The Evolution of Michael Beasley

On Saturday Michael Beasley, Sr. spoke to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel about his son’s progress:

“He said he learned a lot about himself in this process,” the elder Beasley said by phone, “and it was a wake-up call for him that he needs to take his career more seriously.”

“I think he needed to go through go this to weed out the people who were around him that didn’t mean him any good,” said Beasley Sr., who is considering moving permanently to South Florida. “It’ll be different people this season. His hang-out, club friends? I don’t think he’ll be with them no more.”

“I told him he needed to go from zero-to-man in like 60 seconds,” he said. “I know that is a lot of pressure on him, to be mature. I told him, ‘At work, you be professional. When you’re with your family and friends, then you can be fun-loving and happy go lucky.’ The perception that needs to be portrayed is that he’s a professional and he needs to act as such.”

I like that: “zero-to-man in 60 seconds.” Michael Beasley’s been chided for immaturity for virtually his entire career. When he was at Kansas State, for example, he never got into trouble, and yet, questions about his maturity level persisted in the media throughout his outstanding freshman season.

There was his time in high school, too: when he and Ty Lawson (now with the Nuggets) had a competition to see who could put their autograph on the most school property. The game escalated, and soon, the principle was called in and ordered the two basketball stars to stop. So what did Beasley do? Sign the principals car, naturally.

Not so many years later, Durant and Beasley are the gods every baller in PG aspires to be. As they played in that August charity game in the Seat Pleasant Activity Center, the overflow crowd of kids just wanted to be near them. After the game, the younger generation followed the stars into the parking lot for a touch or a final hug. Before long, Durant disappeared as quietly as he had arrived. Beasley, though, milked his exit from the driver’s seat of his new Bentley. Finally, he pulled off down the street, bass thumping.

And that’s been Beasley’s problem. Where peers like Durant are most interested in downplaying the peripheral attention associated with their newfound celebrity, Beasley basks in it. Does that make him a bad person? Of course not. But it certainly marks a young man with immature tendencies.

My question: if Beasley was able to perform as well as he did despite his wandering attention, what kind of effect could this summer’s growth have on his evolution on the court? If he’s really taking his life and career more seriously, then we could see a vastly improved player for Miami this year. And again, he was already very good.

With added focus and less partying, consider yourselves warned: we could find ourselves watching a much, much better player.