The Bulls are about to find out how quick a learner first-round draft pick Matas Buzelis really is.
The first day of fall camp came and went for the rookie forward Tuesday, and although he hasn’t lost the athleticism he showed during the Summer League — especially when attacking the rim — he’s now trying to use it against established NBA players.
“I think everyone can see the athleticism,” coach Billy Donovan said. “He’s got to find a game for himself, and he’s really open to doing that. There’s just been some times with his size and length that he can, at times, end up taking some tough shots over people. The one thing he’s realizing, and he’s done a real good job of, is he’s taking the open three when it’s been there. I think he’s getting more comfortable playing off the dribble, certainly out in transition, running. But the biggest thing for him is inside our group, him finding an identity. Initially, like, ‘Who am I as a player?’ ”
Who he wasn’t Tuesday was a guy who can physically overpower other forwards, as he did for G League Ignite and in Summer League play. Donovan noted that Buzelis was trying to take teammates off the dribble but found trouble in the paint when there was resistance.
The ever-confident Buzelis chalked it up to life as a rookie in his first NBA camp.
“I’m just trying to learn,” he said. “I’m not going to be taking over the team right away. But I’m working. I’m trying to get myself in there — prepare for the season. Just playing a different speed, a different pace.”
Aspiring to inspire
Guard Lonzo Ball didn’t sit around aimlessly as he rehabbed for two-plus seasons after experimental surgery on his left knee, a procedure from which no other basketball player has returned. Along with his brother LiAngelo, he started the podcast “What an Experience,” which has taken off and opened up other opportunities for him once his basketball career is over.
His first love is still the game, however. And he hopes that a successful comeback would motivate other athletes who have the same surgery to not count themselves out.
“I don’t know if I would necessarily call it a responsibility,” Ball said. “I just feel like I owe it to myself to give whatever I’ve got, and whoever I can help along the way, I always have an open line, open hand.”
Empty lockers
It was a bizarre start to camp for guard Coby White without former teammates DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso. Both were huge influences on him. Both were traded over the summer.
“No matter what team we’re on, I know I can always count on those guys to be there for me,” White said. “And I’ll always be there for them. It hurts — I’m not going to lie. It hurts losing teammates, especially when you build bonds and you go to war with those guys each and every day.
“I know Alex’s whole family. Whenever I’m in L.A., I know [DeRozan]. His son — I FaceTime his son. So it’s hard losing those guys when you get that close to somebody. But it’s part of the business.”