Former NBA star describes Chicago Bulls player as ‘problem’ for NBA

Though it had its fair share of ups and downs, Matas Buzelis‘ rookie season seemed to indicate that the Chicago Bulls found a diamond in the rough. In a down year for draft prospects, the Bulls might’ve landed a steal at 11th overall.

Kendall Gill, a former NBA player, said, “As a veteran, when you see a young player like that, that did what he was able to do, showed the skill level, he’s going to be a problem. Believe me, he knows it. He was successful throughout the NBA season last year, and he wants to improve on that.”

Gill also noted that Buzelis is well aware of all the Cooper Flagg comparisons because they are similar builds and have similar games, though Flagg is coming into the NBA with a whole lot more fanfare than Buzelis did last season.

“He and Cooper Flagg have been battling since they were kids,” Gill said. “They’ve been battling. This is one of those rivalries that’s probably going to go all throughout their NBA careers.”

Buzelis finished with a somewhat underwhelming (though not when compared to some of his peers who were drafted earlier than he was) 8.6 points per game with 3.5 rebounds and a 45.4% field goal percentage.

However, as he got more time, he thrived. Buzelis averaged 13.0 points per game when his minutes nearly doubled after the All-Star Break. He averaged over 12.8 points per game for the months of February, March, and April. His shooting percentages also stayed mostly the same despite increased volume.

A hot finish and some really good performances (like a 28-point, nine-rebound, on 17 shots performance in late March) show that the future looks really bright for Buzelis, who could end up being a really good Bulls player soon.