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Authored by Christopher Reina - 5th June, 2008 - 11:22 am
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While the hype surrounding his arrival in Manhattan (Kansas) was a shade of what it would have been in Lawrence, Durham, or even Austin, Michael Beasley was an extremely dominant freshman who had a historical season.
Beasley often begins a halfcourt offensive set on the perimeter or high post where he will make his primary killing on the NBA level. His face-up game is extremely well-developed for a player of his age and size. In the triple threat position, there is nothing he can’t do, and Beasley (a very self-assured young man when I spoke to him) knows this fact exceedingly well. He is equally skilled shooting the 15-footer (also has NBA-range) as he is beating his man off the dribble.
But unlike certain remorseless prolific scorers, Beasley doesn’t excessively force things, and that partly comes from being so conscious of the re-post.
Very explosive in the post, Beasley is NBA-ready to bang and score. He scores at a tremendously effective rate despite the constant collapse of double-teams when he touches the ball. He’ll shoot a turnaround fadeaway jumper if his man sags off, and he’ll dribble into a spin move if his man gets too close. He can finish with his right hand within five feet and has outstanding awareness of where is on the floor.
His catch-and-shoot ability, especially when roving the baseline, is tremendous. He also does a good job of coming off screens, using them to free up his jumper.
Beasley is excellent at finding the vulnerabilities of a defense when he moves without the ball. Even more remarkable is how he always has his hands facing the ball, readying for a pass.
Rarely do you see Beasley set a screen, but when he does he shows good fundamentals in rolling to the basket or popping for an open jumper.
Beasley put up tremendous rebounding numbers in the Big 12, but I’m hesitant to believe he will be a truly great NBA rebounder. His instincts as an offensive rebounder, however, are remarkable. His anticipation on weakside misses, as well as his ability to follow and put back his own misses, are extremely valuable. By being so long to the ball despite being a little short for a power forward, he will always be an above average rebounder, but there is no mistaking the fact that he was born to be a scorer of unassailable quality.
Defensively, he is more motor and athletic talent than technique. He can block/affect shots quite easily, but he sometimes is mentally lackadaisical on that side of the ball which leads to non-productive fouls and not arriving in help position quickly enough to affect the outcome.
Physically, Beasley isn’t a jump out of the gym athlete, but he is very ‘basketball athletic’ and in all the ways he needs to be in order to excel on the court. He is very strong for his age, is as agile as any player his size, and has one of the best sets of hands that have come along in quite some time.
While he won’t be the defensive player Rasheed Wallace has been over the course of his career (not nearly as long), he will have a similar inside/outside game offensively at the power forward position and will likely be an even better scorer due to his ability to put the ball on the floor and create his own shot off the dribble.
- Click here to see our full list of 2008 Draft Prospect Reports
Christopher Reina is the executive editor of RealGM. He can be reached at Chris.Reina@RealGM.com where he may use your draft questions in a future mailbag edition |
