Michael Beasley fans, it's time to just give in. He fought for his
right
to
be young. Now, it's looking like he might be that enfant
terrible -- what with
his
implication in Darrell Arthur/Mario Chalmers mini-scandal, and him
fighting for his right to "fail to cooperate with the league
investigation of the matter."
Funny photos and
possible
cover-ups aside, it's getting harder and harder to see Beasley as just
a big-mouthed babe in the woods. Not that this little shindig on the
eve of the Rookie Transition program was all that terrible, but it's
about as stupidly rebellious as you can get. Factor in the recent
agent
turmoil, and at least until he proves otherwise, Beasley's going to be
stuck with the bad boy label. If you're keeping track, that's
different from the post-Arenas goofball shtick I'd been trying to
foist on him. And yet it's not quite as deep a problem as what Josh
Howard's got to deal with now. This is young, wild, and crazy kid
stuff that runs counter to hard work and discipline, but hey,
sometimes it just doesn't matter with the likes of Beasley.
For me, the staunch Beasley supporter? I couldn't care less. He'll be
fine. I don't care about pot, defiling the proud tradition of Rookie
Transition, or sticking it to the Commissioner's office. I imagine
many of you don't, except insofar as they point toward further
disciplinary ruin down the road and on the court. I'm willing to bet
they won't. And if it's just a question of moral turpitude, of entering
the league with an unprofessional bang -- let me ask, are you concerned
about your opinion, or that of the hypothetical "other guy" who is
probably looking for an excuse to walk away from the NBA? Or, as we've
seen with the Howard incident,
stick
around just to say "I told you so".
As long as no one gets killed, or arrested, or benched for prim and
proper concerns on a team that, ideally, will be kind of a chaotic
work-in-progress, I'm going to sit back and just let Beasley be
Beasley. In about three years, I'll start fielding questions about
whether he's got what it takes to lead a team to a title. Since, you
know, the fairness of Miami having Wade and grabbing him demands the
rookie automatically set an example for everyone else in the room.
Hell, you might even say that this kind of freak draft occurrence
gives Beasley that much more of a cushion to be an eff-up.
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
0 comments
