Beasley Wants to Know ‘Why Everybody Down?’

I promise, eventually the novelty of Michael Beasely in the pros will wear off. But in case you missed it, he followed up Monday’s offensive tour de force with an absolute stinker of a game. Final line: 9 points on 1 of 13 shooting, 7 fouls, 5 turnovers, and 7 boards.↵
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↵As the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports, the rookie is untroubled:↵↵⇥“You can’t have a great game every day,” Beasley said with his ever-present smile. “I mean, it wasn’t a bad game; we still won. Why everybody down?”↵⇥
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↵⇥[Beasley] felt restricted by the bulky protective vest he discarded in the first half for a smaller version. “I felt like Iron Man,” he quipped. “I couldn’t do that.”↵↵Again, I find this refreshing. Beasley knows that summer league games aren’t real indicators of future prowess -- hell, they’re barely even real basketball. But is he being too care-free, too irreverent? There’s a fine line between easygoing and indifferent; maybe we’re no longer wondering if the Heat’s lottery pick is an arrogant thug, but he’s going to have to watch himself and carve out a comfort zone. One that’s cool with him, his coach, and his handlers. Thank heavens for those handlers, and the marketing folks, and the agent, all of whom will spare this young man a very complicated, subtle decision.↵
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↵Or, screw this. Sometimes, I wish I’d grown up in a less corporate age of sports.↵