Chicago Bulls wing Dalen Terry spoke teammate Matas Buzelis on a recent appearance on the CHGO Bulls Podcast. Terry said that he believes the soon to be 21-year old--with an October 13th birthday--Matas Buzelis has "a couple more ceilings to go."
Terry cited the ball-handling ability of the 6-foot-10 Buzelis as what makes him a unique prospect.
"[You know,] I think that he's really, really good at being that tall and being able to dribble like that. You know what I'm saying? It's not a lot of guys that can dribble like that and his athletic ability."
Buzelis led the Chicago Bulls in made dunk attempts over the 2024-25 season with 65--Zach LaVine was second with 45 dunks over 42 games--and his athleticism was on full display as he got heavy playing time down the stretch. He participated in the 2025 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, becoming the first Lithuanian player to participate in the contest, as well as the first Bulls player to enter since Tyrus Thomas in 2007.
For his rookie season, Buzelis averaged 8.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.9 blocks per game, and shot 36.1% from the 3-point line. Over the month of March, Buzelis averaged 13.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, while shooting 92.6% from the free throw line and 35.4% from the 3-point line over that stretch. Overall, 3-point FGAs made up approximately 48% of Buzelis' total shot attempts last season. It will be interesting to see which way that figure trends as we get a better idea of the type of player that Buzelis is going to be moving forward.
Zooming out a bit, it is also extremely encouraging to see the 23-year old Terry comfortable heaping praise on a younger teammate. It's normal, preseason, "good vibes" stuff, but nonetheless great to see from a team that has hovered around 39-40 wins for three straight seasons.
It is fair to say that on a national level there is not a ton of faith in the Bulls being a playoff threat, but sticking together as a team on and off the court will certainly give them a better chance to beat the odds.
Terry will be looking to carve out a consistent role in head coach Billy Donovan's rotation as Buzelis has appeared to. Chicago didn't add many new faces this offseason, so things look optimistic for Terry's chances of gaining more playing time. He has seen his playing time increase every year in Chicago, culminating in 13.5 minutes per game last season. Though the didn't play together much, the two-man lineup of Buzelis-Terry produced an impressive 105.5 defensive rating in their time on the floor together per NBA.com. There is still a long way to go before we have an idea of what Terry or even Buzelis, are as players, but the sky's the limit for these unproven talents as we approach the start of the 2025-26 season.
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