A little perspective on Beasley

ponder276 · Post #1 » by **ponder276** » Thu May 22, 2008 6:14 am

A lot of people on these boards hate on Melo, but love Beasley, which I find quite strange. In my opinion, they are very similar players, and I would say that Beasley's upside is roughly Melo, though he could easily not reach Melo's level. Comparing Beasley as a prospect to Melo as a finished product:

Scoring:
Both can score from the perimiter and the post. Melo has scored over 25 ppg for 3 straight seasons on good percentages. He was 2nd in the league in scoring last season, and 4th this season. Basically, Beasley is not going to be a better scorer than Melo currently is, as it's pretty tough to be better than a top 3 scorer in the league.

Defense:
Neither play d. Beasley's defense has looked really bad in college, I think it's unreasonable to expect Beasley to be a significantly better defender than Melo.

Size/athleticism:
Beasley is roughly an inch taller than Melo, but Beasley is gonna be a bad defender regardless of his height, and scoring-wise, Melo has no problem scoring on PFs, so I don't see this as an issue. The two have similar athleticism and quickness.

Style:
Both are combo forwards.

Rebounding:
Beasley can probably be a better rebounder, though Melo was not bad this season at 7.4 rpg. I expect Beasley to be a roughly 9 rpg kind of guy.

Passing:
Melo is definitely the better passer, Beasley's passing/playmaking is unimpressive at best.

In my opinion, if he reaches his upside, Beasley will basically be Melo with a bit better rebounding and significantly worse passing. So what is it about Beasley that gives him a shot at becoming a better player than Melo? Or are people simply hyping Beasley up unreasonably, while being way too harsh on Melo?

JimmyBulls · Post #2 » by **JimmyBulls** » Thu May 22, 2008 6:16 am

Stop making stuff up. :crazy:

ponder276 · Post #3 » by **ponder276** » Thu May 22, 2008 6:26 am

JimmyBulls wrote:Stop making stuff up.

Please clarify. What am I making up?

JimmyBulls · Post #4 » by **JimmyBulls** » Thu May 22, 2008 6:31 am

Beasley is not a terrible defender, and he has very good playmaking ability. How many K-State games did you watch?

ponder276 · Post #5 » by **ponder276** » Thu May 22, 2008 7:14 am

JimmyBulls wrote:Beasley is not a terrible defender, and he has very good playmaking ability. How many K-State games did you watch?

I saw 5 K-State games, and watched Beasley almost exclusively every time. He is definitely terrible defensively - he just kind of floats around, not rotating properly, often getting himself stuck in no-man's-land, not really picking up his man, or the man he should be helping on, or cutting off the passing lanes, but just kinda roaming uselessly in between. He looks lost on d, and just seems to have very low BBIQ on the defensive end.
As for his playmaking ability, I rarely saw him make any impressive plays or passes, and there's definitely a reason he averaged only 1.2 apg despite his ridiculously high useage rate. When he gets the ball, he mostly tries to score, and when he can't, he generally makes an easy "distributing" pass to a teammate, not a "playmaking" pass that actually gives his teammate an easy scoring opportunity.

Note that I'm not saying he'll be a bad player, and I'm not saying he shouldn't be the #1 pick, I'm just saying his upside is roughly Carmelo Anthony (who, despite popular RealGM belief, is one of the elite players in the league). He'll be a great scoring, solid rebounding combo forward, who does little else.

kodo · Post #6 » by **kodo** » Thu May 22, 2008 6:47 pm

DX compared Beasley's defense to Drew Gooden.

Living in Chicago and actually being a Gooden fan, i still wouldn't call that a compliment.

whitedolemite · Post #7 » by **whitedolemite** » Thu May 22, 2008 8:01 pm

Ponder- Completely agree with you analysis, I think Beasley's stats in his prime will be the similar to Carmelo's except +2reb and -1.5asst and he'll probably block a few more shots.

Wade2k6 · Post #8 » by **Wade2k6** » Thu May 22, 2008 10:58 pm

ponder276 wrote:A lot of people on these boards hate on Melo, but love Beasley, which I find quite strange. In my opinion, they are very similar players, and I would say that Beasley's upside is roughly Melo, though he could easily not reach Melo's level. Comparing Beasley as a prospect to Melo as a finished product:

Scoring:
Both can score from the perimiter and the post. Melo has scored over 25 ppg for 3 straight seasons on good percentages. He was 2nd in the league in scoring last season, and 4th this season. Basically, Beasley is not going to be a better scorer than Melo currently is, as it's pretty tough to be better than a top 3 scorer in the league.

Defense:
Neither play d. Beasley's defense has looked really bad in college, I think it's unreasonable to expect Beasley to be a significantly better defender than Melo.

