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.
Game One Against The Lakers: 8-10 FG | 21 points
During the Lakers game, you saw the very good Michael Beasley. He scored 21 points on 8-10 shooting, and just looked very confident with most of his decisions, and he made these decisions quickly (which is just as important).
Here, Beasley gets the ball in transition uses a very nice hesitation dribble (instead of settling for a jumper), gets his defender on his heels, and then gets to the rim drawing a foul.
Here, Beasley’s defender is overplaying him on his right hand (which by the way, makes no sense since he’s a lefty). Beasley simply reacts by taking what is given to him, gets as close to the rim as he can, and hits a nice pull up jumper.
Here, Beasley makes a catch on the top of the key, swings it to Kevin Love, and then cuts off of him getting the ball back. When he gets it back, he sees that his man is playing off of him and knocks down the jumper.
And finally here, Beasley makes the catch, jab steps in one direction, and then dribbles to the opposite direction, freeing himself up for a wide open jumper.
All game, Beasley was executing quick and fluid moves, and looked very good doing it. I really liked how he was able to get to the rim, because when you do that you see the ball go in and that gives you even more confidence to knock down the outside shots.
Game Two Against The Knicks: 4-12 FG | 13 points
As good as Beasley looked against the Lakers, he looked as bad against the Knicks in my opinion. Remember how he got into the paint and attacked the rim against the Lakers? That went away for the most part, and he was back forcing jumpers and taking bad shots:
In this clip, Beasley comes off of a screen and has Amar’e coming strong at him (basically begging for him to take the baseline). Instead, Beasley settles for the challenged jumper that he airballs.
In this clip, Beasley runs the floor well, but when he makes the catch he settles for the jumper instead of attacking the rim. All he needs is one more dribble and he is at the rim, but he pulls up instead.
Here, Beasley corrals the loose ball, and instead of pulling it out and resetting, he takes a desperation jumper from behind the backboard as he falls away from the rim. In my opinion, there is no reason to be falling away in that situation. Grab the ball, get your body going towards the rim, and attack. You are either going to get an easy look or draw the foul.
Turnovers: 6.0 Turnovers Per Game
Another reason why I don’t think Beasley is every going to take that jump from an inconsistent player to a guy you know is going to show up day in and day out is because he commits too many turnovers. What bothers me about his turnovers is that they are mental mistakes that can be avoided. They aren’t forced by the defense either, its just Beasley not doing everything correctly or being indecisive:
Here Beasley gets the ball and surveys the defense (good), decides that he would rather swing the ball instead of forcing it (good), but he starts his pass before picking his head up (not good at all). He doesn’t make sure that Love is setting up for the swing pass, and the result is a pass out of bounds.
Getting caught in the air is an indication of indecisiveness. Often times the players make a decision too quick, react to the defense reacting, and then changes his mind when it is too late. Against the Lakers, he tries to pass, but the ball gets deflected and stolen. Against the Knicks, he decides to dribble instead of shoot, but he reacts too late and a travel is called against him.
This happens to a player once in a while, but when this starts happening once a game (or every couple of games), that shows there is a trend of indecisiveness. Being indecisive in the NBA is not a good thing.
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To sum things up, Beasley has the skills to be a very good player. However, the mental aspect of the game is holding him back, and in my opinion it will prevent him from ever being a star. I realize people are going to think I am making these decisions based on two preseason games, but I am not. It’s more than just the performance and the numbers, its how he goes about it. If Beasley did the same exact thing in the Lakers game, but just missed every shot, I wouldn’t be complaining, because he is attacking and showing aggressiveness. If Beasley did the same exact thing in the Knicks game, but made every shot, I wouldn’t be happy because he settled. It isn’t about the numbers. From one game to the next, Beasley looks like two completely different players, and the problem is that one of them is not very good.
