The Chicago Bulls hoped -- perhaps needed -- to see the proverbial "sophomore leap" from Matas Buzelis. What they've gotten is more of a sophomore hop, and that's raised concerns about the 21-year-old's skill set and how it's translating at the NBA level.
Specifically: Are we sure Buzelis would be any good playing outside of the Bulls' system?
That's a question raised by Sam Vecenie of The Athletic as the draft expert evaluated the progress of second-year players around the NBA, from Buzelis to Reed Sheppard to last year's Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle.
The answer isn't as straight-forward as fans would probably like it to be.
Matas Buzelis isn't developing as quickly as the Bulls need him to
Buzelis is averaging 13.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.4 blocks through 22 games this season -- all increases from his rookie stats. But, as is usually the case, the numbers don't tell the full story.
Vecenie dubbed the No. 11 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft the "most interesting" of all the relevant second-year players. He said Buzelis is "... really useful within this scheme and really valuable for what they do." But he added an important caveat: "I still don't love a lot of what I would see in terms of like, how it could work outside of the [Bulls] scheme."
He's not wrong. Buzelis still misses an occasional defensive rotation -- bad news for a team that's already one of the worst in the league on that end of the floor. For someone who's shown the ability to explode to the rim, 42.4 percent of his field goal attempts have been 3-pointers.
Buzelis works well in the Bulls system because his size and athleticism translate smoothly into an up-tempo style with tons of transition opportunities. The offense even highlights his skills as a second-side initiator and off-ball cutter. But when imagining him in a slower-paced, half-court heavy scheme, it becomes clear -- at least at this point -- that he's not fully ready to execute at an NBA level.
Based on how things are going in Chicago at the moment, there isn't any desperation to get the 21-year-old humming an optimized.
But Vecenie's argument should make Bulls fans a bit uncomfortable. The organization needs Buzelis to become an All-Star at some point, but there doesn't appear to be an obvious path to that right now. That "sophomore leap" isn't coming the way Chicago expected it to.