needs to improve in a ton of areas to get there.

And his ceiling is not high at all.

[JMAC3]

I am not crazy low on Matas, but he is probably one of the higher bust guys imo. He just doesn't do anything at a high level right now which isn't the end of the world but it feels like we are headed for a really inefficient rookie season. He is a below average outside shooter, who often settles for midrange or weird create your own adventure type of shots. Not really great at getting to the rim or drawing fouls and he is a bit of a tweener with a bad wingspan.

His shooting projects worse than other true SF in this class like Zac, Cody, Dalton etc...

His best case situation is to go to a young team willing to feature him like the Jazz or Wizards that will feature him early in his career despite probably not being very efficient. Develop his playmaking, but if he goes to a team and slots in as a 3rd option+ on a team like Charlotte, San Ant or Portland then I don't love his outlook.