SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sometimes the 21-year-old still comes out in Bulls forward Matas Buzelis.
It’s not purposeful, by any means, and Buzelis has acknowledged that coach Billy Donovan has pushed him to step up and start taking more of a leadership role. But there still are going to be moments when Buzelis acts his age.
That happened after the Bulls’ loss Sunday to the lowly Kings.
Buzelis was notified by a reporter that he was closing in on 100 blocks for the season and asked what that meant to him.
Never one to get caught up in his own statistics, he responded: ‘‘I don’t really know. I mean, 100 is obviously cool, but I don’t really know.’’
The answer showed he clearly didn’t know the magnitude of that number.
When he then was informed that would rank him seventh in the league, Buzelis said: ‘‘Oh, yeah? That’s pretty cool.’’
That’s especially the case on the Bulls, who have been searching for a consistent rim protector for years. The last Bulls player with 100 or more blocks was Robin Lopez in 2016-17. He finished 10th in the league that season.
Buzelis led the Bulls with 75 blocks as a rookie last season. The year before that, their best shot-blocker was guard Alex Caruso with 70.
Buzelis will enter the Bulls’ game Tuesday against the Warriors with 94 blocks this season. He likely will hit the 100 mark by the end of the five-game road trip.
‘‘I’m really good at timing the block and knowing when guys will try and finish when they’re going up,’’ Buzelis said. ‘‘It’s something I feel like I’ve had since I started playing basketball. I just try and translate it to the NBA.
‘‘Obviously, it’s a little harder, but you’ve got to realize what guys do when they’re driving, how they finish. I feel like I’ve got the timing and the verticality. Straight up at the rim, it’s hard to finish over me since I’m so tall. But it’s definitely something I have.’’
And something the Bulls need.
Blocking a shot and then getting the opposing defense on its heels by pushing the ball upcourt with their up-tempo offense checks a lot of boxes in terms of what Donovan wants the Bulls to do.
Factor in that Buzelis is a natural small forward, can handle the ball and can get out on the break, and that adds another dimension to his shot-blocking ability.
Because he considers himself a student of the game, Buzelis often watches film after games and tries to figure out tendencies of opposing players. He credits that work as another reason his shot-blocking continues to improve.
‘‘My rookie year, I started getting three [blocks in a game] and was, ‘All right, I can try and impact the game in that way,’ ’’ Buzelis said. ‘‘Moving forward and guarding players on the perimeter and seeing their tendencies is something I’ve been working on.’’
He also has been working on playing with more urgency. Winning is still the top priority for him, and the loss to the Kings didn’t sit well.
‘‘We lost a lot of 50-50 [balls against the Kings], offensive rebounds, in transition,’’ he said. ‘‘Those are things you can fix, you know? You’re going to miss shots and whatever, but you’ve got to win the 50-50s. It always comes down to the minute details in winning.
‘‘I just didn’t think we came out and competed, myself included. We’ve gotta fix that.’’
