Billy Donovan is brutally honest about Matas Bouzelis’ reduced playing time

When Chicago Bulls They drafted Matas Bouzelis ahead of the 2024-25 season, many people thought the young star could be a shrewd Rookie of the Year pick. It’s almost February now and we haven’t seen Bouzelis blossom into the player people expect. Obviously it’s still incredibly early in his career, but it’s been a subpar rookie season.

Until now This season, Matas Bouzelis Averaged 4.9 points per game in just under 13 minutes per game. Bulls fans wonder why he doesn’t get more playing time and head coaching Billy Donovan addressed the situation on Saturday. Donovan referenced his recent game against the Golden State Warriors and how Bouzelis was immediately focused when he entered the game.

“I basically told him to get off the floor — ‘They’re going right at you.’ You’re going to have to make a stand here, yes? ‘ You think it’s a big growth thing. Instead of saying, “Hey, Matas, don’t worry about it, just keep playing the man, keep doing it.” Those are things out there that a lot of people can’t help but see as valuable, but they’re incredibly valuable because it creates clarity about what he knows he has to do,” Donovan said, according to a post by Julia Poe. “And he and I talked about it today, you know? And he felt he had to be a player. We can’t take a young player and say, “Okay, we’re just going to try to hide him about those different players so he doesn’t have to be exposed to that.” And he had every opportunity to be in those situations. “

Billy Donovan wants to put Matas Bouzelis in those types of situations and believes he will eventually be ready for a bigger role.

“Those situations are good for him,” Donovan continued. “But he’s got to understand too much — Listen, it’s got to stop. So I put him back in the second half (against Golden State) and gave him another snap again. But that’s what’s going to be a little bit for him, you know? And I said that before, I’m just not a believer, I’ve never seen that happen, because I think that’s what happened happens sometimes you just teach a player – you just give them a bunch of minutes without responsibility – what they should do and how to affect the loss. It should be and we want to be a winning player.”

Matas Bouzelis had a quiet rookie season, but Donovan hasn’t lost faith in his lottery pick despite his lack of playing time. Donovan wants to make sure he gets everything right as he gets Bouzelis ready to be a key player for the Bulls.