Size/athleticism:
Beasley is roughly an inch taller than Melo, but Beasley is gonna be a bad defender regardless of his height, and scoring-wise, Melo has no problem scoring on PFs, so I don't see this as an issue. The two have similar athleticism and quickness.

Style:
Both are combo forwards.

Rebounding:
Beasley can probably be a better rebounder, though Melo was not bad this season at 7.4 rpg. I expect Beasley to be a roughly 9 rpg kind of guy.

Passing:
Melo is definitely the better passer, Beasley's passing/playmaking is unimpressive at best.

In my opinion, if he reaches his upside, Beasley will basically be Melo with a bit better rebounding and significantly worse passing. So what is it about Beasley that gives him a shot at becoming a better player than Melo? Or are people simply hyping Beasley up unreasonably, while being way too harsh on Melo?

I have a problem with the last 3.

Beasley is clearly a PF that is versitile enough to play the SF. He's no tweener. Melo is clearly a SF that could play PF against some teams (Suns maybe, Warriors).

Beasley can clearly rebound the ball. He is always in good spots and has good timing. He is a better rebounder at the same age as Melo and he's going to be a better rebounder in the NBA, no doubt about it.

Third, Melo should be a better passer he plays more of a skill position as opposed to on the block. Again, Melo is a SF and Beasley is a PF, he should be a better passer. For his position, Beasley is a not a bad passer and I think he can handle the ball very well for a post player.

Also, if Beasley is taken by the Heat I don't see why Beasley can't improve his defense. Riley is a tough defensive coach and Beasley will learn alot from Riley (not to mention Zo, Marion and Haslem).

Post #9 » by **Young_Star11** » Fri May 23, 2008 7:05 am

whitedolemite wrote:Ponder- Completely agree with you analysis, I think Beasley's stats in his prime will be the similar to Carmelo's except +2reb and -1.5asst and he'll probably block a few more shots.

Statswise, that is fair enough. 24/9/2 and more blocks.

Wade3Iverson · Post #10 » by **Wade3Iverson** » Fri May 23, 2008 7:09 am

I would also give the athletic edge to Beasley.

wolffy · Post #11 » by **wolffy** » Fri May 23, 2008 3:02 pm

Beasley passes well out of double teams. Thats playmaking from a PF in my book.

Post #12 » by **NO-KG-AI** » Fri May 23, 2008 4:08 pm

Wade3Iverson wrote:I would also give the athletic edge to Beasley.

I wouldn't, Melo has one of the best first steps in the NBA, and I'll take that over any other athletic trait.

_BBIB_ · Post #13 » by **_BBIB_** » Sat May 24, 2008 1:42 am

Carmelo was not the player that Beasley was in college and Beasley has a much higher ceiling in the pros.

I know they are compared on draft sites but it's a terrible comparison. Beasley's game is far more post-oriented. His post skills are already well ahed of Melo's right now.

He has much better size and skills to play on the block.

He may not be the greatest defender but he'll give far more effort than Melo defensively.

Serpo · Post #14 » by **Serpo** » Sat May 24, 2008 2:13 am

_BBIB_ wrote:Beasley was not the player that Beasley was in college and Beasley has a much higher ceiling in the pros.

CB4MiamiHeat · Post #15 » by **CB4MiamiHeat** » Sat May 24, 2008 2:41 am

Beasley is a better defender than Carmelo..hes a better shotblocker, taller, moves better(on defense), stronger, and gives more effort.

Not only is his post game much more developed..but he has more range and was a much better 3pt shooter in college.

_BBIB_ · Post #16 » by **_BBIB_** » Sat May 24, 2008 3:20 am

CB4MiamiHeat wrote:Beasley is a better defender than Carmelo..hes a better shotblocker, taller, moves better(on defense), stronger, and gives more effort.

Not only is his post game much more developed..but he has more range and was a much better 3pt shooter in college.

It's really an atrocious comparison isn't it?

Just because they both were sensational Freshmen and just because both played for Oak Hill at one point, doesn't make them similar.

They don't have the same game at all.

ISB · Post #17 » by **ISB** » Sat May 24, 2008 4:08 am

agreed on melo being a bad comparison.

Boozer is the guy that Beasley's game resembles IMO. He'll be a taller, better scoring version of Boozer.

Vlade4life · Post #18 » by **Vlade4life** » Sat May 24, 2008 4:21 am

More athletic Antawn Jamison.

_BBIB_ · Post #19 » by **_BBIB_** » Sat May 24, 2008 4:22 am

ISB wrote:agreed on melo being a bad comparison.

Boozer is the guy that Beasley's game resembles IMO. He'll be a taller, better scoring version of Boozer.

Boozer with size/athleticism of Amare.

DBurks2818 · Post #20 » by **DBurks2818** » Sat May 24, 2008 6:52 am

Isn't Beasley stronger than Jamison? Antawn always struck me as being softer than the average PF, despite his offensive rebounding ability.