2024 NBA Draft - Chicago Bulls select Matas Buzelis with the 11th pick

[dougthonus]

Rose was MVP guys... As non Bull fan lurker, I will take a risk here and say he was not deserving that MVP, in my opinion, but point is, he was a superstar at very young age.

Deserving is a weird term, I don't think Rose was a top 10 guy at any point in his career, but that year, his team had the best record, was 3-0 against Miami, and he was the only offensive initiator on the team and a true star and only true star on the team. The MVP typically goes to the best player on the best team if they have real separation from the other guys on their team and Rose did.

In that sense, I think the MVP was very much deserved, but it shouldn't be confused with the idea that he was the best player in the league. Not even close.

Its cool to see people liking our guy, but it is also concerning, cause not to sound like Yoda, but hype and unchecked expectations almost always lead to disappointment, and that leads to fanbase hating a guy for him just being who he is.

I said, guys, you got lucky with this guy at 11, he is good gamble bet, could end up better wing than number 1 pick ftom this draft, wouldn't be shocking revelation, kid has potential, but lets not expect him to be better than best Bull since Jordan era, thats a bit stupid. Bulls fans were a bit in a shi**er for two decades, outside of Rose and Noah short lived glimses, so you grasping for sonething. but take it easy, there is light here now.

Do you have your own pick? Hopefully you guys sucking it out hext season, Giddey and Matas end up good, decent, and hopefully you get something even more exiting next June, top few prizes in next years draft look paticularly juicy.

Bulls 2025 pick is top 10 protected, so they may or may not have it.

I agree, expecting Matas to be a superstar is a bit of a stretch, but people always hype up a rookie if they show some signs. Reality will hit in, and when he plays real games against real NBA competition, expectations will land more reasonably based on how he does there.

It's easy to get excited when young kids are lighting up G-Leaguers and forget that they arent' going up against the best.

[MGB8]

Buzelis looks a bit ahead of where I thought he was. Physically, to me it looks like he can handle 15-20+ minutes per night in the NBA. While he will have a farm time guarding stronger players, the bounciness and toughness suggest that it won’t be quite as abusive as I thought it might be. And he is more mobile with the ball than I though he would be, too.

I still hope that they ease him in, though. Let him work on the shot and handle, on getting to his spots. Let him be challenged in practice by Pat and Terry (defending him) and Phillips - and let him overcome it. Don’t thrust him and to get beat up by the very best until he is ready to make it a decent showing and learn from the beat downs (and there will be some, when facing guys like Giannis, Lebron, Durant, OG/Randle, etc.).

[Jcool0]

If he was drafted in his projected range he is a 25+ MPG guy as a rookie. But they might not find him minutes on a Bulls team looking to make sure they get a top 10 pick? I have to assume while he might not be starting right away, he is going to be one of the first guys off the bench.

[DuckIII]

He’s literally the only real power forward we have on the roster and he’s showing multiple position versatility. He’s going to play a meaningful and consistent role as a rookie.

[RedBulls23]

If that shot can become real (and he adds core strength) he's going to be a problem.

I love his confidence overall. The irrational confidence guy the Bulls need to start off this rebuild to make things at least interesting to watch. lol

[DASMACKDOWN]

He’s literally the only real power forward we have on the roster and he’s showing multiple position versatility. He’s going to play a meaningful and consistent role as a rookie.

We have had Alex Caruso play PF for a whole season. We have had Derrick Jones Jr play backup Center. He certainly will be multi-positional under Billy Donovan.

The thing that is weird is that when talking about Pat, Billy has said on several occasions, the thought of playing Pat in a small ball 5. But to my knowledge that has never happened.

I do however think that will be the case for Matas because Matas has more size. If Matas can rebound decently enough, I can easily see this happening. Not the whole game obviously but certainly for real stretches during games.

[UcanUwill]

Rose was MVP guys... As non Bull fan lurker, I will take a risk here and say he was not deserving that MVP, in my opinion, but point is, he was a superstar at very young age.

Deserving is a weird term, I don't think Rose was a top 10 guy at any point in his career, but that year, his team had the best record, was 3-0 against Miami, and he was the only offensive initiator on the team and a true star and only true star on the team. The MVP typically goes to the best player on the best team if they have real separation from the other guys on their team and Rose did.

In that sense, I think the MVP was very much deserved, but it shouldn't be confused with the idea that he was the best player in the league. Not even close.

Its cool to see people liking our guy, but it is also concerning, cause not to sound like Yoda, but hype and unchecked expectations almost always lead to disappointment, and that leads to fanbase hating a guy for him just being who he is.

