Playing Without Mike

Post #1 » by **Klomp** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 6:30 am

Michael Beasley has now missed 5 games this season due to injury. The first was when he injured his back in the Miami game. And he has now missed 4 games because of his ankle tweak.

11/3 @ ORL (128-86 L)
12/4 vs CLE (129-95 W)
1/13 vs WAS (109-97 W)
1/15 vs ORL (108-99 L)
2/8 @ HOU (112-108 W)

With the exception of the first Orlando game, we seem to play well even without Beasley's services. Is this just a coincidence due partially to the teams we've faced in those games, or is there more to this?

Esohny · Post #2 » by **Esohny** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 6:39 am

Are you saying that he's our "Dead Meat?"

Piecake · Post #3 » by **Piecake** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 6:41 am

I think our offense functions better without Beasley since Beasley tends to bog down the offense with his Iso stare down move. We definitely have several wins because of Beasley though, where he either scored a ton of points or hit some clutch shots - and I think for that, you have to play him since he is the only player on our team that can create his own shot at will. Its not like we are going anywhere this season anyways

Personally, I think Rambis should just ban his stupid stare down iso move. Either immediately shoot, jab step and then shoot, or drive to the bucket. Don't sit there and let the defense to establish itself again and have the offense come to a stand-still. I think Beasley needs to use more pump fakes too.

urinesane · Post #4 » by **urinesane** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 6:44 am

Klomp wrote:Michael Beasley has now missed 5 games this season due to injury. The first was when he injured his back in the Miami game. And he has now missed 4 games because of his ankle tweak.

11/3 @ ORL (128-86 L)
12/4 vs CLE (129-95 W)
1/13 vs WAS (109-97 W)
1/15 vs ORL (108-99 L)
2/8 @ HOU (112-108 W)

With the exception of the first Orlando game, we seem to play well even without Beasley's services. Is this just a coincidence due partially to the teams we've faced in those games, or is there more to this?

Pretty much answers your question.

karch34 · Post #5 » by **karch34** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 6:53 am

I think it's a small sample set to say anything definitively. All I would say is that with him out maybe some of the guys play a little more relaxed thinking they're not going to get as quick of a hook and can play through their mistakes and get enough minutes to do so, particularly Wes vs Cleveland and Wayne vs. Houston.

Post #6 » by **Klomp** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 7:10 am

Esohny wrote:Are you saying that he's our "Dead Meat?"

I'm still not sure what I'm saying. I just provide the facts, and let you guys deduce what you want...

I just think its interesting how we seem to play better without him in the lineup. I realize that two of the games were against a couple pretty weak opponents, but tonight's wasn't, especially when you consider we lost to the same team by 25 with a healthier roster of our own. Also the fact of how much we improved after the first Orlando game.

teven_1 · Post #7 » by **teven_1** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 7:20 am

logically we move the ball better. Beasley takes dumb shots and sometimes picks up dumb fouls. Doesn't change how much better he can make us in the future.
Also, no Darko 2 wins???

Piecake · Post #8 » by **Piecake** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 7:27 am

teven_1 wrote:logically we move the ball better. Beasley takes dumb shots and sometimes picks up dumb fouls. Doesn't change how much better he can make us in the future.
Also, no Darko 2 wins???

If Beasley just stopped doing his stupid iso stare down for 5 second move, I think the ball movement would be better with Beasley in the line up

zerogravity15 · Post #9 » by **zerogravity15** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 7:32 am

The offense does look better without Beasley, but there are times you need him out there to get us points. He should just make his decision faster (shoot, drive, or pass) so the offense doesn't become stagnant.

CoffeeJanitor · Post #10 » by **CoffeeJanitor** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 7:56 am

I also hate the iso stare.

Tirion · Post #11 » by **Tirion** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 10:50 am

The offense looks better without both Darko and Beasley. Beasley iso's/shoots too much and Rambis insistence to run plays through Darko, when he's clearly not up for the job, is baffling. But SuperCoolBeas can win you games, when he's on. Darko... not so much.

shangrila · Post #12 » by **shangrila** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 11:02 am

His ISOs don't kill ball movement though. They look like set plays and most of the time those few seconds he spends jab stepping are him waiting for everyone to clear out. And if this is him being developed for that role down the line then I'm fine with it.

