OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 Matas Buzelis doesn\u2019t know how the story will end.<\/p>\n
Not his story nor Bulls coach Billy Donovan\u2019s.<\/p>\n
But the second-year forward said he wouldn\u2019t be the player he is \u2014 or is on his way to becoming \u2014 if not for Donovan. So the speculation about Donovan possibly wrapping up his stay with the Bulls wasn\u2019t news Buzelis wanted to embrace.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been everything, man,\u201d Buzelis said. \u201cHe\u2019s been a role model to me; he\u2019s someone I look up to as a person, as a human being. He\u2019s a guy that\u2019s been a cornerstone for me. He\u2019s pushed me to my limits, and he\u2019s going to keep pushing me until I can\u2019t be pushed anymore.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I can\u2019t thank somebody like that enough. He tells you the truth every time.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018It\u2019s hard to do that, especially in this league, to have someone in your corner that is going to tell you everything you need to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donovan addressed the rumors Wednesday, and all he would say was that he was looking forward to sitting down with ownership and the front office at the end of the season to get a grasp on the team\u2019s plans for the future.<\/p>\n
Buzelis believes Donovan is by far the best qualified coach to lead a turnaround, especially considering how he prefers to be coached.<\/p>\n
From Day 1 as a rookie, Donovan has handed him nothing. Minutes have been earned, not gifted, and the hook has been quick at times.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis might sound crazy, but it\u2019s the truth: He\u2019s teaching me how to be a winning player, and I know everyone will say, \u2018Well, you\u2019re not winning a lot of games,\u2019 but he\u2019s taught me the characteristics it takes to win, and that\u2019s all you can ask for,\u201d Buzelis said. \u201cEven when he\u2019s sat me down after a few minutes [into a game], that\u2019s just about telling me what I have to do, what I need to do to be better at it, and a guy like me, I know my time will come.\u201d<\/p>\n
But not against the defending NBA champions Friday. While the Bulls (29-44) put up a fight for almost three quarters, the talent deficit was too much to overcome going into the fourth quarter. And with the 131-113 loss, Donovan\u2019s crew was officially eliminated from even reaching play-in status.<\/p>\n
Against the Thunder, Donovan liked that his squad didn\u2019t quit until the final horn.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt comes down to how professional you are and how important these games are,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cHow do you internally look at that? I do think a lot of that speaks to character, quite honestly. We have a bunch of good guys in that locker room, and I would bet on them that they would go out there and put their best foot forward, try and do the best they can. The competitive character reveals itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oklahoma City overcame a nine-point deficit and pulled away in the fourth by starting off the quarter with a 19-6 run.<\/p>\n
The Bulls were led by Collin Sexton\u2019s 22 points, and Buzelis had 15.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to keep grinding, keep trying to push everybody,\u201d Buzelis said of the nine remaining games.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not just going to bull[expletive]these next few games we have left. We\u2019re going to try and learn, I\u2019m going to continue to try and learn, and that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 Matas Buzelis doesn\u2019t know how the story will end. Not his story nor Bulls coach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3771],"tags":[7,920,919,329,3824,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-684028","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bulls","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bulls","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-bulls","12":"tag-chicagobulls","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116306750130655244","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}