Matas Buzelis

PROFILE

NBA G-League Fall Invitational- September 2023
By Artau Pascual

Matas Buzelis looks stronger. His shoulders are a little narrow and still has margin to gain upper body strength. Solid performance on the defensive end of the court: he was able to hold his own matchup in switch schemes and did a good job mirroring ball handlers. However, the best of him on this end came when he was acting as an off-ball defender: his level of awareness in the help side was already impactful, and his vertical contest ability looked reliable too. He also used his chest to defend in the post. On the offensive end, he was shy as an initiator and was a little stiff when putting the ball on the floor. He was given the use of a spot-up player: he attacked closeouts putting the ball on the floor and took open shots from the three-point line. Buzelis struggled to turn the corner with the ball and wasn't able to lower his center of gravity, which limits his potential as a ball handler. Smooth operator in transition and in straight lines: good athlete in vertical lines. He didn't have a prominent role off movement or second-side actions, something we saw quite a lot from him in High School. 


General overview- October 2022

Matas Buzelis currently fits pretty well in the point forward role. He's still skinny and has to fill the frame, but his body-type matches the archetype of smooth player he should be in the NBA. His motor is good, he's a threat in transition as a ball handler or as a play finisher, and he knows how to generate on his drives. His handles are good enough to create advantages. He is still working on tighting them a little more and has room to speed them up. His shooting form looks solid and there are reasons to believe he can be a three-level scorer. Shot mechanics are smooth and he provides valuable versatility and mobility to the scheme.

Pangos All-American Camp 2021
Buzelis is a very energetic forward. He displayed great body language and has a tall and skinny type of body which leads to creating an advantage when defending drives and driving himself to the basket. This frame is not ideal when handling a bigger body on the post. He loves to penetrate when he has to play in one-on-one situations but when he is off the ball, he is actively looking for a screen to shoot a jumper or to free himself up. His jumper is still inconsistent mostly due to his unorthodox form but he was never afraid of the contact even when facing bigger bodies, slashing against them with a change of speed. In the Top 60 game, he was a solid contributor for his team always following the correct lane on offense and allowing his positioning to do most of the work. On defense, he showed a really solid performance.