As international recruiting continues to ramp up in college basketball the Florida Gators also went to that well with a couple of overseas commitments, starting with Lithuanian Arturas Butajevas. With all types of European players coming to college with varying skillsets and expectations right away, many fans are now wondering who Butajevas is, how he plays, and what they should expect.
Butajevas has been listed at drastically different heights depending on where you look, but watching the film it looks like the 6’9”-6’10” range seems about right, with good length and a frame that could use a bit of bulking up. At this point, it’s important to note that Butajevas was born in March of 2007–so he’s functionally going to be a true freshman which differs from some of the international players that come over at older ages. This is probably where the discussion about his immediate production begins, as oftentimes people look at the European pros as “transfers” who can and are expected to contribute right away, but Butajevas should be viewed as more of a traditional high school recruit–and a very good one.
Growing up and developing his talent in the Lithuanian system, Butajevas made a name for himself with some really strong performances in international play, notably averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds in the European U16 championships before following that up with a strong 14 points and 11 rebound average in the World U17 championships. Those types of performances at high-level events are the things that get scouts excited, and it put Butajevas on NBA radars, as well as those of NCAA and European pro teams. This earned him a coveted spot in the Barcelona developmental system, and that move to Spain signified something pretty massive. For European talent, going to Barcelona to join their development squad is the equivalent of an American high school player going to Montverde or IMG Academy–it is the highest level for a high school aged player, and places him on the same path that many NBA players have taken.
Unfortunately, things didn’t work out great in Barcelona. His minutes with their developmental team dropped to essentially zero, and for a year he seldom got game action as he sat behind players who had usurped him in the depth chart. He did have some solid performances in Adidas Next Gen Tournament action, enough to keep him on the radar of some different college teams–though it wasn’t looking like he was going to get any action with the top club in Barcelona.
After two years with Barca, both sides agreed a change would be best and Butajevas moved to Malaga to play for Unicaja. There was some thought that he might be able to play with the top team which didn’t really happen, but a newly-formed Spanish under-22 league gave Butajevas an opportunity to play against some slightly older, better players without having to be all the way up with the top pro club, or down at the U-18 level. Here, Butejevas was a regular rotation piece, but he didn’t dominate by any means. At this point, he was three years away from his stock being really high, and it meant a lot of college teams were no longer interested. However, the Gators buy the upside and the pedigree, and will hope to develop him in the frontcourt like they have several pieces before.
This begs the question–what happened to the Butajevas that was once brought in by Barcelona to be a future star?
Back in U16 play, Butajevas had a big height advantage after an early growth spurt and he used it well to dominate on the inside. He also had some great moments as an outside shooter, and you could start to see the vision of a 6’10” rebounding, shot blocking, three-point shooter piece. However, as Butajevas’ competition grew physically–he didn’t. Though he still has good height and length, he is quite skinny and that has negated some of the physical advantages he had early in his career. The three-point shot? Largely abandoned. This past year in U-22 play he was 3-12 from three which certainly isn’t disastrous, but the lack of volume shows how the confidence in the shot has been lost. Watching the film these attempts don’t look great either, and he might need to be back to square one on building up his mechanics.
Reading this story of a player who may not have matched early hype might have you down on Butajevas, but while he doesn’t look like he’s on the same trajectory he was once on, he still is a very interesting college prospect. Sure, if you looked at where he is based on where he was when he was 15 then you might have some questions on what happened, but if you simply evaluated the last year of Spanish U-22 play you’d see someone who has good traits at the center position which is one that is expensive and hard to get with American players–he’s tall, he’s got good hands, he has solid mobility, and he’s at least capable of knocking down the three.
Florida thinks that Butajevas can contribute right away, but I would expect that to be as probably the 4th big in the rotation. Domen Petrovic, another international pickup, is probably the safer pick to contribute this upcoming season while Butajevas is seen as more of a long term upside guy. Of course, Florida is looking at what happened with Alex Condon and they see a lot of the same traits in Butajevas, and if they can replicate that success in any capacity it will be a solid win.