I said, guys, you got lucky with this guy at 11, he is good gamble bet, could end up better wing than number 1 pick ftom this draft, wouldn't be shocking revelation, kid has potential, but lets not expect him to be better than best Bull since Jordan era, thats a bit stupid. Bulls fans were a bit in a shi**er for two decades, outside of Rose and Noah short lived glimses, so you grasping for sonething. but take it easy, there is light here now.

Do you have your own pick? Hopefully you guys sucking it out hext season, Giddey and Matas end up good, decent, and hopefully you get something even more exiting next June, top few prizes in next years draft look paticularly juicy.

Bulls 2025 pick is top 10 protected, so they may or may not have it.

I agree, expecting Matas to be a superstar is a bit of a stretch, but people always hype up a rookie if they show some signs. Reality will hit in, and when he plays real games against real NBA competition, expectations will land more reasonably based on how he does there.

It's easy to get excited when young kids are lighting up G-Leaguers and forget that they arent' going up against the best.

I do not think MVP and best player is the same thing at all. I kind off hate when people assume that, MVP is most valuable player award, and lots come to it when it comes to value, team fit, minutes, how good is the team and how good the guy actually needs to be, etc.

Nash was never best player obviously, but you can't argue he was not extremely valuable on that Suns team. You can argue he wasn't most valuable, but he definitely was one of the most.

Voters voted Rose that year, and I do not think voters are dumb, it wasn't outrageous selection, but I personally thought Dwight was MVP that season. And some revisionists like Bill Simmons laugh at that idea, but people just conveniently forgot how good Dwight was, simply because they came to dislike him in the future.

[kodo]

If that shot can become real (and he adds core strength) he's going to be a problem.

From his interview w/ KOC, he says the two are the same issue. He said the reason his shot was off in the G-League was strength & conditioning, said he lost his legs fast with the faster pace and more physical players. He also went from 190 to 205 strength training, which affected everything. He did cap all that off saying it's not an excuse he just needs to play better (which he did towards the end).

He looks like the typical case of school -> NBA transition, just getting dealing with it earlier. Ignite just doesn't present these kids in the best way for the draft, he would have been better off just taking the Kentucky offer and getting easy feeds from Reed Sheppard and the short 3P line. Which is fine for us, he probably doesn't go #11 if he went to Kentucky.

KOC mentioned he has an excellent dribble pull-up shot percentage. And I much prefer that in a prospect as that's more of a talent and ability to score naturally, hitting wide open C&S 3s is just a skill anyone can learn even non-NBA humans.

[nekorajo]

Game 1 Matas was happy they won, but dissatisfied with his performance.

Game 2 Matas played much better in a loss, but you could almost feel his disappointment through the screen. This guy hates to lose, and I respect that a lot.

[kulaz3000]

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[WookieOnRitalin]

He’s literally the only real power forward we have on the roster and he’s showing multiple position versatility. He’s going to play a meaningful and consistent role as a rookie.

I hope you are correct. I'd rather him play significant minutes and deal with the growing pains. If he plays over 20 mpg, then it is likely the Bulls will have 50 losses.

I am okay with that. We need to retain our 2025 pick.

[jacoby1us]

He’s literally the only real power forward we have on the roster and he’s showing multiple position versatility. He’s going to play a meaningful and consistent role as a rookie.

Agreed, there is no reason he shouldn't play this season given the current version of the Bulls roster. Its not like we are capable of competing anytime soon. Let the kids play!

[TheJordanRule]

He’s literally the only real power forward we have on the roster and he’s showing multiple position versatility. He’s going to play a meaningful and consistent role as a rookie.

True. Matas balances out Pat's game in a sense. Pat can defend the perimeter, and play pretty strong on ball defense. Matas, on the other hand, is a rim protecting strong help defender (with weak on ball defense rn tbh). Pat scores from the perimeter. Matas is most effective slashing or scoring at the rim. These two young kids could learn to play well off of each other through the years, and they offer our team diametrically different strengths.

[madvillian]

Buzelis looks a bit ahead of where I thought he was. Physically, to me it looks like he can handle 15-20+ minutes per night in the NBA. While he will have a farm time guarding stronger players, the bounciness and toughness suggest that it won’t be quite as abusive as I thought it might be. And he is more mobile with the ball than I though he would be, too.

I still hope that they ease him in, though. Let him work on the shot and handle, on getting to his spots. Let him be challenged in practice by Pat and Terry (defending him) and Phillips - and let him overcome it. Don’t thrust him and to get beat up by the very best until he is ready to make it a decent showing and learn from the beat downs (and there will be some, when facing guys like Giannis, Lebron, Durant, OG/Randle, etc.).

