Beauty of the Beas

The movie Gunnin' for that #1 Spot opens with a handicam shot of Michael Beasley doing what he does best: acting like a goofball. The rest of the movie, which follows Beasley and the other competitors in 2006's Elite 24 high schoolers game at Rucker Park in Harlem, contains equal parts that and the thing that Beasley does second best: playing phenomenal basketball.

Unfortunately, in his two years with the Miami Heat, Beasley did not get the opportunity to do either of those things very well. He has been a solid contributor during that time, no doubt about it. But expectations were big when he was taken with the second pick in 2008. He had been dominant in high school (at nearly a dozen different institutions) and in college (at Kansas State). And, above all, he seemed poised for a spectacular NBA career. He was a big forward with crazy athleticism, and he had the personality of a Barkleyesque class clown who also needed to be taken seriously.

What happened over the course of the next two years was not so much a disaster as it was a castration. You see, Mike Beasley is not the kind of player who deals in mediocrity. Nor is he the kind of person who deals in obscurity. When you watch that opening scene of Gunnin', what you see is the kind of freespiritedness that is only available to those who are among the best at what they do. Their level of performance permits them to act as silly as they want, for self-consciousness is not a possibility. Think LeBron before he started having "legacy" issues. This was a portrait of Mike Beasley as a young man. But then, in two years with Miami, we saw his sails deflate as a result of his sheer normality. He put up the numbers--14 and 6--of a very human, very boring power forward. His reputation fared little better, due to his penchant for green. He had become NBA minutiae at best, and a troubled, uncoachable failure at worst.

With any luck, this is about to change. Minnesota has come calling and Beasley has responded with honesty and cautious excitement. With Al Jefferson gone, he has a chance to form a very good frontcourt pairing with Kevin Love, and they'll have Wesley Johnson to create tons of opportunities for them. Sure, Beasley should have succeeded in Miami. But from the very moment he put on that Heat cap, it seemed like a bad fit. Maybe it was because his own expectations were too high, maybe it was because of Pat Riley, maybe it was because he was getting used to playing with someone so much better than he.

Whatever the hangup was, I have a good feeling that it's over, and I think we're about to see a new--or, actually an old--Michael Beasley. He's got a new cap now, and despite its initial appearance, methinks it's gonna fit pretty damn well.