Buzelis: ‘Bulls will surprise people’

Arturas Karnisovas grew up in Lithuania — technically, it was the Soviet Union back then — so there's no reason to expect motivational speaking in a foreign language to be one of his strengths.

But Bulls Media Day got off to a lackluster start as Karnisovas read his opening statement from a tablet, using slogans like, “Building while competing is the goal,” along with longtime franchise favorite, “We like our group.”

There are legitimate reasons to feel optimistic about the future of this team, mainly the potential of second-year forward Matas Buzelis.

The West suburban native was the last of five Bulls players to sit at the podium Monday and answer questions, but he did a nice job of revving up the volume.

“I think we're going to surprise a lot of people with this team,” Buzelis said. “I have a lot of faith in us.”

Still just 20 years old, Buzelis has now spent one season in the NBA. He just went through his first summer being a celebrity, after toiling in relative obscurity at two prep schools and the G-League Ignite. He left Hinsdale Central midway through his sophomore year when the pandemic put the high school season in doubt.

It's possible landing Buzelis was the lucky break the Bulls have been waiting for. The mock drafts had him going fifth in the 2024 NBA Draft, but he was still on the board at No. 11.

During his rookie campaign, Buzelis showed he can do just about everything on the court. Listed at 6-foot-10, he's very fluid and athletic, can handle the ball, looked good shooting 3-pointers, and was absolutely fearless on the court.

On Monday at the United Center, he also talked a good game.

“I want to win Most Improved Player this year,” Buzelis said. “That's what I'm striving for. But this is a team sport. The individual stuff will come once you win, so I'm worried about winning.”

Expectations are low for the Bulls this season, but there is probably a path to the playoffs in an Eastern Conference that could be missing Indiana's Tyrese Haliburton and Boston's Jayson Tatum due to torn Achilles injuries. Former Milwaukee guard Damian Lillard was released after suffering the same injury.

The Bulls finished strong last season, at least until running into Miami in the play-in tournament. So the goal is basically to pick up where they left off, especially Coby White and Josh Giddey, who posted all-star caliber stats after the break.

“We've been working extremely hard in the gym,” Buzelis said. “Everyone's glued together, everyone gelled well. I just feel the energy, it's kind of hard to explain, but I think if you were in the gym, you'd see it. But I think we're going to surprise people this year.”

The only real news on Day 1 was White suffered a calf strain last month and will be limited during training camp. Karnisovas said they're hoping to have the seventh-year guard by the end of preseason.

White set his own goal of shooting better than 40% from 3-point range this year.

“I haven't done that yet in my career,” he said. “I think I shoot the ball at a good enough level that I should have already done it.”

The other theme was the Bulls becoming more physical this season, to avoid getting thumped again by a team like Miami in the play-in. With this young squad, “get tougher” might be as effective an instruction as, say, “get taller.” It's just not going to happen.

Newly-inducted Hall of Fame coach Billy Donovan did have a plan in mind for how this team can improve.

“We were 29th in the league (in forcing turnovers),” Donovan said. “We were 28th in offensive rebounding. We turned the ball over more than our opponents. We were 28th or 29th in taking charges. I think there are controllable things we can work on.”

When it comes time to give the opening pep talk, maybe hand the microphone to Buzelis.