MarJon Beauchamp: 2022 NBA Draft Scouting Report
A great athlete and defender, Beauchamp has his fans as a potential first-rounder
This year’s crop of G-League Ignite prospects was a really strange conglomeration of talent. Instead of looking for a group that meshed well, the Ignite brought in three primary creators in Jaden Hardy, Dyson Daniels and Scoot Henderson — all guys who didn’t shoot it well. The lack of spacing was exacerbated by missing a true 3-point threat on the wings.
MarJon Beauchamp did not step up to fill that role. A questionable 3-point shooter, the blemish on his scouting profile is a big one that prevents him from fitting into the NBA seamlessly as a 3-and-D wing. While shooting is not a disqualifier from being a positive prospect nor a fixed outcome for MarJon, it is hard to overlook the absence of this skill as it relates to his draft position.
Beauchamp is a great athlete who lives in transition. His offensive role with the Ignite was magnified in the open court or in slashing situations. He is a decent cutter but struggles with where to stand and when to cut quite frequently. Off-ball movement and impact requires either drilling shots or knowing when and where to cut. For every positive backdoor that Beauchamp gets, there are two times where he’s standing in the mid-range and clogging the lane for others.
Defensively is where Beauchamp earns his stripes. There are minor areas to clean up in terms of help positioning and engagement, though on the whole his rotations and awareness are strong. He should be able to guard wings at a high rate and uses his seven-foot wingspan to swarm the ball. He squares contact to his chest, has solid guarding position and forces pull-up jumpers.
In order to stay on the floor to be a strong defender, Beauchamp will need some form of an impact on the offensive end. It sounds strange to talk to someone who is 21 and averaged 15 points per game in a professional league as needing to find an offensive impact. But Beauchamp’s missing link is in how impactful he is in the half-court. According to Synergy Sports, 34.3% of his points came in transition — he’s 9th in the G-League in the percentage of his offense that’s created there. In the NBA, only one player this season was above 30%: Josh Hart during his time with the Pelicans.
So where are we most confident that Beauchamp can gain an impact in the half-court?