Posts tagged MichaelBeasley at FanHouse

According to the Kansas City Star, ESPN's initial report concerning the Darrell Arthur-Mario Chalmers weed and women bust at the NBA's rookie orientation mentioned a third player at the scene of the crime: #2 pick Michael Beasley. The Star reports Beasley's name has since been scrubbed from ESPN's accounts.

Why? Because some combination of police, hotel security and NBA officials decided Beasley wasn't involved in the weed possession. And ESPN's not the only media outlet to scrub Beasley's name: the Palm Beach Post's story on the matter previously cited Beasley, but no longer mentions the Heat rookie.

Why all the secrecy about Beasley? If he was in the room but found to be innocent of wrong-doing ... that's a good sign, something reassuring about him. Any negative suspicion regarding his involvement is only going to be intensified by the whispers resulting from ESPN's backtracking. The only other answer: Beasley wasn't in the room to begin with. In that case, ESPN needs to do more than remove his name from the accounts and hope everyone forgets. It needs to issue a correction and an apology. You can't just disappear mistakes in this age.

Alonzo Mourning will be remembered for a lot of things. Like this. And these. But maybe most of all for his passion. After fifteen years in the league, two Defensive Player of the Year awards, a kidney transplant and subsequent comeback, and one, satisfying championship, Mourning has built his legacy in the NBA on that passion. Since overcoming the illness that nearly ended his career, however, Zo has also begun building his legacy off the court, through extensive charity work. The crown of that legacy is his annual Zo's Summer Groove event in South Beach. It's going on this weekend, and Zo took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to talk to me about Zo's Summer Groove, his defensive legacy, and where he sees his life after basketball.


MM: Alonzo, thanks so much for your time, I know you're busy this weekend.

Zo: No problem, man, no problem at all. Nice to talk to you.

MM: So, what are you up to down in Miami?

This morning, World Champion NBA guard and All-World charity machine Dwyane Wade took some time out of his busy day -- chillin' in the G2 lounge is hard work, people -- to answer some questions from FanHouse about blogging diarying, the Olympics, Mike Beasley, Supernintendo Chalmers, Zo's Summer Groove and his iPod.

Will Brinson: Dwyane, what's up, man? Good morning and thanks for taking time to chat with FanHouse.

Dwyane Wade: Good morning, Will. Thanks for having me on, man.

WB: For there not being any games on, the NBA is pretty hectic right now, and suddenly the East looks pretty tough, especially with yesterday's craziness. What are your thoughts on where the Heat stand for 2008-09 in terms of addressing needs at the draft and free agency to get back to where you guys were a few years ago?

DW: Well, we were very excited about the guys we picked up in the draft this year. You know Beasley has a chance to be special -- a great player -- and Chalmers is a guy that could shock a lot of people. I can't believe he even fell to the second round, to the 34th pick, so we're very, very excited about getting those two guys.

I think we approach free agency very cautiously as well. We have a couple names, a couple guys we're targeting. But it's all about putting the right pieces together, not about the big names every summer, it's about adding the right pieces to the team and Coach Riley has done a great job with that.

Hey, it's the first day. It's the Summer League. It was one game. The first game. Of the Summer League. It's a long week, a long season, a long career. And I'm going to doubt any of that makes Chicago fans that were paying attention to the first day of the NBA's Orlando Summer League feel better, or Miami fans feel worse about today's little exhibition.

Michael Beasley was, in a word, brilliant. 28 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block in 22 minutes. He could have been playing against D-Leaguers, the Harlem Globetrotters, or Mrs. Wormtail's second grade class, those are some slick numbers. That he did it against No.1 overall pick Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls, in the midst of a 94-70 whupping made it all the more emphatic. The Heat dominated this game, even as Chicago started Rose, Joakim Noah, and Tyrus Thomas, who you may recognize as starters and heavy rotation guys. Not exactly a pretty start, even if its easy to brush off, given the absurd context of the Magic's practice facility in a meaningless exhibition in which D-League MVP Kasib Powell scored 15 and Keith Langford and Demetris Nichols led the Bulls. Beasley's game was in full effect today, as he worked his mid-range, long-range, post-work, and driving abilities. In a league that's meant to be used as a scrimmage clinic, Beasley put on one.

On Wednesday, Michael Beasley experienced his first official "welcome to the NBA" moment. A man amongst boys in college, Beasley lasted just 45 minutes into his first NBA practice before leaving with a chest injury:

Beasley was struck in the chest by an inadvertent elbow during a defensive drill about 45 minutes into Miami's first summer-league workout session Wednesday, and the No. 2 overall pick in last week's NBA draft was taken to a doctor for observation.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said the move was strictly precautionary and should not affect Beasley's availability for Miami's five-games-in-five-days run through the Orlando summer league, which opens Monday.

