Hypothetical Question: LeBron, Wade, Beasley/08 draft

[Sonny Carson]

Obviously with LeBron the Heat probably dont land the #2 pick in the draft

With that said...

If LeBron was on the team when Beasley was a rookie....or even if was just LeBron, no Wade...

Would the Heat have drafted Beasley? Or opted for OJ Mayo, Kevin Love, Russell Westrbook instead?

And with that said..

If Beasley was indeed drafted...by playing with LeBron from the beginning.....Would Beasley's career have been better? Or was he just a lost cause back in those days.

I'm not questioning Wade's ability to help younger players get better. I'm sure he does.

But maybe having a LeBron type to "step on his neck" was exactly what he needed from the get go. More importantly....LeBron defers more.

Watching him play I truly wonder if he was with LeBron from the get go......if he could have reached his potential (or at least show more flashes of it).

I guess in a perfect world the Heat dont trade Beasley away when the Big 3 formed....find some way to keep him (lord knows we needed some bench scoring in that Mavs series..) and with his 4th year in the "Big 3 era"....he's a 6th man candidate.

Just random thoughts.

[Myam333]

Beasley was a no-brainer that year.

[mopper8]

Beas wanted to be MVP like his rookie year or shortly thereafter. He wasn't mentally ready for the type of mentoring he needed, makeup of the team wouldn't have made a huge difference IMO. Failing in multiple settings was huge for him. First have to admit there's a problem...

[heat4life]

Beas wanted to be MVP like his rookie year or shortly thereafter. He wasn't mentally ready for the type of mentoring he needed, makeup of the team wouldn't have made a huge difference IMO. Failing in multiple settings was huge for him. First have to admit there's a problem...

And i don't even know if LeBron was ready to be that type of leader to deal with Beasley's immaturity. Let's not forget LeBron's own immaturity during his Cleveland days. We really are fortunate that we got LeBron in his physical and mental prime.

[ReturnofMVP3]

Wade was as big of a superstar IMO that year as James. The development of Beas would have been the same in my opinion. The only way it could have been better is if Beas was drafted to the cavs as they had "better players" around lebron already and he'd have been less of a focus.

[Chosen01]

Yea it wouldn't have made a difference, remember LeBron was clowning around himself back in those days as well. Which is why you always had the Kobe homers or LeBron haters talk about how Kobe and MJ had that killer instinct and that LeBron was too jovial as a leader.

LeBron has really matured since then, he knows when to be serious and when to joke/play ala Harlem shake, photobombs etc.

[DWadeno3]

LeBron has matured in Miami. He was a different kind of guy in his Cleveland days but quickly changed during his time with us. People overestimate his leadership ability or that of Wade for that matter. It's the organization that matters, not a single superstar. It helps, of course, if that superstar is a role model and not a guy like DMC, but ultimately the demands come from the coaches and the management and that's where Riley is a huge factor. Nobody goes against him or else you'll be gone and since he backs Spo, the same applies to going against Spo as well.

As for LeBron deferring move, I haven't really seen that. Wade embraced and pushed both Rio and Beas a lot, but only Rio made something of it his first year. As mopper said, Beasley had other issues that not even this current LeBron could've solved. He was thinking superstar when he hadn't done s*** yet.

[RexBoyWonder]

Sometimes you have to go away in order to appreciate home.


We have a bunch of guys that remember how unfulfilling NBA life can be at times - weather it's Lebron having to carry a talentless team in Cleveland, Wade putting up with a young immature roster in the rebuild years, Bosh in a treadmill team in Toronto, or Beasley in the PHX/Minnesota wasteland.

Beas had to take his own journey in order to mature as a person and really figure out what kind of man he wants to become. He was always a good kid at heart, but timing is a huge factor in life. It's very rare that a player is labeled a bust with a team only to make a comeback with the same exact team, but when you're dealing with quality people and a quality organization, sometimes things just work themselves out.

[lalalisa]

Beasley wasn't ready to be mentored by anybody when he first came into the league. It took him all these years, mistakes, and failures to realize and appreciate what a good opportunity he now has. You can tell he is much more willing to listen to Wade now (the same person that was here 5 years ago...) than he was back then.

[RJM]

If I were Cleveland, I would have to take a long hard look at drafting either OJ Mayo or Kevin Love. At the time, LeBron & Co. were high on J.J. Hickson and Anderson Varejao, and for good reason. Both played well in the offense Mike Brown was running up there. Had that been me, with a power rotation of SHAQ and Z bolstered by the likes of....

...ah, sorry. I was thinking about the 2010 Cavs. The Cavs had shooters already, so drafting Love would have been the proper thing to do in my book.

[ndnow]

Beasley was a no-brainer that year.

Actually Riley was going to draft Mayo but had to be talked out of it.

[twix2500]

There were number of scenarios the Heat were thinking, and many had the forsight of adding a third star and that #2 pick as the second star. At the number 2 pick it was always Beasley or Rose depending who fell. The Heat did look into trading down for OJ Mayo only if they could get Mike Miller (who we eventually got 2 yrs later). The deal was all but done but they quickly figured Mayo was not going to fall to that pick. Like ndnow said, Riley was extremely intrigued by OJ Mayo (as a point guard and with sights of adding Stoudamire).

If we would of had Lebron, we would of still drafted Michael Beasley and never even had second thoughts of OJ Mayo. The Heat didnt intend on playing James at power forward that was something that evolved after he was here in his second year. Also Beasley talents compliment James perfectly, and the Heat would of never let Beasley go if it was for his off the court drug problems.

What i liked about this story is that the potential that I thought was lost when we let Beasley go, now can actually come to fruition.

[B-easy]

Beasley was a no-brainer that year.

Beasley should have went 1st that year. 26/12 as a freshman is stupid, better than Durant.

[Myam333]

Beasley was a no-brainer that year.

Beasley should have went 1st that year. 26/12 as a freshman is stupid, better than Durant.

Nah, not while the Bulls had the pick. Born and raised in Chicago, went to Simeon High. There was no way they weren't picking Rose.

[Myam333]

Beasley was a no-brainer that year.

Actually Riley was going to draft Mayo but had to be talked out of it.

I'm glad he's humble enough to take his scout's advice. Otherwise we would have had Jared Jeffries (Instead of Caron Butler) and Kaman (instead of Wade).