Matas Buzelis Thread

[Dreamcatcher]

Every day you learn. Now i know there is Lithuanian skin

[Hepcat]

Simple. It's transition. As most Lithuanians Buzelis as a talent needs time to pan out and flourish. He has all the tools for that, he's a hard worker, he has both individual and team system IQ, he has right attitude and very down to earth PRO family to support him and guide him.

He didn't play bad in G League. He struggled with three and consistency in terms of his aggression. He played his first year in wide open G league court and three point line. He showed some amazing stuff in D end. At the end he was blocking +3 shots every night. He's a great help defender, he can guard nearly 1-5 positions. His explosiveness is there, he's a great athlete and with time he will put it all together....

Let's cut through the verbiage, and look at the numbers, i.e. Buzelis' actual production. In an average of 32 minutes of playing time in 26 G-League games, Buzelis' PER was 9.2 with a +/- of -10.3. Worse yet for a player touted to have a good shot he shot only 27.3% from three point range and 67.9% from the charity stripe. There's no question that those are disappointing numbers.

Your Dimsa and Kariniauskas in the NT is a red fucking flag.

Enough of your crap! Vaidas Kariniauskas delivered above expectations last summer (much to your dismay). And among the available candidates this year, Rokas Giedraitis, Ignas Sargiūnas or Laurynas Beliauskas might deliver more than Tomas Dimša ... maybe. But it's certainly not clear.

[Svajunas]

FFS you idiots. Hatred is strong with you. I don't get why you hate on the kid, is it just because of this forum rivalry?

Listen to some interviews. Buzelis himself explained that he is confident in his shot. Bad numbers in Gleague is simply because he came out after 3 months injury and he was not physycaly prepared for the shots and the speeds. His legs was not keeping up.

He shot 39% in his last 10 games.

[Straight forward]

FFS you idiots. Hatred is strong with you. I don't get why you hate on the kid, is it just because of this forum rivalry?

Listen to some interviews. Buzelis himself explained that he is confident in his shot. Bad numbers in Gleague is simply because he came out after 3 months injury and he was not physycaly prepared for the shots and the speeds. His legs was not keeping up.

He shot 39% in his last 10 games.

Why? Obvious. Xenophobia ("emigrant, American"), provincialism, losers mentality (resentment). Good old cocktail of average or below average Jeo. This psychology is long time known and comes as no surprise. I'm referring to some posters only though.

[Straight forward]

OK, I paid more attention to French prospect Salaun landed at 6th and I have to say it's insanity, like he's good prospect, but he basically has no shot creation at all. Like maybe in the most perfect situation ever could be somewhat close to Giannis in terms of ISO self creation (but I think he won't reach even that), maybe, but he's not even nearly as good athlete as Giannis, and he ATM has zero shot creation. He can't dribble the ball

The funny thing is that Rishacher as NO.1 pick also doesn't have shot creation As simple as that. It's crazy draft. Tons of guys who can only shoot and defend, but has no handles, are taken super high. To me it's insanity. Chicago should be celebrating. They got most talented player in this draft IMO. I watch Salaun straight line movement and he basically never dribbles the ball at all, and he's 6th overall I don't see anyone who would be as mobile, smooth, shifty and versatile creating his own shot as Matas and he's at the same time is a good defender. The fact that he fallen to 11th spot is amazing and thanks god it's Chicago.

I think Matas has all tools to be extremely versatile player, and special player if he will work hard. From all those tall dudes as three French men in lottery, no-one can do things like that, literally. Crazy draft really. No-one is even closely skilled and shifty of Matas' height in this draft. If he will be at least decent shooter...hands down this will look laughable long term:

https://x.com/NJB0115/status/1806332149907243120

[Hepcat]

FFS you idiots. Hatred is strong with you. I don't get why you hate on the kid....

Nobody here hates Buzelis! I'd certainly like to see any Lithuanian player blossom into a star.

Why? Obvious. Xenophobia ("emigrant, American"), provincialism, losers mentality (resentment). Good old cocktail of average or below average Jeo. This psychology is long time known and comes as no surprise.

No. That's not it at all.

is it just because of this forum rivalry?

That's precisely it! When certain ardent fans who've been ceaselessly touting a player deny that this favourite player struggled when he did, it invites mocking responses. The solution is not to deny the reality but to look at the facts and accept them.

