{"id":8988,"date":"2017-08-10T21:04:53","date_gmt":"2017-08-11T01:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=8988"},"modified":"2017-08-10T21:04:53","modified_gmt":"2017-08-11T01:04:53","slug":"signing-michael-beasley-classic-knicks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2017\/08\/10\/signing-michael-beasley-classic-knicks\/","title":{"rendered":"Signing Michael Beasley is Classic New York Knicks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s as if the <a href=\"http:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/category\/knicks\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New York Knicks <\/a>never want to be relevant again. Fans have suffered way too much to ever believe that they&#8217;ll be rooting for a winner anytime soon.\u00a0<strong>James Dolan<\/strong> is one of the worst owners in all of professional sports; there&#8217;s no disputing that. It appears that things may have actually gotten worse since New York parted ways with <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jacksph01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Phil Jackson<\/a><\/strong>, though. The Knicks&#8217; free agency acquisitions have been head-scratchers, as usual. New York signing\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/beaslmi01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Beasley<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>is just another classic, boneheaded decision by the team.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Signing Michael Beasley is Classic New York Knicks <\/strong><\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">New York Knicks and former No. 2 overall pick Michael Beasley are nearing agreement on a one-year deal, a league source told @BBallInsiders.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MikeAScotto\/status\/894999313671229440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 8, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>According to <strong>Michael Scotto<\/strong> of Basketball Insiders, the Knicks are going to sign Beasley on a one-year deal. The veteran combo forward has shown flashes in his well-traveled career, but that&#8217;s a blessing in disguise in the Big Apple. He did have a solid season last year as a member of the <a href=\"http:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/category\/bucks\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Milwaukee Bucks<\/a>, even though it was in a pretty small role. Beasley has been a talented bench scorer for most of his time in the association, which is a plus on paper. He had arguably his most efficient scoring season last year, shooting a career-high <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/beaslmi01.html#per_game::none\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">53.2 percent<\/a> from the field, per Basketball-Reference. With that said, he&#8217;s not a great fit for the Knicks, given their defensive struggles.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>So Much For Defense<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Beasley had one of the <a href=\"http:\/\/stats.nba.com\/team\/#!\/1610612749\/players-advanced\/?sort=DEF_RATING&amp;dir=1\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">worst defensive ratings on the Bucks<\/a> last year, factoring in games played, and it&#8217;s tough to see that drastically improving. Beasley is more of a finesse player at this point, so he&#8217;ll usually be guarding wings.\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/n\/noahjo01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joakim Noah<\/a><\/strong>,<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hernawi01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Willy Hernangomez<\/a><\/strong>, and<strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/porzikr01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kristaps Porzingis<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>are really interior defenders, so Beasley will need to work hard on close-outs.<\/p>\n<p>That could be an issue, because Beasley was only in the 15th percentile of all players when defending spot-up shooters, per Synergy. That doesn&#8217;t bode well for the Knicks, who\u00a0were just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teamrankings.com\/nba\/stat\/defensive-efficiency\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">25th among all teams in defensive efficiency last season<\/a>, per TeamRankings.com. Despite playing for the Bucks \u2013 a much more capable defensive team \u2013 last season, Beasley was still subpar defensively.<\/p>\n<p>Beasley isn&#8217;t going to have much help, if any, if he ever misses a defensive assignment with this team. He does block some shots when coming over on rotations, but without much of a viable defensive presence on the wing, he&#8217;ll need to play there more often. That could greatly negate his shot-blocking as a result.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Less Open Looks<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Beasley is a good isolation scorer, as he was in the <a href=\"http:\/\/stats.nba.com\/players\/isolation\/#!?sort=PossG&amp;dir=1\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">87th percentile<\/a> in those situations last season (per Synergy). However, it will be much harder for him to produce good shots on a team with less floor spacing. The Knicks were just 21st in <a href=\"http:\/\/stats.nba.com\/teams\/traditional\/#!?sort=FG3_PCT&amp;dir=-1\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">three-point shooting<\/a> last year, compared to Milwaukee being 10th in the league (per NBA.com). New York struggled from distance even with good dribble penetration from <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rosede01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Derrick Rose<\/a><\/strong>, who is no longer with the team after having a resurgent season.<\/p>\n<p>With the Knicks not having a stable of playmakers on their roster at the moment, it will be tough for Beasley to get many open shots in rhythm. Over the last few seasons, he&#8217;s had players like <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hardeja01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">James Harden<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/antetgi01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a><\/strong>, <strong>Malcolm Brodgon<\/strong>, and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/monrogr01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Greg Monroe<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>to manufacture open looks for him throughout stretches of games. Don&#8217;t expect iso-extraordinaire <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/anthoca01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carmelo Anthony<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to be force-feeding Beasley anytime soon, and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wojespn\/status\/883161190817341440\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$71-million man<\/a> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=hardati01,hardati02&amp;search=Tim+Hardaway&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tim Hardaway<\/a> Jr.<\/strong> will want his buckets as well (just ask <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/2017\/07\/13\/clueless-new-york-knicks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">our own <strong>Manjinder Singh<\/strong>, who previously\u00a0touched on that topic<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s hard for a high-usage bench player like Beasley to be efficient without getting the ball in his sweet spots on the floor. In turn, if he&#8217;s inefficient, that makes it hard to play Beasley consistently over a full season, which would make the signing altogether pointless.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"iik4HQizTT1FRJChPOemgA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.ca\/detail\/492035625\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'iik4HQizTT1FRJChPOemgA',sig:'fOxDRo-pL9ALLqH81k5-xnbqyvoYkrCVUfOUYWlFLUQ=',w:'594px',h:'395px',items:'492035625',caption: true ,tld:'ca',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Defense is the problem in the Big Apple, but the New York Knicks signing Michael Beasley in free agency. does not address that major issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1981,"featured_media":9026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,62],"tags":[65,332,96,297,58,287],"class_list":["post-8988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knicks","category-nba","tag-basketball","tag-michael-beasley","tag-nba","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-tim-hardaway-jr"],"modified_by":"Lior Kozai (Managing Editor)","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1981"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}