Can the Bucks fit MarJon Beauchamp, Andre Jackson alongside Giannis? Sam Vecenie weighs in

Eric Nehm: With the firing of Mike Budenholzer and the hiring of new head coach Adrian Griffin, a new era has begun for the Bucks.

In that new era, it appears as though general manager Jon Horst has also started to shift his roster-building strategy. For the last few seasons, the Bucks haven’t given us much of a reason to enlist the services of Sam Vecenie, The Athletic’s prospect guru and NBA draft expert. But things appear to be changing. During the Budenholzer Era, the Bucks simply didn’t have many prospects on their roster and didn’t put an effort into developing the few they had.

So while the players we will discuss today are currently only on the periphery of the Bucks’ regular rotation, it appears as though Horst is making youth a real priority on the back half of the Bucks roster. Between the 15-man roster and the three two-way contract slots, the Bucks have six players 23 or younger. I think we should talk about all six of them, and potentially a few others.

So, we’ll start this conversation with the two most well-known players threatening to crack the rotation this season: MarJon Beauchamp and Andre Jackson Jr.

Last summer, the Bucks used their first-round pick on Beauchamp at No. 24. While Beauchamp flirted with a solid place in Budenholzer’s rotation in the first half of the season, he fell out of the picture as the playoffs approached and only played 701 minutes in his rookie season. What did you think of what you saw out of him last season, and how, if at all, did it affect your opinion of his potential?

Vecenie: I don’t think what we saw of Beauchamp changed my evaluation of his game in either direction. Beauchamp was exactly who scouts thought he was entering his rookie season. Nobody would question how hard Beauchamp plays, as his motor is the best part of his game. At 6-foot-6 with a 7-foot wingspan and a 200-pound frame, he looked like he belonged athletically as an NBA wing. He crashes around the court, rebounds aggressively and plays tough-minded defense with switchable qualities. To me, his best chance at earning a role in the NBA was always going to involve trying to be the strongest defensive player he could. That remains the case, and I think he’s going to be a good defender.

But to stick on the court in big moments — especially in minutes around Giannis Antetokounmpo — Beauchamp must continue developing his offensive game. Much was made of the fact that he averaged 15-plus points per game in the G League in 2021-22, but open-court athletes like Beauchamp tend to thrive in that setting, as opposed to the more skill-based NBA. It’s a lot easier to run the court, back-cut and offensive rebound your way to 15 points per game in the G League, and nearly 63 percent of Beauchamp’s offense during his pre-draft year came off those settings or other broken plays.

Beyond that, Beauchamp hasn’t showcased an NBA-level shifty handle or a particularly high-level processing ability as a passer. Everything is in a straight line for him. And while that could be totally fine, it reduces his future down to a pretty simple equation. Everything will come down to his jumper.

I hate making it that reductive, but that is the entire ball game for NBA role players now unless you are an elite playmaker and play processor. Between his time with the Wisconsin Herd in the G League, the Bucks and the Bucks’ summer league team, Beauchamp made just 66 of his 207 3-point attempts, a 31.9 percent clip. The good news about this is he’s cleaned up his mechanics off the catch quite a bit over the last year. He still has a bit too much of an exaggerated ball dip to get into rhythm, which makes it easier to close out on him. The rhythm still sometimes can look a bit funky as he’s loading into the shot while involving his lower half. But the release at the top looks clean, the follow through looks good and he gets good rotation on the ball now.

The unfortunate thing is that it’s typically hard for someone to go from Beauchamp’s current form as a shooter to a legitimate floor-spacer. But if you’re going to bet on someone, he might be one worth trusting. Beauchamp is known to be a hard worker and the kind of human being that you want to buy into getting better over the course of his career.

I don’t think it’s worth making any grand pronouncements about his game moving forward, since there’s still too much uncertainty on the jumper. But the Bucks should absolutely keep going out of their way to develop him and find out the player he could become. He probably isn’t a critical part of this core, but I’m fascinated to see if he can earn minutes over veterans like Malik Beasley and Jae Crowder this year.

Nehm: This summer, we reported the Bucks were interested in trading up into somewhere between the 20th and 40th picks in the 2023 NBA Draft. Eventually the Bucks found a draft night trade with the Orlando Magic that allowed them to trade a 2030 second-round pick and cash for the No. 36 pick. With that pick, the Bucks selected Andre Jackson Jr.

In your draft guide, you wrote, “I love Jackson. He was one of my two favorite players in college basketball last season.” Explain that stance to Bucks fans who are still trying to figure out his game. Also, do you feel like his lack of shooting and scoring ability will limit his ability to play with Giannis?

Vecenie: This is where we should bring up the Bucks’ interesting roster-building direction.

