MarJon Beauchamp is ready for more with the Bucks: 'I’m here to take that leap'
LAS VEGAS – In the opening moments of the Milwaukee Bucks’ Summer League game against Phoenix at the Thomas and Mack Center last Saturday, MarJon Beauchamp’s path to the basket was stopped a step inside the free throw line. He pivoted around, pump faked, and flipped the ball off the backboard to himself for a dunk. The night before against Denver, Beauchamp used a crossover above the three-point line into a left-handed drive to the basket that sent him to the free throw line. Later in the game against the Denver Nuggets, a right-handed drive led into a spin move and a layup.
In those first two games Beauchamp scored 23 and 20 points against the Nuggets and Phoenix Suns, respectively, on 58% shooting from the floor. He also shot 13 free throws.
It didn’t go unnoticed.
“What I do like from Summer League is him getting to the rim, just kind of him imposing his will,” Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin said. “I think he has great size, great physicality and he’s been getting to the rim and when you get to the rim good things happen.”
As individual plays and games go, Beauchamp’s Summer League performance has been strong – which might be expected due to the fact he is a second-year pro playing rookies and other players looking to get a foothold in the NBA or the G League.
But Bucks general manager Jon Horst cautioned against using such a word.
“I wouldn’t say it’s an expectation because they have to put in the work,” he said. “They have to put in the time. It’s a hope for sure when you draft somebody, and it’s a belief. We drafted MarJon because we had a high level of belief in the person that he is, the work ethic that he had and the baseline skill set that he had, and I thought last year he took massive steps in his first year as a rookie. He played meaningful minutes at meaningful times in the regular season and he played well.
“He hasn’t rested on that. He’s had a great offseason. He’s worked on his body, he’s worked on his game.”
After a rookie season in which he appeared in 52 games (11 starts) and shot 39.5% from the floor overall and 33.1% from behind the three-point line, Beauchamp checked into Summer League five pounds heavier than he did as a rookie (202 vs. 197). But it’s more than “just” five pounds. He looks stronger.
And, perhaps more importantly, confident.
“His confidence and feeling comfortable out there, and kind of understanding what he does best and how he can do that and execute that and kind of just like putting his impact on the game, on both ends of the floor, getting to the rim, making plays defensively,” fellow second-year player AJ Green said of the difference in his teammate from a year ago.
“He just looks so much more like ‘I’m here. I belong here’ comfortable out there.”
It’s that intangible kind of thing that can translate to such tangible highlights on the court – and was a focused effort of improvement over the course of the last calendar year for the 22-year-old Beauchamp.
“Really just my mental, the way I approach the game,” he said of how he’s improved. “I feel like just staying calm. That’s what I’ve been working on and not being so hard on myself. Really, I feel great. I’ve been at peace with myself. I just been working on the mental part of the game because I’m very hard on myself, because I’m just trying to be the greatest I can be. I feel like I’ve grown.”
Which might be easy to say when things go well, but this was on display following a four-turnover game against Brooklyn on July 11 that saw him miss every shot and go scoreless.
He nodded in agreement.
“I would say it’s another learning process and keep your head high,” he began. “We all have days like this, you know? Just gotta adjust to the next game and keep going hard and keep believing you know? I think I’m more calm now than last year.”
He smiled.
“I think I would’ve been a little frustrated but I’m not really frustrated. I’m on to the next.”
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As for what that means going into Beauchamp’s second season in the NBA has yet to be seen, but it has Horst feeling encouraged.
“Whatever he does the rest of the summer league, he’ll go from here and he’ll work again,” Horst said. “Then his next opportunity to show everybody will be training camp. And then it’ll be the preseason and then the regular season. What that means in terms of rotation or playing time, I have no idea. I just want to see the right path, and he’s definitely on the right direction, the right path, and he’s approaching it in absolutely the right way. I think he looks great. I really do. I think he’s had a really good summer.”
For his part, Beauchamp believes he’s not only on the right path but ready to jump forward down it.
“Going into camp, I just want to show my abilty where I’ve grown and I read the game better,” he said. “I’m here to take that leap. I am. It starts Day 1 of training camp so I can’t wait.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: MarJon Beauchamp ready for more with Bucks: 'I’m here to take that leap'
