When the Miami Heat drafted Michael Beasley was second overall out of Kansas State, nobody had a problem with that.
The guy was an incredibly gifted player. A one-and-done prospect, he left the Wildcats after averaging 26.2 points, 12.4 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, and 1.3 steals per game. His scoring and rebounding averages were actually the best in the conference. A freshman!
The way Beasley’s career panned out didn’t match the hype at all though.
He did make the All-Rookie first team. However, he came in just seventh in Rookie of the Year voting. He has no All-Star or All-NBA selections to his name. He doesn’t even have a Most Improved Player award.
Beloved Top-3 Pick Michael Beasley Explains How Heat, Knicks Failed Him
Sitting down with the popular Club 520 Podcast, Beasley vented his frustration about how his career was essentially mismanaged. He doesn’t place all of the blame outside of himself. However, he puts most of it on his former coaches.
“I’m the best scorer you’ve ever seen, but all you gonna tell me is to play defense? Like, that s*** pissed me off at one point. Like my fourth (or) fifth year in the league, I ain’t wanna play anymore.”
Too Old To Ride Roller Coasters?
In his fourth and fifth seasons, Beasley was playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns, respectively. It was in those years that the DMV native was demoted to the second unit. He was averaging then career-lows of 11.5 and then 10.1 points per game.
Prior to then, he had started 170 of 232 games, including back-to-back seasons as a full-time starter. In his third season, which he also played with the Timberwolves, he averaged a career-high 19.2 points per game.
At the time, the general consensus was that Beasley was too focused on scoring.
However, even if that was the case, it’s a strange approach to limit what a player is best at. Perhaps that’s part of the reason why the Timberwolves finished with a 26-50 record in 2011-12 despite having Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love. If they were going to struggle defensively, they might as well have invested a little more in their offense.
It wasn’t until several years later that Beasley got another chance to be a featured scorer though. Well, kind of.
Playing Out Of Position
After signing with the New York Knicks in 2017 offseason, he posted 13.2 points per game, his highest scoring average since his third year. He started in 30 games the most he had since his third season. In those 30 contests, he averaged 16.0 points per game.
To Beasley, his campaign with the Knicks looked a lot better than what it was. For yet another season, he was playing out of position, and limited because of it.
“So, I started the season off averaging four points… like four points in like five minutes. Tim Hardaway got hurt. Then I was (averaging) like maybe nine minutes… I swear, I was going hard in practice, getting my exercise in.
I went to Kurt Rambis. Shoutout to Kurt Rambis, that’s like one of the only coaches that like resonated with who I am… I went to him one game, and I say ‘What is it?’
He like Beas’, at this point, just make ‘em look bad for not putting you in… I just remember like alright, every time I go out there, I’m going to throw my whole bag out there.
But it ain’t work. That’s what pissed me off. That s*** ain’t get me no more minutes… With (Kristaps) Porzingis, and Tim Hardaway, and Courtney Lee, I could’ve made that a playoff team. I was playing out of position.”
Expounding on the idea that he was played out of position, Beasley notes that he doesn’t even have a traditional power forward’s physique. In the small-ball era, that may not matter as much. However, when Beasley was first getting started, a lot of teams were still in the Twin Tower era.
Interestingly, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra wanted him to play like Carlos Boozer or Karl Malone. It wasn’t just the 15-plus-pound difference him and them that bothered Beasley though. He didn’t see himself having the natural physique that would’ve allowed that either.
“Everybody played me as a 4 because of college, but I’ve been playing out of position my whole career. You played at the 1,2, (or) 3, I’m bigger, I’m better on defense. Now I got someone to play pick-and-roll with.… But Jeff Hornacek was on the hot seat.
So, that’s why I didn’t play in Miami my first two years. Kuz Spo’ wanted me to be Carlos Boozer… Every practice, I used to watch for an hour, two hours, Carlos Boozer and f****** Karl Malone. And I used to tell them, ‘Like bro, even if I get that much weight, like my shoulders not even that wide. I can’t be that big.”
Of course, Spoelstra is rightly regarded as one of the league’s top coaches. In the 16 years since Beasley’s NBA debut, he’s become sharper due to his experiences. Nonetheless, drafting a tweener prospect and wanting them to play a single position wasn’t a recipe for success.
It’s a mistake that he hasn’t made since.
