Beasley has come a long way back
Michael Beasley is a former second overall pick who still has hopes of returning to the NBA. The swingman is 34 but has been through an arduous professional journey over the past 15 years.
Beasley was considered a franchise cornerstone when he was drafted by the Heat in 2008, but personal issues, struggles with mental health and unenviable playing situations turned him into a journeyman with a cloudy reputation.
Beasley said he has found peace mentally, using a popular phone app to offer more structure and support as he continues his quest for an NBA comeback.
“I don’t want to be too straight forward or anything but I just enjoy busting [opponents on the court],” he said. “Just as simple as that. I enjoy you not being able to stop me from doing what you want me to do or you not being able to stop what I want to do. I enjoy the control. I just enjoy getting better. I enjoy teaching my son. I’m just enjoying being better and you simply not being as good as me.”
Beasley flourished offensively during his time in the league. During a
Dec. 2017 game against the Celtics, he scored 32 points in 25 minutes for the Knicks. He was unstoppable. Just two years later, however, Beasley was out of the league.
“If I had to answer that question [why I’m not in the league], I would have solved it a long time ago,” he said. “But I don’t know. For me it’s just staying in shape and being ready if it comes.”
The NBA as well as corporate America takes mental health more seriously than 15 years ago. Beasley struggled with confidence, the pressure of being a franchise player and admittedly was a teenager in a grown man’s body trying to deal with the professional lifestyle.
“When I came into the NBA, it was the back end of Stephon Marbury’s little ordeal and it was like, literally, if you showed anything but perfect, you were crazy,” he said. “A lot of guys didn’t want to be crazy. A lot of guys were just scared of the stigma that came with it. I know I was. It was literally just what they say, ‘shut up and dribble.’ ‘No we don’t care how you feel, just dribble the ball.’ I’m glad to see it in a better place because I would hate for the next young guy, the next No. 2 pick to go through what I had to go through mentally.”
Beasley said he finally had to admit mental health was an issue and it took him years to acknowledge he wasn’t perfect and he needed to pay as much attention to his mental approach as his physical game.
“That’s a personal journey,” he said. “Everyone has their own maturation process. And the process starts with yourself, and me personally I had to get over a lot of things, embarrassment. If this person is going to look at me like that. What if they look at me like this? What are my kids going to think? It’s really everybody’s own process so I just take it a day at a time. So my message to everyone, take it a day at a time, be better to yourself, better than you were yesterday and don’t compare yourself to nobody but the person in the mirror.
“It’s OK to build on a strong mind. We have to build perseverance and resiliency also. Mental health isn’t just a negative thing and that’s what the Oura [app] brings to the table or brings a fun way to look at it, a different perspective on mental health. But as far as the next generation, I just want y’all to be vulnerable, show that no matter what you go through, the highs, the lows, you still have to have a strong mind. I don’t care if you’ve never made a dollar in your life or you made a billion dollars a day, you still need a strong mind to handle what comes at you daily. That’s literally what it is.”
There are regrets. Beasley said he was too young, immature and unassertive to speak out for himself, to challenge the critics and general managers and pundits who called him a washout.
“I wish I was able to speak out against people with their own nerve,” he said. “I wish I was strong enough mentally to have enough confidence in my own voice as opposed to listening to what everybody else wanted me to be or what everybody else thought I was. If I could do anything differently, I wish that I could literally be strong enough mentally to stand up for myself. How tough was it for you at 19 years old? Everybody looked at me when I was 19 and my game was a lot more mature than my age.
“And nobody wanted to admit that, and so people treated me like my game and I was just a 19-year-old kid in the world with a bunch of people that wanted to be me — or wanted to take my spot. If I could change anything, it would literally just be the fact that I wasn’t strong enough mentally to decipher my feelings from anger to anxiety to stress, to still be able to speak with confidence on how I feel rather than let everybody else speak for me.
“The last few years I’ve been able to speak up for myself because I’ve been cleared mentally. That’s one thing that I have been able to do is get me a safe place to divide my thoughts and multiply the ones that need to be multiplied, and subtract the ones that need to be subtracted. And love to the ones that need it. I didn’t have that when I was younger. That’s the difference between now and then.”
Layups
The Celtics created a roster spot by waiving guard Justin Champagnie, who would have earned $50,000 if he was on the roster after Aug. 1. Boston now has flexibility to sign a minimum salary player and clear space in the backcourt. President of basketball operations Brad Stevens said the club is seeking wing help and there are several free agents who may accept the Celtics’ veteran minimum salary offer for the opportunity to compete for a championship. Champagnie, whose brother signed a guaranteed deal with the Spurs, had an uneven Las Vegas Summer League and would have been competing for one of the final roster spots. A possibility is veteran Blake Griffin, who was a strong locker room presence and offered production in spurts. The Celtics will have to make a decision on center Luke Kornet, another player who enters this season on a non-guaranteed contract . . . There is no hurry for the Trail Blazers to make a deal involving Damian Lillard until they begin to get competitive offers. The NBA sent a memo to all 30 teams warning players and agents about publicly asking for trades to specific teams, which puts the Trail Blazers in an unenviable position. According to league sources, the NBA is displeased with Lillard making such a public trade demand to Miami and has urged general manager Joe Cronin to make the best deal possible for Portland, even if that means no deal. The NBA fines players who make public trade demands but both Lillard and James Harden have asked to be dealt to particular teams. Harden, now with the 76ers, wanted to be traded to the Clippers. But like the Trail Blazers, there’s no reason for the Clippers to make a competitive offer against themselves. The market for Harden is tough to read because of his recent history and his impending free agency. Harden opted into the final year of his contract with Philadelphia with the private agreement that he would eventually be traded to a preferred team. The Clippers are interested in Harden but don’t want to give up a load of young prospects, such as former Lowell resident Terance Mann and draft picks, for a one-year rental. And it’s uncertain how Harden would blend with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard in what is a critical season for the Clippers, who want to generate as much momentum as possible before opening a new arena in 2024-25.