[zalias]

interesting summer league debut for buzelis. he missed a lot of shots, 0-4 from 3, but outside of that i think he still did a really good job showcasing his versatility, some good defensive plays, good court vision and very good handle for a big wing. most importantly he looked fluid and quick on the court, his lack of explosive first step was a really big red flag for a lot of scouts

[Straight forward]

interesting summer league debut for buzelis. he missed a lot of shots, 0-4 from 3, but outside of that i think he still did a really good job showcasing his versatility, some good defensive plays, good court vision and very good handle for a big wing. most importantly he looked fluid and quick on the court, his lack of explosive first step was a really big red flag for a lot of scouts

All good observations except that Buzelis never had issues with explosiveness (first step, some scouts treat him as more explosive than Franz Wagner and I generally agree, he can explode with quick leap more dominantly f.e.) and I never read it as some kind of red flag about it or saw it. He's fairly explosive. I agree, I liked how he showed versatility, he's dancing out there with the ball and this make Risachers and all other tall prospects who got drafted higher look silly. If the three will fall eventually, he will be big steal of the draft. It's literally super hard to find that kind of combination, his versatility is naked standing out:

https://x.com/chicagobulls/status/1812255293645971950?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5 Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1812255293645971950%7Ctwgr% 5E11cc32b65e9489c45dda536284ba51c226e5a7c9%7Ctwcon %5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.krepsinis.net%2Fn aujiena%2Fvasaros-lygoje-m-buzelis-tapo-vienu-is-bulls-pergales-kalviu%2F336481

[Straight forward]

I'm telling you guys with Buzelis and Jakucionis we will be playing completely different basketball after 2-4 years. Completely different tier. And there's still around attacking mode hoopers as Indrusaitis, Rubstavicius (looks good with chances in SL), Murauskas. Completely different tier.

And I'm listening to freakin' Pacesas talking nonsense in each sentence on the radio now. Like OMG. Pacesas is personification of all the bullshit attitude of provincial average "Lithuanian fan" who wouldn't know how to open twitter or nba dot com and read something valuable about actual basketball today. Majority of older population of LTU has been fed with that kind of crap, like (not literally) "we're good we just need to utilize our stronger sides and feed Domas and D-Mo in the post all the time", "we just need one good game to be elite again" and all that crap OMG...

[Straight forward]

This: https://x.com/BullsSource/status/1812351769055490107

[Dreamcatcher]

And I'm listening to freakin' Pacesas talking nonsense in each sentence on the radio now. Like OMG. Pacesas is personification of all the bullshit attitude of provincial average "Lithuanian fan" who wouldn't know how to open twitter or nba dot com and read something valuable about actual basketball today. Majority of older population of LTU has been fed with that kind of crap, like (not literally) "we're good we just need to utilize our stronger sides and feed Domas and D-Mo in the post all the time", "we just need one good game to be elite again" and all that crap OMG...

Nor Pacesas nor anyone else can surpass you in telling crap regarding basketball, because i hardly can imagine what can be crappier than calling EC MVP a trash.

[Straight forward]

Nor Pacesas nor anyone else can surpass you in telling crap regarding basketball, because i hardly can imagine what can be crappier than calling EC MVP a trash.

Dude, seriously? You saying that you really didn't get what I meant from the whole context? Who was Willy in NBA? Nothing, trash. Even in EL he has been disappointing. In Spain he clicked, but because Brown was setting him up. JV theoretically had to dominate him in 2022 cause he's way better than Willy, but he choked and couldn't do that. He lost some ISO battles and got in fould trouble. JV couldn't save us against PR, that's my point. PR did what Slovenia did in 2021. They would just close the paint and wouldn't give a fuck about our streaky shooters. Grigonis would miss all his shots basically in both qualification as well as other players. Not only JV, but prime Shaq wouldn't save us. Why would you stick to idea that JV would save us? He would provide even worse D and he wouldn't be able to pass the ball off the double team as quickly as Sabonis did. At least Domas created open looks, we just kept missing shots. If JV doubled and tripled as Domas was, he wouldn't be any game changer. Look at 2021. He looked harmless at the second half when Slovenians simply decided to live in the paint defensively. BTW, I think Iggy could help more than JV. Jokubaitis played good game, he is sturdy and strong enough to deal with physical games, so is Iggy. If those 2 had a good game, we could potentially survive. Building a game around soft, slow and merely a shooter Grigonis was insanity. I was telling you several times, but you were not listening.

