Milwaukee Bucks’ Rookie MarJon Beauchamp Shows Defensive Promise

The Milwaukee Bucks have a difficult balance to strike with rookie MarJon Beauchamp this season. As a veteran-heavy squad with a realistic goal of winning the NBA Finals, they might not have the time to develop a raw 22-year-old who played in the G-League last year. Then again, Beauchamp might force head coach Mike Budenholzer’s hand due to his defensive play.

Budenholzer is a sucker for good defense. He demands a lot from his guys on that end of the court and rarely makes exceptions. The game is often moving too fast for rookies to accurately comprehend, making playing defense much harder. And as a consequence, it diminishes Budenholzer’s willingness to play rookies due to that lackluster defensive performance.

Beauchamp can buck the trend (no pun intended) and earn early playing time.

Over the last three games, he’s carved out a role in the regular rotation. He played the first 6:48 of the second quarter against the Atlanta Hawks, 3:39 toward the middle of the second quarter in the first game against the Detroit Pistons and 6:34 to start the second quarter in the second game. You can see some slight improvements as those games have gone along.

Beauchamp has a lot of work to do on the offensive end of the court. Defensively, however, he has the tools to become an on-ball stopper. He has good agility and can quickly change directions in his defensive slide. He also has a long wingspan that allows him to contest opponent’s shots and make life difficult for them. His mentality is also ripe to set him up for success on that end of the court.

His early success starts on ball where he’s been locked in.

Beauchamp begins the above clip picking up Saddiq Bey as he crosses halfcourt. The rookie is full of exuberance and is in his defensive stance with his arms wide before the ball even crosses onto his side of the court. That’s symbolic of the mindset Beauchamp has regarding approaching defense. He’s excited to grind at that end of the court and knows it’s his golden ticket to more playing time.

Back to the video. Isaiah Stewart sets an initial ball screen several feet above the three-point line. Beauchamp knows who he’s guarding and easily slides under that attempt. Stewart then sets another, firmer screen on Beauchamp’s right side. He takes a mini hop to position himself to go over the screen before mirroring Bey and quickly changing directions to stay between the rim and the ball-handler. As Bey continues his drive down the lane line, Beauchamp squares him up with his chest, absorbs the contact, and keeps his hands high to contest any potential shot attempt. Brook Lopez also comes over to help and Bey is forced to throw a wild pass toward the top of the key that’s intercepted by Jevon Carter.

Beauchamp’s ability to change directions, square up his chest with his man and take Bey’s contact is an impressive array of skills. He still has to hit the weight room as the years go on, but taking on Bey in that situation isn’t for the weak.

The below clip picks up toward the end of some beautiful screen navigation by Beauchamp who is matched up on rising star Cade Cunningham this time.

After getting caught slightly on the second pick, Beauchamp rushes to get back in front of his man and relieve Lopez of his help duties. When he’s successfully back in front, Cunningham deftly hits him with a left to right cross over and a slight hesitation before driving to his right, bumping with his shoulder, and rising for a running floater. Beauchamp handles the combination like a champ and changes direction, takes the contact with the middle of his chest and keeps his arms up high to make life as difficult as possible for Cunningham. It results in a missed shot and defensive rebound for the good guys.

He’s had several good on-ball defensive possessions where he’s forced his man into difficult and contested shots. That seems to be a strength of his game. He still has to improve his attention off-ball where he can get watching the rock. That will come with time.

Milwaukee’s path to a championship two years ago was to lean heavily on their defense. That unit ranks first in the NBA through the first few weeks of the season and looks to be an absolute terror with their revamped scheme. Beauchamp helps them in that area. In a minuscule 22 non-garbage-time minutes, Milwaukee allows 22.8 fewer points per 100 possessions with him out there than when he’s off the court according to Cleaning the Glass. If that trend comes anywhere close to holding, Budenholzer won’t have a choice but to play him more.

The expectations are clear. His path to more playing time is there. He needs to continue to embrace the defensive mentality and the results will speak for themself.