This is not where Matas Buzelis wanted to be in Year 3 of his NBA career.
It’s not where he wanted to be as a rookie, and it was obviously not where he wanted to be last season, evident by his body language at times late in the year.
In a Bulls jersey? He loves that.
In the basement of the standings since getting selected No. 11 overall in the 2024 draft? No, and it hasn’t been sitting well.
That’s why the day before the preseason tips off for the Bulls on Wednesday was a good time for a wellness check on the forward.
“Yeah, one thing, just practicing patience,” Buzelis said, being reminded of all of his focus on winning when he first joined the franchise a few years back. “Everything can’t come to you at once.”
Asked if that’s been difficult for him, Buzelis replied, “It was hard for me. But I speak to a lot of people. A lot of smart, intelligent people, and they tell me everything comes with time. This team is capable of a lot of things, and I know we’ll get to where we want to get to. It’s a process, but all of us are working extremely hard to try and achieve our goals.”
A much different tone than late in the 2025-26 campaign, especially in the wake of a roster purge at the trade deadline and then uncertainty hovering over the old front office and coaching staff. Buzelis sounded down after games, searching for some sort of glimmer of hope.
“It was hard for me,” Buzelis admitted. “Last year was hard. Sometimes you’ve got to go through stuff in your life to notice that you want better. Last year was very hard. There was no type of rhythm. We didn’t know who was playing, we didn’t know how we were going to play. Now, there’s more structure, everyone is in a role, and you know what you’re going to get every night.
“You gotta go through stuff and that builds you as a person.”
All well and good but the Bulls can go through a season of positive vibes and still realistically finish in the same standings neighborhood as they have the previous few years.
The new front office has stressed patience and called this a “rebuild,” which would seemingly contradict what Buzelis has demanded from himself since joining the organization.
That’s for people above his pay grade to worry about as far as Buzelis was concerned.
“We have a special group,” he said. “It will take time, but I don’t focus on the long term. We have a game (against the Suns on Wednesday) and we’re looking to win.”
So has Buzelis had to change his mentality a bit? Maybe. But he’s also 21 years old now and not a wide-eyed 18-year-old. The front office led by executive vice president of basketball operations Bryson Graham and new coach in Tiago Splitter have made that process easier for him.
There’s also a way different roster structure. Last year at this time, then-executive Arturas Karnisovas thought it would be just fine to start the season with eight lame-duck players dealing with expiring contracts and trade rumors.
Graham does have moveable pieces if he wants to play that game, but they are all veteran players that understand the business of basketball.
“There’s more structure (this season), but I would say the drills we do, everything is more focused, more intense, so that’s where I mix in that word structure,” Buzelis said. “It’s a little more strict. It’s also new faces, everyone wants to show up, everyone wants to compete, and that’s kind of where I was headed (with the strict comment).”
Bulls’ Matas Buzelis having his patience tested and hopes to be passing 2026
IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2026 2026-10-06 22:07:32
Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
