Phoenix’ Finest Find Beasley’s Kindest
Apr 7, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Michael Beasley (0) and forward Wesley Johnson (2) walk up the court during the game against the New Orleans Hornets in the first half at US Airways Center. Mandatory Credit: Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Michael Beasley got busted with weed.
That Beasley still uses doesn’t really factor in to my disappointment with his career’s lack of upward trajectory. In truth, finding out Wes Johnson or Darko Milicic were huge potheads would help me understand their total apathy and lack of effort and finding out certain front offices openly smoke would at least explain how either of those guys still manage to get signed as free agents.
People are gonna talk about how tragic it is a “great talent” like Beas is throwing it all away. People are gonna make pleas for treatment and encourage open discussion about drug addiction or drug policy or legalizing various stuff — and whatever, y’know. It’s politics and public relations, to a point, and I don’t care about anybody’s personal politics here. The truth is nobody really knows how big a “problem” weed is for Beasley, we only know he gets busted with it from time to time.
When Pat Riley threw Beasley into treatment back in Miami, I thought it was a ploy to wash the stink off of a #2 overall pick he knew he wanted nothing to do with before he even picked him. And the David Kahn comments — although completely and hilariously inappropriate at the time — were actually kind of relevant to Michael’s situation, and I always thought it was a little disturbing how the popular take on his usage (weed, not amount of bad shots — humor!) got blown out of proportion while the accepted storyline was that most NBA players were probably throwing smoke (or “doing the pot”) with some amount of regularity.
I guess the most interesting part to this story would be if any details as to how often a guy who by all accounts is a pretty all-around goofy when totally stone sober is actually smoking. Would it fit in with the narrative of an underachieving tweener who almost exclusively shoots long twos instead of working for better shots? It’s almost too simple or lazy to, uh, be, y’know… a cheap pun.
Oh, ok — BE EASY.
From the four letter…
"SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Forward Michael Beasley, who vowed when he joined the Phoenix Suns a year ago that his marijuana problems were in the past, has been arrested by Scottsdale police after they found what they believe to be marijuana in his car.Beasley was arrested early Tuesday following a traffic stop, according to Officer David Pubins.An officer found three cigarettes suspected to contain marijuana in Beasley’s Mercedes after smelling marijuana during the stop, Pubins said.Beasley was released after being cited for investigation of one felony count each of marijuana possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.According to Pubins, court proceedings in the case will begin once results of lab tests are available.Beasley, the No. 2 overall pick in the draft by Miami out of Kansas State in 2008, signed a three-year, $18 million contract with the Suns a year ago. But he went on to have a disappointing, inconsistent season, averaging career lows of 10.1 points and 3.8 rebounds in 75 games as Phoenix compiled the worst record in the Western Conference and second worst in franchise history. He shot 40.5 percent from the field, also a career worst.Marijuana issues followed Beasley to Arizona.In June 2011, Beasley was ticketed for possessing marijuana and speeding in a Minneapolis suburb. He also has acknowledged that while playing for Miami, he twice violated the NBA’s drug policy and entered a treatment facility in 2009.At a news conference following his signing with the Suns, Beasley pointedly said he was through with marijuana.“I realize 10 minutes of feeling good is not really worth putting my life and my career and my legacy in jeopardy,” he said then, “so I’m confident to say that that part of my career, that part of my life, is over and won’t be coming back.”"