Bucks rookie MarJon Beauchamp is listening to veterans and putting their advice into action

SAN ANTONIO – In an exhausted locker room in Oklahoma City, Wesley Matthews sought out MarJon Beauchamp before heading to the bus. The 14-year veteran bearhugged the rookie, his rookie, and spoke softly to the 21-year-old before slowly walking out.

Keep hoopin’. Keep defending. Sky’s the limit for you.

It’s the simple lessons Matthews has been trying to impart.

“Man, that’s my brother,” Beauchamp said with a smile.

And in the Milwaukee Bucks' double-overtime victory at the Paycom Center, Beauchamp did that against the Thunder. He got his second start in three games, played nearly 30 minutes, scored 19 points – all in the second half – and hit 5 of his 8 three-point attempts. He pulled down eight rebounds, including a key offensive board in the second overtime. He earned his first start, also against the Thunder, on Nov. 5 following a 14-point, five-rebound effort in Minnesota on Nov. 4, which included fourth-quarter minutes with the starters.

After not leaving the bench in three of his first six games and playing a total of 12 minutes in the ones he did, Beauchamp has averaged 20 minutes in his last five. Of the 11 Bucks players averaging at least 14 minutes per game, he has posted the second-best individual defensive rating in allowing just 95.3 points per 100 possessions. His net rating is a team-best 15.3. It’s a very small sample size – only Serge Ibaka and Sandro Mamukelashvili have played fewer possessions than Beauchamp’s 237 – but the improvement is showing.

“It’s not a perfect process,” Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer acknowledged. “It’s hard. He’s probably confused at times and hears probably multiple (things) – hopefully not from me. I would say right now we’re more in the mindset of encouraging him to be aggressive and find ways to impact the game and not just be in the corners (offensively). Because it is going to naturally happen. You’ll get to that and it’s important that you’re good and your footwork in the corners is good and your ability to read closeouts in the corners is good, but he’s also, we feel like can help us and give us more.”

Throughout the last week, Beauchamp has done that.

But a big part of his progress has been in listening. There’s Matthews of course. But the rookie dialed in on something Giannis Antetokounmpo said on Nov. 2 after Beauchamp played 16 minutes against Detroit.

“He’s gotta be, oh, man, it’s going to sound bad, but he’s gotta be stubborn," Antetokounmpo said. "Like, he gotta go out there and kind of like make things happen. Obviously things are gonna come in his way, but he’s gotta go out there and chase it. Whenever he has opportunity, you gotta play hard, you gotta dive for balls, 50-50 balls, rebound the ball, make shots, knock down shots, as many as he can. At the end of the day he’s gotta do it because he wants it, not because the vets, me, anybody else want it out of him. He gotta do it because he wants it.”

In a quiet moment in Minnesota, Beauchamp said that hit home.

“I just had a different attitude about the game,” Beauchamp told the Journal Sentinel. “That kind of stuck with me, you know? That gave me that boost that I needed. I gotta want it for me, you know? Not the vets, not the coaches – that’s the way I took it.”

And he’s been running with it over the last few games.

Jordan Nwora trying to find a foothold

When the season began, Budenholzer said there would be opportunity for Beauchamp and Jordan Nwora in the early going and Nwora has been part of the rotation, playing about 16 minutes per game. The 24-year-old came into the year with a greater understanding of what the “little things” mean.

“Honestly it’s more just the hustle and effort all around, just playing a lot harder than I have in the years past,” he said. “Not just on the offensive end but on the other side of the ball, running in transition. Not just chucking up shots, trying to find people on offense when I’m playing with those guys (the starters).”

In a small sample size, Nwora has an individual defensive rating of 111.9 (points allowed per 100 possessions), which is slightly better than his full-season number from a year ago (112.5). And, he is getting minutes with some of the team’s best defensive players.

“I love Jordan," Antetokounmpo said. "I think he’s a very, very talented player. And he can help this team tremendously by starting, by coming off the bench, by defending, by knocking down shots."

While Nwora's rebounding percentages have improved, his shooting has dipped like the rest of the team. That combination has caused him to have the only negative net rating of players playing at least 10 minutes per game on the team. That said, Nwora also has had some hustle “highlights,” from diving for loose balls, contesting layups, drawing offensive fouls. Following the game against Atlanta on Oct. 29, Budenholzer credited some of Nwora's winning plays as a factor in the Bucks' victory.

“His effort and attention to detail and execution defensively is significantly better," Budenholzer said. "He’s really locked in. He’s had some great kind of individual possessions, working to keep guys in front of him, just guard him straight up, pick-and-roll coverage, to not get screened, to fight through and keep coming.

"Then off the ball, again, not getting screened and being hard to lose. Then I think rebounding, I think his size and athleticism on the wing is a big benefit. He’s definitely put some time and effort in and is really focused on being better on the defensive end of the court. I think playing with his teammates more offensively, just finding ways to earn his minutes and stay on the court.”

But the eventual returns of Khris Middleton and Pat Connaughton – and eventually free-agent acquisition Joe Ingles – will cut into those minutes naturally. In his third season, Nwora wants to cement himself as a player who is called upon even when those players are back. Beauchamp said his focus remains on defense, taking cues from the veterans who know what it takes to win a championship.

"Both of those guys really, really want it and I believe they’re the future of this team," Antetokounnpo said of the pair. "We’re getting old. We’re definitely getting old. And, they’re getting better. They’re growing up. They’re understanding the game more. And who knows, in probably three, five years they’re gonna be the guys. If they stay healthy, they stay humble and they keep working hard they’re gonna be the main guys.”

“I don’t want it to be, ‘Oh, he’s playing because people are not playing,’ ” Nwora acknowledged. “At the end of the day my goal is to be playing when the team is healthy. I don’t want to be somebody who’s playing just because guys are out, guys are injured. I see myself as somebody who can play and help the team win, help our team win, and I gotta just continue to establish myself and look good not only in my teammates' eyes but ‘Bud’s’ eyes and just keeping doing that. Because at the end of the day the goal is to play when everybody’s here and everybody’s healthy.

"We’ve got a great team. I’ve got some great vets ahead of me that are out right now, so just establishing myself and showing that I can play when some of those guys are back, that I can still find time on the court.”