08 | October | 2010 | NBA Playbook

Michael Beasley & Inconsistency

If I would use one word to describe Michael Beasley’s first two seasons in the NBA, it would be inconsistent.  We have seen flashes of brilliance from the 21 year old, but we have also seen some pretty bad games as well.  In my opinion, inconsistency is a mental issue and if you start seeing it for long stretches (over the course of two seasons for example), it tells me the player is never going to get out and play consistently.  Why do I think that?  Because playing consistently is a mindset.  It has nothing to do with talent at all.

I have to say, I believe Michael Beasley is destined to be inconsistent his entire career.  He has all of the talent in the world, but I never think he is going to be able to display it on a nightly basis.  So what makes me think this inconsistency will continue in Minnesota?  All you have to do is look at his preseason performance in the first two games:

I feel like I should mention, that yes, I understand that this is the preseason and that you can’t really judge much from it.  But I think mentality and decisions like whether or not someone drives or settles for the jumper can be – to me, it isn’t that Beasley went 4-12 against the Knicks after going 8-10 against the Lakers, its how he did it.

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08
Oct 2010
POSTED BY Sebastian Pruiti
DISCUSSION 20 Comments
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A Look At The New Yao

Yao Ming has played limited minutes in his first two preseason games (12 minutes against Orlando/13 minutes against San Antonio), but I think it is enough to see how Yao will be used (and how he can play) this year.  From what I have seen over the 25 minutes, it tells me that Yao should be fine on the offensive end (playing at the level he has been his entire career), but on the defensive end, it is a different story.

Offensive End

On the offensive End, Yao has never really been a guy who has relied on his quickness to score.  For him, it is all about post position, and working off of that.  We haven’t seen Yao have too much success in the post this offseason, but I am willing to account this to rust rather than his injuries.  Yao still seems to be able to work in the flow of the offense:

Here, Yao comes off setting the screen and pops instead of rolls. He gets the ball and hits a cutting Kevin Martin with a nice pass.

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08
Oct 2010
POSTED BY Sebastian Pruiti
DISCUSSION 4 Comments
TAGS