{"id":77846,"date":"2025-07-10T06:51:40","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T06:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846"},"modified":"2025-07-10T06:52:01","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T06:52:01","slug":"bulls-reportedly-shocked-how-similar-noa-essengue-is-to-matas-buzelis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846","title":{"rendered":"Bulls Reportedly Shocked How Similar Noa Essengue Is To Matas Buzelis"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.nba.com\/teams\/uploads\/sites\/1610612741\/2025\/07\/250707_SamSmith_NoaEssengue_MatasBuzelis_Smiling_16x9.jpg\" alt=\"Noa Essengue &amp; Matas Buzelis ready to lead fast-paced 2025 Summer League Bulls | Chicago Bulls\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Chicago Bulls had a vision for what they wanted to build with the next iteration of their roster. After years of watching their team struggle with three-point shooting and defense, they\u2019ve prioritized players who can solve those problems. They want athletes with length who play aggressively and aren\u2019t afraid to have the ball in their hands, but also are willing to do the dirty work. Matas Buzelis proved to be exactly what they were looking for. The former 11th overall pick was an immediate hit for the team, finishing with 16.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per 36 minutes played. The next stage of the plan arrived with Noa Essengue in the 2025 draft.<\/p>\n<p>He fit the same profile: a great athlete with height and length. He\u2019s aggressive to the basket and doesn\u2019t shirk his duties on defense. Obviously, as an 18-year-old, he has lots of growing up to do. That being said, the Bulls have been surprised by what he is upon joining the team. They thought they were getting a kid. According to K.C. Johnson, he carries himself with way more maturity. He asks questions about important topics and has no fear during practice.<\/p>\n<p>Buzelis has found that out the hard way.<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<h4 id=\"h-the-bulls-would-be-in-great-shape-if-noa-essengue-followed-the-same-path\"><strong>The Bulls would be in great shape if Noa Essengue followed the same path.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Many experts believe Buzelis is poised for a breakout season. He\u2019s bulked up considerably since last year and looks much stronger in practice. The game has slowed down for him, allowing for smart decision-making. He was already starting to dissect defenses down the stretch of last season. If he\u2019s improved that much, this could be an All-Star year for him. Now, try to imagine if Noa Essengue follows his lead. He has virtually the same skillset and apparently the same mentality. Having one 6\u201910 forward who can score, shoot, and play defense is hard enough to deal with. Having two is a nightmare. This could be the Bulls\u2019 core of the future. Accomplishing that without a single top 10 pick would be quite the feat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Bulls knew they were getting a talented player with Noa Essengue. It turns out they may have gotten another Matas Buzelis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":77849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bulls Reportedly Shocked How Similar Noa Essengue Is To Matas Buzelis - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bulls Reportedly Shocked How Similar Noa Essengue Is To Matas Buzelis - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Bulls knew they were getting a talented player with Noa Essengue. It turns out they may have gotten another Matas Buzelis.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-10T06:51:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-10T06:52:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Noa-Essengue-and-Matas-Buzelis.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2127\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1196\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrLuu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrLuu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846\",\"name\":\"Bulls Reportedly Shocked How Similar Noa Essengue Is To Matas Buzelis - News 365\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Noa-Essengue-and-Matas-Buzelis.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-10T06:51:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-10T06:52:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4b0ce8eb15dad4ee0f31887a7eb66fb6\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Noa-Essengue-and-Matas-Buzelis.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Noa-Essengue-and-Matas-Buzelis.jpg\",\"width\":2127,\"height\":1196},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bulls Reportedly Shocked How Similar Noa Essengue Is To Matas Buzelis\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"News 365\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4b0ce8eb15dad4ee0f31887a7eb66fb6\",\"name\":\"MrLuu\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27290e42aedd9867dbebe2f5dbfd5135e0d4cac63c12fabb4e8d0e4472737a5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27290e42aedd9867dbebe2f5dbfd5135e0d4cac63c12fabb4e8d0e4472737a5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MrLuu\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bulls Reportedly Shocked How Similar Noa Essengue Is To Matas Buzelis - News 365","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bulls Reportedly Shocked How Similar Noa Essengue Is To Matas Buzelis - News 365","og_description":"The Bulls knew they were getting a talented player with Noa Essengue. It turns out they may have gotten another Matas Buzelis.","og_url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846","og_site_name":"News 365","article_published_time":"2025-07-10T06:51:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-10T06:52:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2127,"height":1196,"url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Noa-Essengue-and-Matas-Buzelis.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"MrLuu","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MrLuu","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846","name":"Bulls Reportedly Shocked How Similar Noa Essengue Is To Matas Buzelis - News 365","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Noa-Essengue-and-Matas-Buzelis.jpg","datePublished":"2025-07-10T06:51:40+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-10T06:52:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4b0ce8eb15dad4ee0f31887a7eb66fb6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Noa-Essengue-and-Matas-Buzelis.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Noa-Essengue-and-Matas-Buzelis.jpg","width":2127,"height":1196},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=77846#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bulls Reportedly Shocked How Similar Noa Essengue Is To Matas Buzelis"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/","name":"News 365","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4b0ce8eb15dad4ee0f31887a7eb66fb6","name":"MrLuu","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27290e42aedd9867dbebe2f5dbfd5135e0d4cac63c12fabb4e8d0e4472737a5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27290e42aedd9867dbebe2f5dbfd5135e0d4cac63c12fabb4e8d0e4472737a5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MrLuu"},"url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?author=6"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77850,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77846\/revisions\/77850"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/77849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}