Suns blog Valley of the Suns decided to look into the acquisition of Michael Beasley, which is going to be fun for everyone, for about three months. Suns fans get to play the “he’s just misunderstood, give him a chance!” card while everyone else gets to play the “every moment he’s ever played in the pros” card. Either Beasley will mature, develop, and grow into a great player and everyone will be forced to admit that the $6 million per year the Suns are paying him is worth it, or Suns fans will hate him in the way you can only hate players that fool you into believing and then fall flat.
The post digs into the work done on the subject at Weak Side Awareness, specifically:Finally, the piece cites a list of lineups that played together for at least 30 minutes on 82games.com and found all but one above average Beasley lineup has him at the four and 16 of 28 below average lineups have him at the three.
The problem with all this is that Beasley will most certainly be a three in Phoenix as well with an army of power forwards who must play in Luis Scola, Channing Frye and Markieff Morris. With Marcin Gortat and Jermaine O’Neal at center, there just aren’t many frontcourt minutes to go around.
On the flip side, it’s likely Jared Dudley and Shannon Brown will share the two spot, which leaves just Wes Johnson at the three aside from Beasley. In other words, it looks like the Suns will be making the same apparent mistake Miami and Minnesota did.
Now personally I don’t believe in “positions” these days so much as the roles players play. Is Dudley a two or a three? Is Johnson a two or a three? Is Frye a four or a five? Does it really matter?
I suppose it might if the Suns keep Beasley on the perimeter taking long twos all day. Perhaps there won’t be room to operate on the interior, but with a theoretically smaller defender on him the Suns should make this a priority.
For what it’s worth, Beasley and the Suns don’t seem to think it matters what position he plays, although based on this Weak Side Awareness analysis perhaps they should.
via Can Michael Beasley shed the bust label?.
The metrics certainly indicate that Beasley should be played at the 4, or whatever the “4" is on the Suns, and historically, there’s been a lot of talk that that’s where Beasley needs to be. But is his inside game good enough to provide post scoring or second-chance points on the offense? Can he manage to set screens well enough to create space? I’m not even going to talk about defense.
I’ve always been on the other side of the conversation, thinking that Beasley’s combination of athleticism and ability to spread the floor would work best as a modification of the modern NBA three. And that’s a position he’ll have more opportunities with in Phoenix. Of course, I think the concerns with him are more centered around his awareness on the floor and his ability to navigate a season while controlling his worse impulses, but based on this theorem, yes, he could succeed.
It’s not that anyone thinks the $6 million per year is some huge price. It’s that it’s a huge price for what Beasley has shown. But maybe this is it, where he has the right opportunity at the right time in his career in the right time in his life. It’s the offseason. It’s time for nothing but hope.
