In a twist we would have never seen coming a year ago, teams that are interested in current free agent Michael Beasley are ‘intrigued’ by his efficiency and maturity per Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders.
Several teams have expressed interest in free agent Michael Beasley. Teams like the efficiency and maturity he showed last season in Miami.
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) July 26, 2014
While Beasley’s numbers scream efficient, there’s a little thing called “small sample size” that must be taken into account when glancing over those numbers.
For the first time in his career, Beasley entered the season as a true role player. With LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade on the roster, there was no need for Beasley to bludgeon defenses with high usage play. Spot-up. Shoot. Occasionally create for yourself when you either have the clear opportunity too or if you’re one of the few players on the floor that can truly create form himself.
More from Miami Heat
- Predicting NBA’s Christmas Day Schedule: Lakers, Warriors highlight slate of postseason rematches
- 3 reasons the Blazers should trade Damian Lillard to the Heat and 2 reasons they shouldn’t
- 5 former Heat players to sign on veteran minimum deals, ranked
- NBA Rumors: Damian Lillard’s apology, ex-Heat player’s reflection, Darvin Ham bites a Nugget
- 3 potential James Harden suitors not named the Clippers
In this role, Beasley’s opportunity to put up points eroded. For the first time in his career, Beasley played less than 1000 minutes in a season and averaged less than 20 minutes per game.
Smaller role + less minutes = a chance to increase efficiency.
Taking 6.5 shots per game, a clear career-low, Beasley made three field-goals a night equaling out to 49% shooting. Why? Because he was 1) taking less shots and 2) as a role player, his shots were “better” shots than they would have been if he was largely relied on as he was in the past.
If a team sees Beasley as a 10-15 minute a game guy, there’s are chance he can recreate what was done last season. Of course, it’s going to take a handful of discipline and leadership to make sure Beasley remained within the role–something Miami had in James, Wade, Erik Spoelstra and Pat Riley.
With that said, we’ll get a better glance of Beasley’s ability to remain efficient once he finds himself a situation that guarantees more than 1000 shots and 350 shots. The odds Beasley continues to shot 49 percent or higher aren’t in his favor, but odds have been defied before. There’s no reason the same can’t be done here.
We’ll just have to see it to believe it.