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.”
Milwaukee’s Marjon Beauchamp is ready to take a leap in his second year with the team.
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.”
More: ‘You can see the work paying off’: MarJon Beauchamp…
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