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).”