[Dreamcatcher]

Dude, seriously? You saying that you really didn't get what I meant from the whole context? Who was Willy in NBA? Nothing, trash. Even in EL he has been disappointing. In Spain he clicked, but because Brown was setting him up. JV theoretically had to dominate him in 2022 cause he's way better than Willy, but he choked and couldn't do that. He lost some ISO battles and got in fould trouble. JV couldn't save us against PR, that's my point. PR did what Slovenia did in 2021. They would just close the paint and wouldn't give a fuck about our streaky shooters. Grigonis would miss all his shots basically in both qualification as well as other players. Not only JV, but prime Shaq wouldn't save us. Why would you stick to idea that JV would save us? He would provide even worse D and he wouldn't be able to pass the ball off the double team as quickly as Sabonis did. At least Domas created open looks, we just kept missing shots. If JV doubled and tripled as Domas was, he wouldn't be any game changer. Look at 2021. He looked harmless at the second half when Slovenians simply decided to live in the paint defensively. BTW, I think Iggy could help more than JV. Jokubaitis played good game, he is sturdy and strong enough to deal with physical games, so is Iggy. If those 2 had a good game, we could potentially survive. Building a game around soft, slow and merely a shooter Grigonis was insanity. I was telling you several times, but you were not listening.

I don't care who Willy was in NBA. I saw and still see enough to call him a strong center. So many great players from Europe were not good at all in NBA. What kind of argument is this anyway? You seriously can't see what crap you write or just pretend?

Sabonis wasn't doubled all the time, he also struggled simply to perform in situations where JV would most likely score or be fouled. I'm not claiming that he would have saved us, but I'm sure he would have had a better tournament than Domantas and maybe (just maybe) it would have made some difference.. He struggled against strong centers which Puerto-Rico didn't have. And overall Sabonis has been dissapointing in FIBA. If you still can't see that JV is a bit better player in FIBA then i can't help you.

Lack of Jokubaitis in the game was on himself. It looked like that you got that, but it seems you still have issues to understand that if pg is too much of the ball, it's primarily because of him.

[Straight forward]

I don't care who Willy was in NBA. I saw and still see enough to call him a strong center. So many great players from Europe were not good at all in NBA. What kind of argument is this anyway? You seriously can't see what crap you write or just pretend?

Sabonis wasn't doubled all the time, he also struggled simply to perform in situations where JV would most likely score or be fouled. I'm not claiming that he would have saved us, but I'm sure he would have had a better tournament than Domantas and maybe (just maybe) it would have made some difference.. He struggled against strong centers which Puerto-Rico didn't have. And overall Sabonis has been dissapointing in FIBA. If you still can't see that JV is a bit better player in FIBA then i can't help you.

Lack of Jokubaitis in the game was on himself. It looked like that you got that, but it seems you still have issues to understand that if pg is too much of the ball, it's primarily because of him.

You're too fixated on that Willy moment. I just made quick reductive claim about Willy that compared to JV (their NBA statuses, Will was trash and JV had to beat him). The post wasn't about that. You're nitpicking.

Now your claim that JV is obviously still a bit better than Domas, IMO, is not legitimate. It's debatable. JV's efficiency in WC 2023 was 18,8eff, Sabonis in qualification 17eff, but JV stops the ball more, Sabonis playing more mobile D and involves others more, the NT plays faster. Besides, the key moment that Sabonis was injured and NT didn't have enough time to prepare. I was saying that it's hard to expect a lot from Domas in qualification, but I think he could be much better in Olympics, once he's in top shape and there's chemistry between him and others. We can't compare JV's completely prepared self in WC 2023 and Domas semi-injured self and very short preparation. That's the key. It's not so obvious as you think, it's debatable. We had to see Domas playing in real tournament after long preparation.

And I believe you completely wrong in the last line. Maksvytis obviously set the game plan around Grigonis. He was clearly No.1 option and it was Kazys decision. IDK why you don't see it. Yes, Jokubaitis stuggled himself, but even in that game against PR when Jokubaitis was playing very well, Jokubaitis took only 7 shots while chucking Grigonis took 13. It's insanity, Jokubaitis was making almost everything, but his role didn't increase. I have no idea where do you get the idea that coach doesn't decide the roles and players do it by themselves It was all about Grigonis and it was more than 100% obvious. Hello.

[Straight forward]

One thing that I really like about Buzelis. Despite just normal wingspan he has great timing for blocking and very quick leap. Ain't no way we are getting cooked defensively when we will have players like Jakucionis, Indusaitis, Buzelis, Krivas on the court. We getting cooked now, but it's not for any time long now. Buzelis and Krivas will change and block tons of shots literally. So can do Raupelis as well. Good time ahead. We looked so clueless against PR at both ends that the timing can't be better. We needs those studs in the NT:

https://x.com/StephNoh/status/1812238614429835332

https://x.com/wilkomcv/status/1812219278290268253