June 29, 2018

Malik Beasley
SG - 6’5, 196lbs - 21 years old - 2 years of experience

Spending another season at the back end of the rotation, Beasley did at least appear in 62 games this season, if never for very long. All told, that added up to a 583-minute sample size on the court, enough to make some evaluations about his NBA pedigree. Unfortunately, the results thus far in that time have been limited.

When Beasley plays, he does put forth some good perimeter defence. He has NBA size, just about, and NBA athleticism, just about, and he uses that to body up opposing wings quite well on the perimeter. It is not excellent defence, but it is pretty good with stand-out moments, and Beasley does seem pretty determined to be known for it. This bodes well.

Offensively, though, he gets gun shy. Not a premier shooter, the Beasley of college, summer league and preseason who attacks off the bounce and creates points was not found for pretty much all of last season. Beasley is not necessarily being looked at as a creator; it would be nice if he could do it, yet if he could just cut to get open around the basket and from the perimeter as a part of the Jokicball system, then hit some of the looks that opens up, that would suffice. Yet he is not really doing that either. He instead is very unassertive, perhaps in fear of erring.

It is probably true to say that giving a player so many small chances on the court instead of one big chance will have an affect on a player’s offensive rhythm, and that he hasn’t had the best chances to succeed. But unequivocally, he hasn’t succeeded.

Player Plan: Two years of rookie scale salary remaining. Needs to prove that year four option is worth it, considering the 2019 summer might be tight financially.

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June 29, 2017

Malik Beasley
SG, 6’5, 176lbs, 20 years old, 1 year of experience

Barely played, but did well enough when he did, at least offensively. If he can work the off-ball game with Jokic like Harris does ahead of him, he could thrive as a low-dribble high-production scorer, and he appears able to hold his own defensively under limited examination thus far.

Player Plan: Three years of rookie scale salary remaining. Could be on the “good pieces” list by this time next year, but needs minutes to establish his worth in the future, and where those minutes are coming from on such a deep wing rotation are not immediately obvious.

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