For years, they have played shooters around Giannis. The guys who couldn’t shoot struggled to earn meaningful minutes, even at the center position. In Beauchamp and Jackson, the Bucks have now invested draft resources into players whose games fly in the face of that idea. Does that mean the team wants to change its style of play around Giannis? Does it mean the team misevaluated what can or cannot work around Giannis? In Budenholzer’s system, I might not have had Jackson on my draft board for the Bucks, to be honest. The same goes for Beauchamp.

But what if the scheme is going to be more movement-centric, where the ball is whipping around? What if the team wants to play at an even faster pace than it has the last two years? Griffin has said that his goal is to play more uptempo, with more ball movement on offense and ball pressure on defense. Those are the three things that Jackson does best. That’s where, at least logically, you can line up this selection with the Bucks’ plans.

Jackson was one of the best defenders in the country on the wing last year, and is a truly elite athlete with a gas tank that runs for days. You can use him as a high-level ball-pressure defender at the point of attack on the 1 through 3 positions. He’s also excellent as an off-ball defender within a team concept, wreaking havoc with timely rotations and sharp scramble decisions.

On offense, Jackson gets out on the break with speed, both as a ballhandler and lane-filler, and makes high-level passing decisions. Jackson was one of the best on-court processors in last season’s draft class. He makes rapid, correct decisions with the ball. He cuts in a timely way, then moves the ball quickly. You have to be aware of where he is because of the speed at which he plays, both athletically and mentally.

The issue is that Jackson really can’t shoot. Worse, he has has the kind of broken mechanics that make you skeptical that he’ll ever shoot. If you surround Jackson with four shooters on the court, I think he can make that work at the NBA level even if his own jumper doesn’t improve. There aren’t many off-ball, role players league-wide I would say that about. He’s that awesome at the rest of the game that doesn’t involve shooting. But for a Bucks team looking for players who can slot in next to Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton, and Giannis? I think it will be too easy for opponents sag off of him and double-team Giannis.

While I understood the selection based on the Bucks’ schematic goals for this season, I’m skeptical that those are actually the best ideas for a Giannis-centric team. That’s why it’s important to discuss Jackson in tandem with these larger questions about Milwaukee’s roster-building direction. If Jackson was in Denver, for example, I’d understand his future a lot more. He’d be exceptional slotting into the role Bruce Brown played last year. But I’m concerned Jackson’s strengths and weaknesses don’t quite mesh with what has been proven to work for Giannis’ teams.

Maybe the Bucks can use him in lineups off the bench with Bobby Portis, Pat Connaughton, Malik Beasley, and one of Middleton or Holiday running the show. I think he’d thrive in those style lineups as a havoc-creator. But I’m skeptical that using Jackson with Giannis will bring out the best in either player.

Nehm: While we’re here, let’s chat about the Bucks’ other 2023 draftee, Chris Livingston. You ranked him 60th in your draft guide this year. What do you think of his long-term potential to be a contributor? What do you think he needs to improve upon to make himself a regular in the Bucks’ rotation?

Vecenie: I wouldn’t have drafted Livingston, which isn’t a surprise given where I ranked him. Livingston has some long-term potential, but I don’t think he’s anywhere near actualizing it. The positives are that he’s a long 6-foot-6 with a strong physical frame, and his jumper has the makings of one that will eventually fall consistently, especially from the corner. I get why a team would buy into a tools-based argument about him.

The problem is that he is entirely invisible on the court for far too many moments. Livingston averaged six points per game for Kentucky last year, and only scored in double-figures seven times in 34 games. Kentucky was about 10 points per 100 possessions better offensively when Livingston was on the bench last season, per Pivot Analysis. Simply put, he doesn’t have a role yet. He’s not active as a cutter and isn’t consistent enough as a shooter, having made just 31 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3s last season, per Synergy Sports. He doesn’t come off of screens all that quickly because he’s a thick, box-y athlete in terms of his hips. I wouldn’t call him all that quick of a processor or decision-maker, either, and his passing ability has never distinguished itself. Livingston is best as a straight-line driver when he has a smaller player on him, but there are fewer smaller players for him to take advantage of in the NBA.

On defense, he’s active and athletic. I liked him on that end this season at Kentucky, considering he was a freshman trying to make an impact on the game. He’s not necessarily flying around off the ball, but he’s good on the ball and can guard a few different player types at the 1 through 4 positions. He can’t deal with ultra quick players, but he’s strong and physical enough for the NBA game, and uses his length well to disrupt and contest.

I see a pathway for Livingston to be an effective player by the time he’s 25 or so, but he’s entering the league at such a skill deficit that I don’t think he’s all that likely to get minutes in his first two seasons. From there, we’ll see. He’s in a race against the clock for the Bucks to get any value out of him, which isn’t all that surprising given the hit rate on players selected where he was in the draft.

This conversation continues Thursday with a discussion of the rest of the young players on the roster, including A.J. Green, Omari Moore and TyTyWashington, one of the Bucks’ newest signees.