The line forms here
Mbah a Moute leaves footprints for Bucks' latest second-round pick Meeks

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By Truman Reed

Since the National Basketball Association Draft Lottery made its debut in 1985, every player who has been selected within its parameters has faced high expectations.
 
Many have fulfilled those expectations, but many have fallen woefully short of them, too.
 
Those players chosen in the second round of the draft over the same 25 years have faced an entirely different challenge.
 
In most cases, the only expectations they take into their first pro training camp are their own. They must either meet or exceed them in order to capture their coaches' attention or contemplate a career change.
 
During the Milwaukee Bucks' 41-year history, they have built a tradition of finding productive players in the second round of the draft or beyond.
 
Their success stories include Alex English, who scored 25,613 points and became a Hall-of-Famer; Michael Redd, who ranks fifth in franchise history in points scored and minutes played; and Ramon Sessions, who broke a 40-year-old club record for assists in a single game during his rookie year, averaged a double-double in his rookie starts and has contributed 11.6 points and 6 assists per outing over his first two pro seasons.
 
The Bucks chose University of Kentucky guard Jodie Meeks with their 2009 second-round pick, making him the 41st overall selection in the draft. 
 
Unless Meeks has been studying his Milwaukee Bucks history books, he probably doesn't realize what a tough act he has to follow.
 
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute can be credited for much of that. The prince from Cameroon, selected by Milwaukee with its 2008 second-round pick (37th overall), was informed shortly after his arrival in Wisconsin about the predecessors he would be following.
 
Mbah a Moute not only got the message, but left some indelible footprints of his own for Meeks, the man who is now succeeding him.
 
Bill Peterson, the Bucks' assistant coach for player development, turns back the calendar to last year, when Mbah a Moute entered the Bucks Training Center for the first time and became his latest pupil.
 
Peterson has worked with an extensive honor roll of such pupils, headed by Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash. He discovered early on that Mbah a Moute, too, had something special that would set him apart from the rest.
 
"Luc told me early on, 'I really want to play. I'll do anything to play,'" Peterson recalled. "I told him, 'If you really want to play, you have to find a niche for yourself. You can't just play. You're the 37th pick in the draft. So what? You can't come in here and just shoot and expect to play.'
 
"Then I said, 'I'll tell you what you do. We start playing on Sept. 5 or Sept. 10, whenever all the guys start coming in. Who are the two best players on the team? Richard Jefferson and Michael Redd. You guard them every day, every practice, every scrimmage. You be in them. I don't care what anybody says, or if you don't think you can guard them. If they push you, get right up in them again.'"
 
And so, behind the scenes, Bill Peterson and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute became a team -- a determined one. 
 
"Luc Mbah a Moute was a 37th pick, and people were like, 'He ain't gonna play,'" Peterson said. "But I was like, 'Yeah, he is gonna play.' I didn't know how much, but after watching tape on him, and working out with him, and spending time after practice with him, and spending time on the road with him, I could see he had something special."
 
Because Mbah a Moute did not start playing basketball until he was 12 years old, he had a lot to learn. But he also did not have the bad habits of many of his more experienced contemporaries.
 
"That's right, 100-percent," Peterson said. "Luc has a great spirit to learn. He wants to get better. He doesn't have a lot of junk in his game that he's been taught.  
 
"He'll say sometimes, 'I don't understand,' or 'I don't know,' or 'Explain that to me.' Very rarely do I get that. You tell him what he's got to do, or what works, and he listens and does it."
 
And Mbah a Moute showed Peterson a commitment to doing his job the right way.
 
"One of the things Luc became really good at was breaking down tape," Peterson said. "After we'd been watching some tape, I'd stop the tape and ask him, 'What play are we running here?' or 'What are we supposed to be doing here?' or 'What coverage are we in here?' or 'What are we doing pick-and-roll wise?'
 
"When he started telling me those things, boom, boom, boom, I knew he wasn't just watching tape. He was really looking at it, figuring out, 'Is my guy going right or left?' or "Is this a guy I can get physical with?' or 'What does this guy like to do?' He's learned to watch tape so it helps him. That's the mark of a player who's going to be a really good player for a long time."
 
As camp unfolded, others began to discover what Peterson already knew.
 
"I think Scott (Skiles) will tell you that Luc has one of the best basketball minds on our team," Peterson said. "He's developed some of that here, but a lot of that is engrained. I tell people all the time, when I see guys who want to work and want to learn and want to get better, I like to spend a lot of time with them."
 
When the coaches gathered during camp, Mbah a Moute's name came up often in their discussions.
 
"We had a staff meeting about three weeks in, and Scott said, 'Man, that Luc, he can really defend! Did you see him getting after Mike Redd?' Right away, he put himself in front of Scott."
 
Peterson told his coaching colleagues that his work with Mbah a Moute reminded him of the times he spent with another protege who entered the NBA with little fanfare.
 
"When I was with Dallas, Greg Buckner had just come into the league," Peterson said. "He came to me one day after practice and said, 'B.P., what do I need to do?'
 
"I told him, 'Look, you're not going to impress these guys by shooting the ball. You've got to have a niche, 'Buck.'' Then I asked him, 'Who's the best player on our team?' At that time, Michael Finley was the best player on our team. We were scrimmaging early on, and Greg started guarding Michael Finley. I would referee so things wouldn't get out of hand, and we had an overlook area where 'Nellie' (then-Mavericks head coach Don Nelson) would stand upstairs and watch.
 
"During the second day we were doing this, Finley came off a post and was curling up top, and Buckner was in his face, all over him. The game was to five points, and Finley was getting frustrated. He finally took Buckner and threw him to the ground. The next play, Buckner was right in his face again.
 
"Afterwards, when we talked, 'Nellie' says, 'That Buckner's got some crap in him, doesn't he? I like that feistiness."
 
Peterson went back to Buckner and told him his efforts were not going unnoticed.
 
"I told him, ''Buck', you know what? That was the first time your name came up in a staff meeting, because of who you were guarding and what you were trying to do.'
 
"He got their attention. Luc's done the same thing here, and I think he'll continue to do what he's done. He can be special because of that, but he's got to keep that hunger."
 
Mbah a Moute appeared in all 82 games of his rookie season, starting 52, and averaged 25.8 minutes. He ranked 16th among rookies at 7.2 points per game, fifth with 5.9 rebounds and fourth with 1.1 steals.
 
He led the team in blocks 27 times, in steals a team-high 23 times, in rebounds 14 times and had four double-doubles. He delivered a 19-point, 17-rebound performance in just his 10th game as a pro Nov. 14 at Memphis. 
 
More often than not, he spent much of each game dogging the opposing team's top scorer, whether that happened to be LeBron James, Kobe Bryant or Kevin Garnett.
 
The rookie earned rave reviews. One of his veteran teammates called him the team's best defender less than a month into the season.
 
Mbah a Moute never rested, though, and Peterson doesn't believe he ever will.
 
"I've told Luc we have to work on his game, get that 15-foot shot where it's more solid and consistent, and get him to attack the goal more and understand how to draw contact and get a three-point play," Peterson said. "He's got a lot of areas that he can continue to work at, but he's a gem to work with. He's fun."
 
The gem, not surprisingly, has been a fixture at the Bucks Training Center this summer, continuing his lessons.
 
And if Jodie Meeks is smart, he will soon be the next one in line.