The Defensive Value Proposition of Matas Buzelis
Matas Buzelis is a 6-foot-10 wing for the G League Ignite. He played at Sunrise Christian this past season and is a projected lottery pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.
On the offensive end, Buzelis is an excellent three-point shooter and has shown potential attacking closeouts, creating for others, and finishing as an off-ball cutter. While he has quite a bit of upside on the offensive end of the floor, let's dive deeper into what Buzelis can bring on the defensive end for an NBA team.
To do this, let's break down his game into three areas. The first will be on-ball defense and Buzelis' ability to contain drivers. The second will be off-ball defense -- including Buzelis' rotations, passing lanes, and awareness and positioning in different situations. The last category will be rim protection. In each three, we will dive into things Buzelis does well and where he can improve.
On-Ball Defense
One of Buzelis' most clear value propositions on the defensive end is his on-ball defense. At 6-foot-10 with a reported approximate 6-foot-10 wingspan, Buzelis uses a combination of lateral quickness and length to stay with drivers and subsequently successfully contest their shots at the rim. Assuming he continues to improve his upper and lower body strength, Buzelis has enough lateral quickness to offer switchability in pick-and-roll situations on a number of guards and wings.
Buzelis is not perfect on-ball defensively, however, and can sometimes give up advantages to players with quick first steps. An area he can continue to improve defensively is his own defensive first step and first instinct to a player's move.
In the first clip below, we see Buzelis give up an advantage to Montverde's Liam McNeeley. An extremely talented player in his own right, McNeeley's quick cross creates an advantage on the first step that creates an immediate advantage that wasn't recovered from.
In another clip below, we see Buzelis give up an advantage to a smaller, somewhat-quicker guard. Similarly to the McNeeley clip, improving his first instinct and step is important for Buzelis. Once the guard begins to drive, Buzelis opens up his hips too wide and doesn't start sliding to block the driver's path until it's too late and he's forced to foul.
Off-Ball Defense
Buzelis is mostly a plus when it comes to off-ball defense. Here, we'll be diving into a number of things: His defensive awareness in a multitude of situations, his closeouts, and his ability to disrupt passing lanes.
Tagging The Roller
Buzelis' off-ball defensive awareness and understanding of defensive rotations is abundantly clear when he's the adjacent man in pick-and-roll situations. While tagging the roller in a pick-and-roll will never come up in the box score, simple rotations and awareness like this helps prevent multiple open buckets -- as shown below.
In the first clip, Buzelis tags Sarr from the weakside and forces a turnover when they still give it to him rolling. In the second clip, Buzelis tags as the adjacement man. This forces the ball to the right wing where he jumps on the closeout (not ideal) but recovers well and blocks Okwera from behind. In the third clip, Buzelis tags Sarr as the adjacent man then forces a difficult shot from Webster.
Pick-and-Roll Defensive Awareness
In the first clip, while this is a quality read from Flagg and catch-and-shoot by Evans, Buzelis should be more aware of where Evans is -- whether or not he rolled, popped up to the three-point line, etc is important for him to realize in pick-and-roll defense. In the second clip, while in fairness there was confusion in transition, Buzelis should be aware of where Cadeau is and be in an aggressive drop coverage and not regular drop coverage due to his capabilities of shooting off the dribble. Lastly, in the third clip, while not in the pick-and-roll but rather a handoff, Buzelis again should be recognizing and attempting to get around that pick much quicker -- especially against a shooter like Usher.
While Buzelis' overall off-ball defensive awareness is a plus, improving his pick-and-roll defensive awareness at times will help ensure he's valuable as a big (when put in that position) in the pick-and-roll.
Closeouts
Overall, Buzelis is skilled at conducting closeouts. While it may seem like a small microskill, many prospects leave their feet, give up a bad angle to the rim, or don't successfully contest the opponent's shot on closeouts. Going back to Buzelis' 6-foot-10 frame and 6-foot-10 wingspan, he uses his length to accurately contest shots and makes himself a difficult player to shoot over. This is evident in the clips below.
Off-Ball Defensive Awareness: Passing Lanes
The last area of off-ball defense that Buzelis can provide value in, besides rim protection and blocking ability, is his awareness and length he uses to his advantage in passing lanes.
He occasionally takes gambles in passing lanes, which can lead to an open layup or post positioning at times. Overall his awareness and length in passing lanes is valuable and his occasional gambles are rather just something small to monitor.
Blocking Ability
The final area where Buzelis can provide value to an NBA team defensively is his ability to block shots. While he doesn't offer much as an anchor or main rim protector currently due to his lack of upper body and lower body strength, he has shown flashes of weakside rim protection and blocking ability in transition.
Transition Blocks
Buzelis' ability to time blocks, cover ground, and use his length effectively is most evident in transition, where he covers ground well.
Weakside Rim Protection
Additionally, the Sunrise Christian product has shown flashes of weakside rotations where he uses his length to alter shots at the rim.
In the first clip below, Buzelis rotates from the top-right wing to the rim to contest Givens' finish at the rim. In the second clip, he rotates from the top of the key, to the left wing, then down to the paint for a block at the rim. In the last clip, Buzelis makes a rotation from the weakside to prevent an easy layup at the rim.
While these clips don't show that Buzelis can easily step into the role of a weakside rim protector in the NBA, these clips represent that the Ignite prospect has illustrated potential to make those rotations at the next level and he has the length and timing potential to progress into one.
Summary
Buzelis can provide value defensively in a multitude of ways for an NBA team. Assuming he continues to improve his upper and lower body strength, Buzelis has the potential to be an above average on-ball defender in the NBA. He uses his lateral quickness and length to his advantage in this area. As the Ignite season progresses, it will be important to watch how he reacts to quick first steps.
Additionally, Buzelis has the ability to be a plus off-ball defender in the NBA -- providing value with quality defensive rotations, closeouts, and potentially as a weakside rim protector down the line.
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