These guys do good deep dives:
Let’s start with the shooting, because that’s what he was most known for coming into the season. During his senior season at Sunrise Christian Academy, he was electric, knocking down 43.1% of his threes in 29 games tracked by Synergy. Unfortunately, that level of success has not been sustained with the Ignite. Across all games with them, he’s converted only 26.6% of his triples on 3.6 attempts per game. Most of these looks have been spot-ups, so while he doesn’t get a ton of uncontested looks, the degree of difficulty hasn’t been out of control, either. It appears as if he’s struggled to adapt to the NBA line, with many of his shots coming up short.
From a purely aesthetic standpoint, it’s a pretty, balanced jumper with a pure, high release. Given Buzelis’s 75% mark at the charity stripe, his prior track record, and the fact that he’s battled injury this season, I’m optimistic. Plus, he’s already on the upswing. The G League season is broken into two chunks—the Showcase Cup and the regular season. The Showcase Cup came first, and Buzelis was only at 22.2% during those games. In the time since, he’s been at 29.7%. It’s still not ideal, but it’s better.
Buzelis is helped by the fact that he’s not just a three-point specialist. He’s a talented mid-range scorer with a smooth pull-up and soft floater. If a defender flies by on a closeout and needs to take a shot off one or two dribbles, he’s more than capable of doing that. But what makes him even more appealing is his polish generating space in this area of the floor. Buzelis boasts great deceleration, and his ability to stop quickly often catches defenders off balance and gets him some extra room. He also has some junk to his handle and footwork, with various setups and combinations he can string together going east-west or for a stepback. Per Synergy, he’s converted 41.2% of his off-the-dribble twos this season, which is a rock-solid mark. This also gives him a solid opportunity to expand that type of scoring to the three-point line in the future.
He’s been solid at the rim, too, converting 58% of his shots at the basket in the halfcourt with 32.7% of his shots taking place there, per Synergy.
Even better, there’s a clear path to Buzelis improving, and that involves him continuing to get stronger. Right now, his touch doesn’t hold up that well when he’s met with contact at the rim.
Otherwise, there’s a lot to like. He has the gravity, strides, and off-the-bounce creation to get to the rack on a consistent basis. His bounciness and length are a sublime pairing that allows him to finish above the rim. When defenders are in his way, he has the coordination to contort and convert. Even without the ball, Buzelis has the intellect to know when and where to cut to get easy buckets. Given that he’s already a solid finisher in spite of his frame, I’m excited about this area of his game going forward.
https://www.noceilingsnba.com/p/matas-buzelis-and-the-path-to-big
