The Ayo Dosunmu Vlog spoke volumes.
There sat the Bulls guard making random calls to former teammates, current teammates and broadcasters, and anyone else who would pick up, while Matas Buzelis sat next to him laughing.
A scene that resembled two bored teenagers making prank calls on their summer break.
One difference, however. Buzelis, 20, no longer looks like a teenager. It has been two months since the regular season ended, and Buzelis looks more muscular. He looks like a guy who has spent some serious time in the weight room, and he has the “smedium” tank top to prove it.
Even better news for the organization? His physique isn’t the only thing to make a major jump.
“He had a very good showing in LA,” Dosunmu said with a smirk when asked about Buzelis.
And Dosunmu was underselling it by all accounts.
Rather than waiting until August or fall camp, Bulls vets including Coby White, Dosunmu and Patrick Williams made plans months ago for the team to meet in Los Angeles in early June for an intense week of scrimmaging, lifting and just hanging out with each other.
One player who dominated the week was Buzelis.
That’s why Dosunmu has raised the bar on the 6-10 forward going into Year 2, even daring to put that bar in the same stratosphere as former league MVP and NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“Matas is a hard worker, a tremendous worker,” Dosunmu said. “He loves the work. I have high praises for him, high expectations for him. I’m seeing him in person, him getting stronger. He’s starting to realize how strong he is and how he’s able to dominate. I know Giannis is a Hall of Famer, top 20, top 30 player [all time], but Matas has a chance to really dominate the game like that because he’s 6-10, 6-11, and as he continues to get stronger, continues to get in the weight room, he’s only going to get bigger. So I think he’s going to continue to grow gradually like that in terms of him being able to finish, rebound, him being able to just dominate the game, and that’s definitely going to show.”
Quite the trajectory that Buzelis would have to take, but so far so good.
Before Giannis was “Giannis,” he was a skinny 15th overall pick who only averaged 6.8 points and 4.4 rebounds as a rookie for the Bucks. By Year 4 he started to pop as something special and by Year 6 he was a problem for the rest of the league.
Buzelis is coming off a rookie campaign in which he averaged 8.6 points and 3.5 rebounds, showed he was an outside threat by hitting 36% from three and had flashes of being a serious rim protector.
An argument can be made that he’s already ahead of Antetokounmpo with both of them also possessing an uncanny ability to put the ball on the floor and attack the rim quickly.
Dosunmu, who considers himself a student of the game, doesn’t throw comparisons around lightly, but with Buzelis’ natural ability and now the addition of power and muscle? He has headache for the opposition written all over him.
“He was the main guy I wanted them to draft last year,” Dosunmu said of Buzelis. “His body transforming is one of the things that’s surprising me. Seeing him become more powerful, as he continues to get stronger and he continues to finish better at the rim, he’s going to understand that there are very limited people that are able to stop him. Once he gains that confidence, he can shoot, he can put it on the floor. It’s going to be over.”
