Lakeshow’s Finest: Get Beasley Now

Wes remains the only true SF. Enter Michael Beasley

Michael Beasley is Nick Young. Or at least what Nick Young used to be considered. Maybe he is Metta World Peace to a certain extent. Maybe both. One thing is for sure… his career so far has been fairly similar to those two players. Initially, Nick Young was considered a streaky player who enjoyed jacking up shots. It was a miracle when he had two assists in a game and two a lesser extent still is. Unfortunately, Nick Young was fined $10,000 by the N.B.A. in light of the infamous gun incident involving Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton, who ironically both have ties to the Lakers. Both of those players have thrown their career away one by murdering an innocent 22 year-old mother and the other has attempted to return to the league, once trying out for the Lakers, but to no avail. Excuse the tangent, but now Nick Young is a more complete player. It is not the simple story of him being on a bad team so he has gotten more minutes. That is not true. He has had more minutes on teams like the 76ers and Wizards in the past. Despite the Lakers UBER bombshell last season a few silver linings came out. Xavier Henry was one, Kobe’s injury wasn’t and Nick Young took the role as a leader, while coming off the bench, who is not afraid to stand up for himself. Metta World Peace, a guy who looks forward to fighting fans, has a similar career to Beasley. More on the side of streaky, ludicrous and what the hell was that? Metta World Peace has built his career primarily on defense, while Michael Beasley is exactly the opposite (Nick Young). So, one thing the Lakers do right when signing a player with past issues they manage to usually get their bang for their buck i.e. a championship from Metta and Young’s bench play.

It was just a few years ago Beasley averaged over 19 points a game for the Timberwolves. The T-Wolves thought his performance was so ecstatic that they shipped him off to the Suns. Throw in a slew of marijuana possessions, a speeding ticket and multiple N.B.A. fines one could say you got a mini Metta World Peace in the making… well minus the brawl versus the Pistons. The question you may be thinking is why would the Lakers sign him? Why not? The Lakers are increasingly heavy at the PF position (I count 5 as in a fifth of the team are PF’s), but extremely thin at the SF position (which is Beasley’s position). No offense to Wes Johnson, but he is way too inconsistent to be a starter. Drop a veteran’s minimum contract on this guy. He is a scorer, a Nick Young, and also he fills out the roster. 1 million for a 25 year-old scorer. Why not? What do the Lakers have to lose?