Bulls rookie Matas Buzelis bonds with veteran Torrey Craig, DJ Steward and Onuralp Bitim as quartet enjoy pool recovery session
With the 11th pick in the NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls added Matas Buzelis to their growing young core. As the lottery pick gets ready for his first year in the pros, he already seems to be building a good bond with his teammates.
Before training camp officially starts, the Bulls decided to get together early to start putting work in for the 2025 season. Aside from their preparation for the upcoming season, the group also made sure to soak up the last of their downtime before the real action begins.
Matas Buzelis recently re-shared a video that Bulls veteran Torrey Craig posted on his Instagram story. In the clip, he and other Chicago players jammed into a small pool together following the day's work.
Instead of playing in college or professionally overseas, Buzelis went a different route before the NBA and suited up for G-League Ignite. During his lone season with the team, the 6-foot-10 forward averaged 14.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists.
Drafting Buzelis marked what appears to be an incoming youth movement for the Bulls. After years of trying to compete in the East with Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic, the front office has started to build for the future.
Matas Buzelis will have to earn playing time on the Chicago Bulls
Typically, when a player is drafted in the lottery, they play big minutes right away for developmental purposes. However, it doesn't seem that this will be the case for Matas Buzelis as he begins his time with the Chicago Bulls.
While Chicago has started to stockpile young players, they aren't fully in rebuild mode yet. Still armed with a pair of former All-Stars, there is talent on the roster ready to compete. Knowing this, head coach Billy Donovan doesn't plan on fully giving the reigns to the younger players just yet.
During a recent appearance on 670 The Score, Donovan was asked about what kind of workload guys like Buzelis could see next season. He stated that guys will have to earn their minutes and that the team's focus is winning basketball games.
"This idea of, we're just going to take a bunch of young players and throw them out there and give them playing time, there's things with development, you've got to earn things too.
"We're going into every game and try to win."
Donovan followed up by saying that building good habits and learning how to succeed at the NBA level is just as important for the rookie forward.
Looking at the Bulls' roster, Buzelis has a handful of players he'll be competing for playing time with. Among those include fellow lottery picks Patrick Williams and Jalen Smith, along with Chris Duarte.