Matas Buzelis 2024 NBA Draft Profile
We are less than two weeks away from the 2024 NBA Draft. Today, we will be continuing our draft profile series with G-League Ignite forward Matas Buzelis. Without further ado, let’s hop into it!
Height: 6’8.75″ (6’10″ wingspan, 8’9.50″ standing reach)
Weight: 197.2
Draft age: 19.7
Position: Big Wing
Buzelis was a top-10 recruit in the country out of Sunrise Christian Academy in Wichita, Kan. According to 247Sports, he was graded just ahead of Ja’Kobe Walter, Stephon Castle, Elliot Cadeau, Jared McCain and Rob Dillingham, among others.
Similarly to Ignite teammate Ron Holland, Buzelis turned down many high profile offers, including Duke, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, UCLA, Syracuse, Arizona and North Carolina, among others.
He missed a portion of the G-League season due to an ankle injury, but still appeared in 34 combined showcase and regular season contests. Buzelis averaged 14.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists, one steal and 1.9 blocks in 31.0 minutes per game, shooting 45.3 percent from the floor with a true-shooting percentage of 55.4 percent.
Let’s dive into some of his strengths and weaknesses, shall we?
Strengths:
Buzelis was an above-average vertical athlete for his size. At the NBA Combine, he posted a 31″ standing vertical and a 38″ max vertical, which was No. 2 and 3 amongst 23 small forwards and top-7 marks amongst all forwards.
He featured a plus-one wingspan, but still leveraged his athleticism and dexterity by being one of G-League’s most effective shot blockers. Amongst players who played at least 25 regular season games, he finished just outside the top-10 on a blocked shots per possession basis, finishing with 2.4 per 75 possessions.
Buzelis did a good job making the proper rotations and providing weakside rim protection, despite the Ignite ranking as the league’s worst defense. He also leveraged his length and athleticism on-ball against other wings, sinking his hips well to provide a good base despite being sub-200 pounds.
His shot-blocking may be his most polished skill heading into the draft, though I think his offense off-ball isn’t that far behind.
I thought he was good off-ball as a cutter, where he used his length and athleticism to not only provide a big target, but finish adequately around the rim in half-court situations. He was better off-ball than on-ball with the Ignite. He didn’t play with any great facilitators, which can enhance that part of his game at the NBA level.
Buzelis ran the floor pretty well and was a good play-finisher in transition. At the rim, he shot 63.6 percent (75-118), which was right around the league-average mark.
He wasn’t a poor playmaker–one of his most touted skills exiting Sunrise Christian Academy. His assist numbers were pretty deceiving because I don’t think he was ever asked to be a primary creator, though he showed promising flashes in the open court and as a connector.
Weaknesses:
As I noted above, there were flashes with him as an on-ball creator, though they weren’t consistent enough.
I think his ceiling will grow on-ball if he can continue to get stronger. There were too many times when I saw it was difficult for him to create advantages against smaller guards and wings due to his lack of (core) strength and consistently good handle.
Matas Buzelis didn’t dip the ball often on his shot and had a high release, which allowed him to shoot over smaller defenders. Though he still had pretty poor shooting touch with Ignite, shooting just 37.8 percent on non-rim 2-pointers and 26.4 percent from deep.
As he continues to adjust to NBA-caliber athletes and the 3-point distance, I think there’s room for him to be a fine shooter. But he’s going to need to pack on weight, tighten his handle and just continue working on his long-range stroke. A lot of his ceiling as a secondary creator hinges on improving in those aspects, which I believe he can.
I think he will likely guard down than guard up due to his lack of strength, depending on the context of his situation; as a rookie, I think he projects to guard 3s and bigger 2s, rather than 4s, where I think he may struggle.
Projection: Top-8 pick
I am not sure Buzelis will ever be asked to be “the guy.” But I think he can be a functional “big” wing at the next level who can provide juice both offensively and defensively. He’s athletic and won’t need the ball in his hands to make an impact, which could cover up some of his on-ball deficiencies. I also think Buzelis can be an impactful defender both on- and off-ball as time goes on.
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