NBA Rookie of the Year honors is out of reach.
Considering Matas Buzelis has a 6-foot-10 wingspan, no easy feat.
That’s the reality the Bulls rookie lives in these days, however, especially with the regular season winding down and just six games left.
What Buzelis has done, especially since the combination of becoming a starter and then veteran scorer Zach LaVine being traded has opened up more available shots, is close the gap on the rest of the rookie class to arguably earn NBA All-Rookie First Team.
It will be close, but it would be deserved.
The shoo-ins are obvious in San Antonio’s Stephon Castle, Washington’s Alex Sarr, and Atlanta’s Zaccharie Risacher. They were more consistent from gate to finish line.
But who has been the most impressive rookie the last few months, especially on big stages like dropping 31 in Los Angeles on the Lakers and 28 on the Mavericks a week later? That’s where Buzelis slides in.
Since Feb. 2, when LaVine just so happened to get traded to the Kings, Buzelis was tied for fourth in scoring for the rookie class with 13.1 points per game, shooting 48% from the field and 34.1% from three-point range.
Since mid-March, however, Buzelis’ scoring has up ticked to 14.6 points per game, but his three-point shooting jumped to 43.8% over that time as he’s taking smarter shots and improving his decision making.
In his mind he’s just been keeping it simple.
“Shots are going to go in,” Buzelis said. “They’re not going to hit all the time, but the one thing you can control is how hard you play. I’m always going to do that when I’m on the court.
“I’m just reading the game when I’m out there. I’m not overthinking it. It’s a very simple game.”
Well, it seems to be simpler now for Buzelis. That wasn’t the case early on when the 11th overall pick was in and out of the rotation, getting quick hooks, and learning from coach Billy Donovan that minutes are an award and shouldn’t be an expectation.
Tough love that Donovan will never apologize for and Buzelis has embraced.
“Everything for him is a first and the one thing that we’ve tried to maintain a focus on is what he can control,” Donovan said. “His intensity, his energy, his competitiveness, his toughness, those are the things that he’s got to bring every day.”
For the most part he’s been doing that ever since the two-game Florida trip in which Buzelis’ physicality and toughness were really tested against the likes of Orlando and Miami.
He did crack double-digit scoring in both of those wins, but what stood out for Donovan and Buzelis’ teammates, was going toe-to-toe with two frontcourts that like to throw elbows and forearms at the opposition.
For the most part Buzelis didn’t budge.
That mentality of physicality has had some staying power for the first-year player, and when there have been possessions where it’s dipped, he’s gotten a reminder from his coach.
“That’s what we’re trying to hold him to because he’s very talented, no one is going to dispute that, but if he’s not going to play with a great motor, great energy, great intensity, sometimes that talent gets neutralized quite honestly,” Donovan said. “He’s a younger player so he’s physically going to grow into his body, he’s going to physically get stronger.
“There’s things he’s going through for the first time and it’s learning experiences, so you don’t want to overload him so much on offense and defense where he’s out there thinking. You want to try and keep it to a point where he knows what’s expected of him. I think when he’s fallen short of that, which we all do, he’s been great to learn from it, grow from it and try to get better from it.”