In the Chicago Bulls' 118-117 preseason win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night, Matas Buzelis led the team with 19 points in 18 minutes of action, made seven of his 11 shot attempts and pulled down eight rebounds as well. In doing so, he reminded the fanbase that he's truly a star in the making.
At the end of the day, it's just a preseason win. But with that comes little observations and tiny little bits of information that we can store away in our memory banks to use later. One thing that is certainly clear from Buzelis' performance is the fact that he can go out there and put up a performance like this without much ramp up at all.
Being able to roll out of bed and score nearly 20 points in under 20 minutes is not something every player in this league can do. I think that although it was ultimately an inconsequential game, Matas just made something of a subtle statement and reminded fans and media alike that he's more than just some long-term developmental project. He's here, and he's ready to be a needle-mover now.
Buzelis had a fantastic outing in Chicago's preseason win
Buzelis was efficient in limited minutes. Being able to make a high impact in such short bursts is exactly the kind of thing you hope to see from your young players. Even better is the ability to both replicate and then scale said performance. And Matas didn't even have to play in crunch time minutes to have what I would think everyone would consider a fantastic outing.
The primary takeaway from this game is simple: the NBA game doesn't look too fast for Buzelis at all. He's already operating with the kind of polish that you would expect from him midway through the season in October. Matas shot the ball efficiently, made smart cuts, and didn't really force his offense at any point. He looked extremely poised in the Bulls' half-court sets.
What was most impressive was how effortless this kind of performance looked for Buzelis. It was his first time getting on the floor with his team and playing against another NBA opponent this season, and his instincts were already wonderfully complimentary of what Chicago was trying to do both offensively and defensively. If Matas is already flashing this kind of readiness, the Bulls are going to have to be prepared to potentially increase his role that much more once the regular season starts.