Wednesday, July 30, 2014

The Lakers are interested in Michael Beasley

Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com has reported that the Lakers have worked out Michael Beasley. It isn't known how much interest either side has shown with each other, but I'm all for giving Beasley a contract; the Lakers only have the minimum to give him, so it wouldn't be damaging at all to the team's finances if he takes a one or two year deal for the minimum. Given Beasley's current stock around the league, the minimum should be enough to sign the former 2nd overall pick.

Beasley has actually been receiving interest from several teams around the league, especially since the Heat do not seem very keen on keeping him. Beasley wasn't a part of the regular rotation for Miami, playing in 55 games for them last year, and playing only 23 minutes in 4 games during the playoff run for the Heat, but he was a lot more efficient last year than in previous years. Beasley shot 49.9% from the floor, 38.9% from three point land and 77.2% from the line, while putting up a 16.8 PER, which is the second highest in his career, behind the 17.2 PER he put up in his rookie season. Beasley's Per 36 numbers also looked pretty good last year, as he would have averaged 18.9 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game. Obviously, these likely would have gone down if he had actually played the 36 minutes per game, but with that said, Beasley might still be a pretty good player, especially if he were brought on with a cheap contract.

Maturity problems have been with Beasley for his whole career, but it seems he's starting to turn it around; on top of his solid efficiency, teams that are interested in him apparently found him to be mature last season as a role player with the Heat, and they hope he can continue to be so with their teams.

The Lakers could benefit from having a guy like Beasley on the team. He's a player who is talented, but because of mental hiccups, could never really put it together. I'm not saying he'll magically reach his potential now, but he is still only 25 years old. He has a solid chance of improving and becoming a pretty good player for most teams. I'm all for giving him a chance on a one or two year deal. What's the worst that could happen? He gets cut and we forget who Michael Beasley was in 10 years? Low risk, high potential is what Mitch Kupchak should be looking for while rounding out the bench, and Beasley is the definition of that.