Season Stats – 18 games: 12.9pts, 6.6reb, 1.6ast, 45% FG, 28% 3pt, 65% FT
Mataz Buzelis finished his high school career at the No. 7 player in the class of 2023. Around the same time, though, ESPN projected him to be the top overall pick in an NBA draft that was still 15 months away. That set the bar high, to say the least.
When we visited Ignite in October, Buzelis had put on some noticeable muscle mass and even looked like he might have grown an inch. Still, he was battling an ankle injury which would ultimately cause him to miss training camp and the start of the regular season.
As he got back into the line-up, he was being utilized in a vastly different way than what we saw in high school. Whether it was at Brewster Academy or Sunrise Christian, with Mac Irvin Fire or Expressions Elite, the basis for Buzelis’ potential was always his playmaking ability for his size.
He was upright, but still able to create, particularly in the open floor. He had an unconventional release point on his shot and made under 29% of his attempts in the EYBL which was consistent with what we saw a year prior at Brewster. As a senior at Sunrise, his percentages increased to 43% (albeit on relatively limited volume as two-thirds of his shots were still inside the arc).
But at Ignite, he was rarely put in positions to take advantage of his ability to create at the start of the season. Simultaneously, he was really struggling to shoot the ball and even farther behind on the defensive end (which has been the most consistent limitation in his game).
We’ve seen all of that start to evolve in recent weeks. But, still, his draft stock is all over the board. Some project him as a top-three pick now, while others have him at the tail end of the lottery. What’s clear, though, is that he’s starting to make progress even though there is still a wide-range of potential outcomes.
