Has Miami Heat President Pat Riley missed a trick by trading Michael Beasley?
As soon as the two-time reigning MVP LeBron James decided to bring his talents to South Beach, Miami Heat president Pat Riley wasted no time in releasing Michael Beasley. On the same day, the ambidextrous player, who can play equally well at both the forward
positions, was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for two second round draft picks and cash.
The haste with which the forward left the Miami Heat left every one stunned. Beasley was picked up by the Miami Heat as the second overall draft pick in 2008. Looking from a talent point of view, Beasley was as pure as they come. He had the game, the on-court
charisma and the hustle required by any youngster to blossom into a perennial All-Star. He certainly started that way but with time Beasley gradually started to become a liability.
Over the next few months, several questions were also raised about Beasley’s level of commitment and his attitude towards the game; one that was certainly not befitting for a professional athlete.
In September 2008, he drew the ire of NBA as well. In the league’s Rookie symposium, Beasley was implicated in a drug related incident along with fellow rookies Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur. Although, later investigations could prove nothing, the young
forward was thought to be in the same room as Chalmers and Arthur when the two were allegedly caught with female companions and the smell of marijuana was detected. Beasley however, was still fined a hefty amount of $ 50,000, due to his failure to co-operate
in the initial investigations.
To complement that, Riley didn’t want Beasley to play second fiddle to James. Instead, he wanted a more polished and reliable shooter. By trading Beasley at that juncture and bringing in Mike Miller, not only did he achieve that purpose, but it also allowed
Riley to bring more experience into the Heat fold. Miller also brought the added advantage of versatility to the Heat bench as he was able to back up both the shooting guard and small forward positions.
However, the Heat’s experiment with Mike Miller has backfired, as he could not live up to the expectations of Riley or the Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. Miller has been blowing hot and cold all season and has been struggling miserably to set his gyro straight
when it comes to shooting off the field.
In fact, his struggles form the major slice of the Heat’s bench issues this season, which has left the ‘Big Three’ trio of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to do all the hard work. The struggle of the Miami supporting cast becomes even more pronounced when
you consider the fact that none of their players - except the star-troika- has scored at an average of more than eight points this season.
Now the question that arises at this point, is whether the Miami Heat would have been better off if they had held on to Beasley.
Ever since the 6ft-10in forward has landed in the Twin cities, he made his presence known to all and sundry. After playing 60 games for the Timberwolves this season, Beasley has notched up career-high averages of 19.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists
per game. In fact, for a team that often makes it to the headlines because of a certain Kevin Love, Beasley has been the only other silver lining this season.
The one thing that can be said in Riley’s defence is that somebody in the Miami roster had to make room in order to ease up the over-stretched salary cap due to the arrival of James and Bosh. However, Riley had always been honest with Beasley regarding his
future. So when he learnt that he would have to make way, it wasn’t much of a surprise.
Beasley himself is testament to Riley’s integrity.
Beasley said, “Pat Riley stayed honest with me the whole way through. As soon as LeBron made his decision, I pretty much knew I was out. [Riley] told me he didn’t want to trade me, but if an opportunity presents itself that he can’t turn down – like getting
the best players in the NBA – you have to jump at it.”
The former Miami Heat player said, “There was not enough money to pay me, Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem and those three guys.”
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