NBA Draft Profile- Matas Buzelis

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Today’s Spotlight - NBA G League Ignite, Small Forward, Matas Buzelis

Name- Matas Buzelis

Pos- Small Forward

Team- NBA G League Ignite

HT/WT- 6’10” 209 lbs.

Born- 10/13/2004

Home – Chicago, IL

Matas Buzelis initially attended Hinsdale Central High School in Illinois and played basketball on their JV squad as a freshman. He transferred to Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire and as a junior, Buzelis was named the New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the Year award, after averaging 11.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.2 steals per game. He was also selected to play for Team World in the 2022 Nike Hoops Summit. 

Before the start of his senior year, he transferred to Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas, and had his best season in high school, averaging 15.7 points per game and was selected to play in the 2023 McDonald’s All-American Boys Game. 

Buzelis was a consensus 5-star recruit coming out of high school and he received offers and considered playing basketball at Kentucky, Wake Forest, North Carolina or Florida State. He ultimately decided to play basketball for the NBA G League Ignite. This season he played in 9 games and he averaged 11.8 points per game.

Buzelis is a very crafty and smooth basketball player for being 6 '10". He has the ability to take a rebound and lead the offense in transition. He sees the court well and is able to make one handed passes off the dribble with either hand. He is a distributor of the ball in the half court set and is patient in attacking the rim. He does not go blindly into the lane with the ball and always has a plan to how and where he is going to attack. He performs well off the ball and understands how to stretch the floor. He has a good feel for when to cut and can drive using each hand when laying the ball up, cutting down on defenses playing just one side of him. He uses the euro step well when attacking the basket and has a high basketball IQ in halfcourt sets. He sets up jump shots effectively off the dribble and has good 3-pt range from all around the arc.

On the downside, he needs to add weight to his frame and although he doesn’t shy away from contact, he will have little success in boxing out NBA players until he does. Buzelis loses the ball too often when in tight quarters or when a tough defensive player contacts him. He has a tendency to pick up his dribble early when being tightly guarded and gets trapped at times. He is more of a perimeter player but needs to do a better job rebounding for a man with his size. Too many times he tries to one hand a rebound instead of squaring his body up and using two hands and is easily sent off balance with contact.

Watching highlights and game film of Matas Buzelis, Draft Nation saw a lot of Serbian forward Nikola Jovic of the Miami Heat. Jovic was the 27th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. Jovic is 6’ 10” and 205 lbs and has not made the transition to the bigger and faster league smoothly. Buzelis has a higher ceiling than Jovic, but teams will still be wary of a 209 lb, 6’ 10” player. 

Strengths

• Crafty/ smooth
• Drives/ eurostep
• Shots off dribble
• Jumpshots

Weaknesses

• Strength
• Rebounding
• Picking up dribble too fast
• Turnovers

Final Analysis

Matas Buzelis is one of the names being thrown around as a possible #1 overall pick. His play in the G League this season will be under a microscope to see if he can battle with the faster and stronger players. Draft Nation thinks as of right now he is a lock to be an early lottery pick at worst.

Draft Nation Draft Prediction - Top 5 pick