Jared Cohen
Michael Beasley has been watched by everyone with a close eye since he first signed with the Suns. He was introduced as someone that is going to be the go-too scorer of team and he was introduced as someone that was going to makeover their career in a Suns uniform.
That hasn’t exactly gone as planned for Beasley and the Suns. He has gone from the starting small forward to the first wing player off the bench to not coming off the bench at all. Consistency has been his biggest problem but at the same time, consistency has been a problem for the entire team. Not just Beasley.
“It has been the case for a bunch of guys,” said Suns head coach Alvin Gentry. “You have to give him (Beasley) an opportunity. He can’t be on a short leash.”
With consistent minutes hard to come by for Beasley, this current stretch could be critical for him to unleash and to regain confidence not just in himself, but from Gentry as well. With Jared Dudley sidelined for two games against the Bulls and Thunder, Beasley scored a combined 34 points and 17 rebounds. Dudley will not be sidelined for long with the wrist injury so it is up to Beasley to continue to produce if he still wants to be on the floor during crunch time.
Dudley and Shannon Brown have seemed to have earned the bulk of minutes for the wing players so how can Beasley continue to maintain what he has done since Dudley was sidelined?
“Just have to forget about these last two games,” Beasley said. “My energy is on full tilt. Just have to go out there and play hard on the defensive side, grab rebounds and do the little things. The offense is going to come.”
Gentry added of Beasley that its important with Beasley that he is “playing within, not outside the box.”
You can see that he wants to be successful. Beasley is not afraid to speak up when in the huddle during a timeout. When on the bench he likes to help coach and dictate situations to players on the floor and when he is on the floor, he looks like he is trying to be coachable and a leader.
“I just have to keep working hard and playing hard and hopefully I will get more minutes,” Beasley said.
