Matas Buzelis: NBA draft scouting report and intel

“If he turns out great, he could be Franz Wagner at best,” an NBA executive told HoopsHype. “Buzelis is skilled but lacks some toughness and grit at times.”

“There are some games where Matas makes a lot of shots and creates a lot of shots by playmaking,” an NBA executive told HoopsHype. “He’s shown some athleticism. When you watch him in person, he can’t defend at a high enough level. When he sits down to try and slide, he can’t move his feet as well as he needs to be able to defend some guys. Sometimes he’ll have decent instinct plays where can cut a guy off, but in space, he’s going to get attacked. Offensively, I don’t think he’s going to make enough special shots off movement or off the dribble, not just shots standing in the corner.”

“Some say Buzelis can be a point forward, but I don’t know if I see it,” an NBA executive told HoopsHype. “He can handle it at his size, but if you don’t trust him to be the primary ball handler, where does he fit best? He stretches the floor, but he’s not a knockdown shooter. With that said, in this draft, you probably have to take a chance on him, given his size and ability to handle the ball and try to figure it out.”

Excerpts from HoopsHype’s Aggregate Mock Draft from colleague Michael Scotto, who contributed research to this story, can be found here.