Although I do think they should be going to him in the post a lot more, especially early in games. Get him a few easy baskets to get his confidence going and then let him shoot jumpers when he's feeling it.

collin_k41 · Post #13 » by **collin_k41** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 1:26 pm

I feel like it's a combination of things that make us look better when Mike isn't playing. I think a lot of it is mental. Everyone knows there are injured players and they know they ARE going to get plenty of playing time. When a player(or two, or three) goes down the rest of the players need to step up, and that's what's happened for us. Last night, everybody played a part, and I don't think one guy had what I'd call a disappointing game. That's what we need to win games, and it doesn't always happen when we have 15 guys competing for playing time. In some ways it's good that guys are competing for starting positions, etc., but there's also the comfort of knowing that not only do you have a lot of playing time, but your team is counting on you. I wouldn't say Beasley is some kind of cancer because we've won a few games when he's out, rather, I'd like to give credit to our bench/backup guys who step up and produce when they are called upon. Bravo!!!

Dewey · Post #14 » by **Dewey** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 3:29 pm

I was going to comment on this in last nights game thread, so glad to see the topic...

I'm not a big Beas fan - yet:
Basically, he's immature and has a mindset that he has to develop to be THE man. Not only does he bog down our offense, but his turnovers on top of that are frustrating. His defense is average on his best nights. He can carry the team some nights and has high upside, but as of now, he's a wash in what he brings on a nightly basis.

Beas just is not a good team player come "gametime", but he has to mature and learn how to function in a system. On the flip-side, Wes is a team player - almost to a fault, but I think he will gravitate to a more aggressive nature with a year under his belt.

uofmike · Post #15 » by **uofmike** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 3:40 pm

I think it has more to do with Darko being gone and the bench playing better than they ever have. Wayne was fantastic last night, if he played like that when Beasley was active... we'd still win. Pek was also pretty good (at least compared to his old 4 fouls in the first 7 minutes). Without Darko being in there, it turned down drastically on the number of feeds to the post that ended up in turnovers. Granted Beasley's turnovers while trying to drive the ball make me crazy, not as much as Darko losing the ball with his back to the basket

TMo519 · Post #16 » by **TMo519** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 4:31 pm

Great scorers do that stare down iso all the time. They survey the court to find where their best option is. I'm not saying Beasley is in the class with the superstars, but his role on this team basically is to be a scorer, and that's what scorers do. Is he still learning how to be that kind of player? Yes, this is his first season where he's really been called on to be a #1 type option, and he's had great moments and he's had bad moments, no surprise there.

As far as ball movement, of course the ball is gonna move better without Beasley out there because no one else on this team can create any offense for themselves. If the ball didn't move without Beasley out there, we'd avg. 80 points a game. With Michael Beasley on the floor, we're a better team, I don't care what a five game sample says. We've basically won one legitimate game without him on the floor. And it was one game after we sliced up a playoff team on the road with him out there.

urinesane · Post #17 » by **urinesane** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 5:01 pm

Beasley's iso is fine, he makes the shot a good amount of times and his passing has really improved so far. He just needs to really concentrate on taking care of the ball, his biggest weakness is ball handling and losing focus at times during the game.

Foye · Post #18 » by **Foye** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 5:02 pm

When to of those 3 wins are against Washington and Cleveland you need to a bigger size of games to evaluate. :wave:

AQuintus · Post #19 » by **AQuintus** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 5:19 pm

As already mentioned, Washington and Cleveland probably had more to do with our wins than anything, and I would say playing without Darko had more to do with our win against Houston than Beasley.

Darko is definitely a great shot blocker and probably our best Pick and Roll defender, but having Peks in the starting lineup means that Rambis couldn't run his stupid inside out defense. That means that the O was centered around our Points instead of centered around our Centers which limited turnovers and helped ball movement a ton.

champalift · Post #20 » by **champalift** » Wed Feb 9, 2011 5:53 pm

I don't think much of this 3-2 without Beas.
No doubt, he is our best option to create offense. Yes, he has been shaky at times, but he will learn. I think he needs to focus on his handles (and D of course) and believe that if he has better ball security he will see great imporvement.
What I really liked before he went down in New Orleans were those drives and dishes to Pek he had. If he can get his handles under control and drive more efficiently, damn, watch out, scoring and dropping dimes.