Coby White has seen his share of young players come into the organization over his last six years.
Heck, the combo guard used to be one of them.
But that’s also why the current longest-tenured Bull has a good feeling about rookie Matas Buzelis. And not just that Buzelis will be a future everyday starter for the organization, but that he has a chance to be something special.
“Yeah, for sure,” White said of that playing out for Buzelis. “There’s no doubt in my mind he’s going to continue to improve because he has that mindset. Every day he wants to improve. The main thing with young guys is when they come in when you give them information, how do they take it? He wants to be a great player. Whenever the coaches tell him something, we tell him something, he’s very receptive. He says, ‘I got you. I’m going to get it right next time.’ With that mindset, that skillset, the sky’s the limit for him.”
Maybe.
Before he can touch those clouds, however, his current situation is one of bumps, bruises and growing pains for a 20-year-old that is being shoved around at times by grown men.
“I think if you look at since he started — the 10 games that he’s had — it’s been (Kevin) Durant, Kawhi (Leonard), Paul George, (Pascal) Siakam, that type of stuff,” coach Billy Donovan said. “He’s seen elite, elite players, and we haven’t tried to ‘hide him’ and stick him somewhere. He needs to play his position. He’s tried to do that.
“The one area he’s got to get better, and there’s not a lot we can do about it now, is he’s just got to get physically stronger. He just gets overwhelmed at times and it’s not his fault. It’s a guy (20) years old.”
It’s also a guy that understands his weaknesses since becoming a starter back on Feb. 5 at Minnesota, and more than willing to address them the rest of this year and into the offseason.
“Get stronger and also get more used to the game,” Buzelis said of his current to-do list. “I think I’ve been getting way more comfortable out there and only time will tell for me. But I always talk about this summer because it’s going to be a huge jump for me physically, my body filling in. Right now, it’s about playing hard and just battling, giving nothing easy.”
An assignment he looked more than willing to carry out in the first half of Sunday’s Pacers loss, as he went head-to-head against the likes of Siakam in the paint, and then had a highlight block by chasing down a Tyrese Haliburton layup attempt from behind.
When the Pacers turned up the physicality midway through the fourth and started to pull away, it wasn’t just Buzelis that felt it, but the entire roster.
The Achilles’ heel for this team for a few seasons now.
The hope is Buzelis puts in the work this summer to start to change that.
What he can do to help his development immediately, however, is continue learning the league and maybe start closing some games. He was on the floor for the closing act of the Indiana loss, but on most nights Donovan has gone with proven veterans. That could change.
“I think the next step for him is to close some games, do those types of things,” Donovan said. “For me with these young guys there’s got to be a balance of what are they doing to impact winning rather than expecting because they’re getting playing time, they’re getting better. I think there’s a real fine line there.
“And I’m not saying I don’t want to play Matas. I’m not saying that at all. I have to make sure he’s learning through his experience, and it’s not chalked up to, ‘Well I’m young, I’m a rookie, it’s OK.’ No, it’s not. You’ve got to keep getting better and there’s an expectation.”