There has been a palpable buzz surrounding Malik Beasley since he joined the Milwaukee Bucks as a free agent this summer. The murmurs got even louder after his performance in his preseason debut on Sunday as he helped the Bucks take down the Chicago Bulls in their first game of the preseason, 105-102.
Malik Beasley Speaks Out on Role For Milwaukee Bucks
After the game, Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin dropped a massive hint about Beasley potentially taking over the coveted starting role for Milwaukee this coming season. The first-year shot-caller stated that Beasley is “gonna have to take the toughest assignment most nights,” which is clearly a strong vote of confidence from Griffin.
For his part, however, Beasley isn’t letting all the talk affect his mindset heading into the new season. He knows exactly what the team needs for him and he intends to do whatever he can to help the Bucks achieve their goals this season.
“It’s all a mental thing,” Beasley said, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “There are great players in the world and most of them are shooting guards, so I gotta guard those guys. The best thing you can do is limit them. They’re going to make shots. They’re going to make tough shots. Lke one, Zach LaVine had a tough shot on me today, but I was there. As long as I can make a presence and make sure they don’t get super hot, I did my job. And we can get wins by (me doing) that.”
Milwaukee signed Beasley to a one-year deal worth just $2.7 million this past summer. Right now, that sounds like a real bargain.
Malik Beasley Reveals What He’s Most Excited About
The fact that Milwaukee has both Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard on the same roster pretty much means that they’re set on offense. This is exactly what Beasley realized since training camp started, and this is also why he intends to focus on something else entirely:
“We can get really hot,” Beasley said. “We had it in training camp where we had all the starters together and it was just so easy. I didn’t have to do much. None of our shots were forced. It just comes naturally. So, that’s what we’re excited about. And that’s why I’m putting such an emphasis on defense. Because offense, we can score 130 every night. But defense, we gotta make sure we lock up.”
That sounds good to me.
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