"He took a shot to the chest," Spoelstra said. "He probably could have finished if it was the regular season or something like that, but we just wanted to be safe."

Spoelstra isn't sure who knocked Beasley out of commission, but I'm not surprised a meaningless workout in July got so "inadvertantly" physical. The summer league isn't a bunch of veterans who know how to pace themselves; no, it's mostly a bunch of over-eager youngsters and journeymen trying to catch a coach's eye -- and what can be more impressive than out-working the No. 2 pick? Yeah, it's fine line -- actually knocking the golden boy out of commission won't earn anyone bonus points with the coaching staff -- but Beasley still went from being the big man on campus to a marked man overnight.

The drama is finally over, as the Bulls make it official and select Derrick Rose with the number one pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. As the analysts have been more than happy to tell us, Rose is a very special basketball player (duh), and after the season Chris Paul just put up at the point guard spot, anyone with Rose's talent level at that position isn't going to be passed up by many teams. Or as it turns out, by any team.

The Miami Heat also went with the logical choice, selecting Michael Beasley with the number two pick. And really, there was no other option. Beasley was too much of a statistical monster in college to let him go past two, even if (as had been widely reported) Pat Riley had issues with him and really wanted O.J. Mayo. Besides, if that's still the way he wants to go, he can now trade Beasley for Mayo and something else, instead of jumping Mayo to number two.

There's already been plenty of movement around the league leading up to this draft -- including the Clippers/Sonics rumor and the Richard Jefferson to Milwaukee (sucka!) deal -- and no one really knows what's going to happen tonight. (Except the guy above, Rose, who's kicking it because he's going early, he's gonna be rich, and he knows it.)

We think Chicago is going to take Derrick Rose, but really, with the loose cannon that is John Paxson running that ship into the ground they might not. As for number two, Pat Riley could do anything. He's been posturing all week and acting more like Phil Helmuth than the GM of an NBA team, pretending to have "secret workouts" and such, in an attempt to scare Chicago into doing whatever it is that he wants.

Which is anyone's best guess. Anyway, I'll be hear live blogging the event with some special guests* throughout the evening, so swing by and drop your comments in the live blog.

The draft starts at 7:00 pm but we'll try and get things going a little earlier for everyone's sake.

Now, I'm not saying there are any parallels between 1984 and 2008 ... but there really aren't. Unless you think O.J. Mayo is going to be the next Michael Jordan. Which, I suppose is possible, but pretty unlikely. Plus, he could end up going number two, Michael Beasley drops to three and suddenly he's the best player of his generation. Or maybe this is a foreshadowing to another era of Bulls dominance. Who knows?

The real reason I wanted to post this (via HotClicks) is David Stern's mustache.



I would say that "can't miss" is a pretty good description of MJ. Oh, and when your kids say "What was the best thing about the 1980's?", you tell them that anyone was allowed to have a mustache. Nowadays, only the strong survive. But back then, man.

As we count down to the moment when, apparently, Pat Riley snubs the guy who just put up the greatest college season in two decades ... as a freshman, said "bad seed" -- Michael Beasley -- unleashes a torrent of philosophy on the assembled media in NYC. From the Miami Herald's Sarah Rothschild and/or Michael Wallace:

On whether he needs to change and what he says to people who say he should mature: "Why change? I think they need to smile more."

Yes, people: smile more. I really can't believe Riley could leave this guy on the board if he doesn't find the right trade, just because he apparently has a personality. (No offense to the shy, demure, or straight-laced draft prospects. I just happen to think this sort of character-fearing is bad form.)

There's a question (that Shoals of Free Darko hints at) of whether this is all a bit of a Gilbert-induced act from Beasley, whether he really contains the function to shut up but has refused it for trifling pleasure or sincere plans to be different than his friend Kevin Durant. I think there's a middle ground; a little "Remedios the Beauty" in there: in his apparent youthful carelessness, he's more lucid than all the rest.

Heading into Thursday's NBA Draft, one question that's on everyone's mind is who will be taken with the top pick, Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley? Should the Bulls, who draft at No. 1, pick a future star who can run their offense in Rose, or should they go after a forward who can dominate the glass and score from anywhere on the floor in Beasley?

Well, strong cases can be made for both players. And they have. From GM's to coaches to writers to bloggers to fans, everyone has weighed in on the decision.

Everyone, that is, except for the guys who are going to be in the green room with Beasley and Rose tomorrow night. So during Wednesday's media availability here in New York, I talked to the Class of '08 about who they'd draft with the first pick if they were the Bulls. Read on to see what Kevin Love, D.J. Augustin and others had to say about the Beasley vs. Rose debate.