Malik Beasley is a shooting guard from Florida State University. Beasley is 6’5 and has a wingspan of 6’6. For the year, he averaged, 29.8 minutes per game, 15.6 points per game, 5.3 rebounds per game, 1.5 assists per game, 0.9 steals per game, while shooting 47.1% from the field, and 38.7% from three.
Pros:
- Pure scorer
- Knockdown shooter
- Deadly mid-range jumper
- Good free throw shooter
- Excellent shooting mechanics
- High release point
- Great transition player
- aggressive at the rim
- Defensive effort
- Rebounding
- Athleticism
- Best motor in the draft
- Knows his limitations
Cons:
- Ball handling
- turnover prone
- Struggles creating his own shot
- Does not attack the rim
- Needs to draw more contact
- Careless defender
- Size and strength
Overall:
Many people were not expecting big things from Beasley in his first season at Florida State, as we expected Dwatne Bacon to steal the show. Bacon struggled compared to Beasley, who excelled, and therefore shot up draft boards.
On offense, Beasley has the ability to score from anywhere on the court with great consistency. He is an aggressive slasher to the rim, where he can finish with fancy layups, or the highlight reel dunk. He does stay away from contact when attacking the rim, which is a shame as he is a very good free throw shooter. Beasley has beautiful mechanics on his jumper. He does not have elite size or length, but his high release point allows for him to get his shot over most opponents. From the three point range, Beasley was very effective as a freshmen. Beasley does prefer to shoot the mid-range, but has tremendous confidence from deep. As a ball handler, Beasley has some work to do. He has come a long way during his first season at Florida State, but still raw when creating his own shot. Due to his struggles with ball handling, Beasley can rack up the turnovers in quick fashion, as he trys to do too much. As a distributor, Beasley is not a natural at this. He just does not see the court for his teammates, and this could be because he was the best player for his team, and did not trust them, or this will be a flaw in his game going forward.
Defensively, Beasley gives tremendous effort, but plays pretty carelessly. For his o-ball defense, he tries to often to make the highlight steal or block, and gives away easy looks for his opponent. His tenacity does often lead to opposing offenses to make mistake, even if it is not his man, and can be traced back to Beasley. On the perimeter, Beasley has great quickness, but again he needs work on the fundamentals, and staying in front of his man. Beasley is a pretty good rebounder for a guard. He loves to lead the attack in transition after grabbing a board.
Overall, Beasley is a great offensive player, who needs some basic coaching on his defense. He plays with 100% effort every single minute he is on the court, and although he is not the best defensive player, Beasley will still be working his tail off to try to give his team the advantage. We all know this draft is looking to produce a lot of role players, which I think the league is sorely lacking across the board. With this in mind, I think Beasley could emerge as one of the best ones from this class, due to his ability to score at ease, and willingness to give 100% effort the entire game on defense. His draft range is quite the spectrum. The majority of mocks have his peak at 14th to the Chicago Bulls, who could use another scorer to develop on their bench, all the way to pick 36th in Milwaukee, who also need more shooting off their bench. I just do not see teams in the 17-20 range passing up on the scoring ability of Beasley, as these teams are a consistent bench threat from contending for consistent playoff appearances.
Pro Comparison: Wesley Matthews
Wesley Matthews has cemented himself as a good offensive piece, with good effort on the defensive side of the ball.
Offensively, both players are optimistic scorers, who struggle to create for themselves. Neither player should be a top three offense for your team, but serve as great complementary scorers, who could also serve as great sixth man potential. Both players love to utilize their jumper from mid-range. Matthews loves to attack the rim more often than Beasley likes to do, and Matthews welcomes contact, whereas Beasley strays away from it. If they get to the line, both players are effective from the free throw line. Both players are effective from the three point line, but you never see them camping much out on the line. Neither player is an effective ball handler, and struggle to create for themselves. In terms of passing ability, neither player is a natural at this, and therefore both have low assist numbers.
On defense, both players give great energy, but have a lot of room for improvements. Both players play with intensity on this end, but make the similar type of flaws of being too aggressive. Both players have great lateral quickness on the perimeter, where they do not let off easy shots. On-ball, both players can get beat by stronger faster players, as they do not have natural defensive footwork, and rely on their speed to try to make up for their mistakes. In terms of rebounding, Beasley is the more polished player on this skill. Matthews has never shown a real interest in getting dirty for his team, while Beasley embraces it, and leads the attack out of it.
Wesley Matthews is a great role player in the league, and although Dallas overpaid him this past summer, he does the job asked of him. Beasley has the same natural scoring ability, matched with the defensive intensity to make him a nuisance at the next level. The majority of teams that did pursue Matthews last season are sitting in the late teens, so expect them to take a real hard look at Beasley, who would be a younger, cheaper player, with the same, if not more potential.
By: Mac Crowe, @Mac_Truck17
NBA Source Today 