Nickel: How first-year Milwaukee Bucks guard Malik Beasley has reinvented himself this season

Malik Beasley has an announcement, now that he’s with the Milwaukee Bucks.

The 27-year-old journeyman guard, on his fifth NBA team, arrived in the Milwaukee locker room and saw Khris Middleton to his right, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard and Brook Lopez to his left. So Beasley, to date a career 4,500-point scorer, a survivor really with that jumper, decided to reinvent himself in a way.

And that starts with a re-introduction from the seven-year veteran the officials on the court just before tip off.

“I tell them, I’m the new Jrue Holiday,” said Beasley. “So - I’m gonna get a few extra calls.”

He didn't say it with an ego; but rather, with the goal of trying to meet the needs of the Milwaukee Bucks.

In eight games this season, Beasley is averaging 9.3 points per game, sure, but a couple of other stats are giving a clue to what we’re seeing live in person. Beasley is averaging more rebounds (four), steals (1.3) and fouls (1.9) – all pointing to a new level of defensive assertiveness and aggressiveness that he wants to use to fit in with this Bucks team.

5 reasons Malik Beasley played key role in Bucks' win vs. Pistons this week

And that new style was most evident in his +24 rating in the win over Detroit on Wednesday. A few highlights of what he did:

Score. Beasley’s floating jumper with 5 minutes left in the game to cut the Pistons' lead down to five, and the Bucks playing without Middleton and the ejected Antetokounmpo. The team mentality and his mentality at that time, trailing to the struggling Pistons, was simple.

“The first thing is, it’s not going to be a home run play, so you’ve got to keep chipping away at their defense,” said Beasley.

“And also, I know when it's time for him to get going,” said Beasley, gesturing over to Lillard in the locker room. “So in the eight to five minute range, I know that I have to be aggressive on offense. Because in the last four minutes he's going to be aggressive.”

Steal. With :09 Beasley picked off Detroit’s Cade Cunningham for a steal, just as the Bucks were fighting for a late comeback W.

“I read it; I knew that he was falling out of bounds,” said Beasley.

Hands. But even before that, Beasley and Lopez had active hands in the paint. Bucks coach Adrian Griffin noted that this kind of defense alters the opponent’s shots, but Beasley said it can do even more than that. When Detroit’s Marcus Sassar was called for a late travel and turnover, it might have been due to Beasley being a menace on defense, reaching for a steal – even if he didn’t get it.

“It went out his hands and he had to reset and dribble it again and that's what threw him off,” said Beasley.

Sturdy. With all the action on the court, it could have gone unnoticed that Detroit forward Ausar Thompson tried to post up Beasley, but the guard was not going to let that happen.

“I just fought back. I didn't go anywhere,” said Beasley.

Fouls. None. This is interesting. Because Beasley believes there’s a way to establish himself in this area of the game, but telling the officials he’s playing a different style on defense now. He expects that he will get whistled and maybe warned early on in games, but a little leeway later on in games.

“Once I let them know that, you know, I get a few more calls,” said Beasley. “Like, I know for sure I should have had a few fouls tonight - and I didn't have any.”

It could be observed that Beasley’s controlled-aggression is something to appreciate. Because this game was weird. The Bucks prevailed in that Game 7 of the season, but Antetokounmpo was ejected after two technical fouls, Thanasis collected a tech from the bench and earlier in play Jae Crowder and Lopez also collected T’s.

“I mean we could have controlled our anger a little bit,” said Beasley. “As a championship team, we're going to get bad calls sometimes.”

Malik Beasley wants to bring a physicality to the Bucks

But the 6-foot-4 guard is open to finding ways to make himself most valuable to this team and his willingness to develop more strengths for this season could really help the Bucks. It’s unusual to hear someone speak so forthcoming about it, but that’s part of Beasley’s style as well.

“Usually I'm one of the offensive guys, but we got four those guys,” said Beasley, referring to Milwaukee’s big four of Giannis, Dame, Middleton and Lopez. “So I just learn how to be physical. It's a mindset.

“So then I start off being physical, too. If you notice, I start the game usually with one or two fouls to set the tone so that in the  third or fourth quarter I can get away with it.”

The idea is that Beasley wants everyone to know, he’s making the effort to get after it on defense.  That's why he's talking to the refs. “Yeah, every game,” said Beasley.

And their response?

“They laugh," said Beasley. "I mean, I’m kind of joking – but I’m serious. Just let ‘em know, because they’re not used to that, to me guarding the best player every single night.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Malik Beasley's focus for Milwaukee Bucks is on defense, physicality