He def has a role at 20 mpg right off that bat on this roster. He's going to be limited by foul trouble this season but should be able to show some nice flashes otherwise. I'd like to see something like 10/4/2/1/1 on 22mpg with 30% from deep and 70% or better from the line, 45% or better overall FG.

That would be a successful rooking season stat wise imo and would indicate with development he could be a real nice player in a few years.

[TheJordanRule]

He’s literally the only real power forward we have on the roster and he’s showing multiple position versatility. He’s going to play a meaningful and consistent role as a rookie.

We have had Alex Caruso play PF for a whole season. We have had Derrick Jones Jr play backup Center. He certainly will be multi-positional under Billy Donovan.

The thing that is weird is that when talking about Pat, Billy has said on several occasions, the thought of playing Pat in a small ball 5. But to my knowledge that has never happened.

I do however think that will be the case for Matas because Matas has more size. If Matas can rebound decently enough, I can easily see this happening. Not the whole game obviously but certainly for real stretches during games.

But that's the problem with Billy. No wonder our best defenders wear down so quickly. Lonzo and Caruso had no business being used at PF and SF. Sure, those guys are powerful on defense, but they don't have the build to put up with that for very long. They're easily 20 lbs lighter, occasionally 40 lbs lighter than the guys they were asked to defend. And yet people tell me it's pure coincidence that Zo and Carushow randomly experienced long injury spells. Billy is insane. I don't want to see Pat at center unless the other team's playing a SF at center too. What a weak rebounding team, poor idea would that be. And let's sacrifice Pat's long term health while we're at it.

[TheJordanRule]

I remember Doug "McThree" McDermott having a couple of great summer leagues and preseasons, so I'm trying to take Matas' performance with a grain of salt. Not gonna lie though. I'm still pretty high on him.

[pipfan]

I like our young pieces right now
Giddy/Ayo/White/Matas/PWill/JSmith is a nice start
I like Phillips as well (I don't count Terry-WHAT a bad pick)

Let them play, along with Vuc/Lavine (build up trade values) and see what happens. If we're in the Playin again-it will be that our young kids are better than we thought

[gardenofsound]

I remember Doug "McThree" McDermott having a couple of great summer leagues and preseasons, so I'm trying to take Matas' performance with a grain of salt. Not gonna lie though. I'm still pretty high on him.

Doug was a 4 year player at Creighton and NCAA POY his senior year. He's the type of guy who should dominate SL. I see the situations very differently although agree with the general premise: don't get to hyped on results against non-NBA caliber competition.

[dougthonus]

Voters voted Rose that year, and I do not think voters are dumb, it wasn't outrageous selection, but I personally thought Dwight was MVP that season. And some revisionists like Bill Simmons laugh at that idea, but people just conveniently forgot how good Dwight was, simply because they came to dislike him in the future.

I mean you used the phrase undeserved. If you'd have just voted Dwight over Rose that's a bit different from undeserved. Based on how voters typically vote, Rose would win every time:

1: Better team record
2: Clear #1 on his team, clear top 10 performance in the league that year
3: Best ascending story (both to his past performance and teams past performance and the linking of his increase in individual performance to team ascendance)
4: Best league story (beating LeBron and the Heat 3x and in seeding after LeBron spurned the Bulls and became the mega villain of the league)

Just having #1 and #2 makes you the favorite unless you have something crazy going on, but if you have those four things going for you, you are a more or less a shoe in unless someone else has those four things in an even better way.

For Dwight:
Lacking #1 (8th best record)
Has #2
Lacking #3 (team fell off vs previous year and didn't meet expectations)
Lacking #4 (no real story to sell)

Last 20 MVPs:
Jokic: Other reason
Embiid: Other reason
Jokic: Other reason
Jokic: Other reason
Giannis: best player, best team
Giannis: best player, best team
Harden: best player, best team
Westbrook: Other reason
Curry: best player, best team
Curry: best player, best team
Durant: Other reason (2nd best team)
LeBron: Best player, best team
LeBron: Other reason
Rose: Best player, best team
LeBron: Best player, best team
LeBron: Best player, best team
Kobe: Other reason (2nd best team)
Dirk: Best player best team
Nash: Other reason
Nash: Other reason

10 of 20 are explained by "best player on the best team"
3 more were "best player on 2nd best team" (1 Jokic, 1 KD, 1 Kobe)
3 are explained by absolutely absurd statistics / we know this dude is just the best (2x Jokic, LeBron)
4 more explained by "interesting story" (Embiid, Nash x2, Westbrook)

Dwight was on the 8th best team, didn't have absurd statistics, and really didn't have any meaningful story (his team declined considerably from the previous year).

[Jcool0]

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