Could Michael Beasley Become a Miami Heat Building Block Again?

Not even three months ago, Michael Beasley was jobless and without any suitors on the horizon.

It appeared the former number two overall pick was spiraling into legendary draft-bust material. He was just coming off a season where he averaged 10 points per game on 41 percent shooting on an underachieving Phoenix Suns team that won only 25 games. Beasley finished with a career-low PER of 10.8 and an NBA-worst minus-2.5 offensive win shares, according to Basketball-Reference.com. 

The second consecutive season of negative numbers pushed his career win shares to a grand total of zero in his five years of work. The former phenom of Kansas State had gone from promising sidekick in Miami to another what-could-have-been in the span of a few seasons. 

Leave it to the Heat, the same team that had used up a draft pick on him in one of the most stacked drafts in recent history, to re-sign Beasley. They issued him a non-guaranteed deal, meaning he would have to play his way onto the team and earn a contract.

The results thus far have been nothing less than surprising. Although his role on the team has yet to be completely determined, he has taken advantage of each opportunity he has received, shooting 59 percent from the field and 50 percent from beyond the arc. 

His PER of 23.6 is a career-high and is right now among the 15 best in the league. He's shooting 75 percent on drives and 53 percent in catch-and-shoot situations, according to SportVu (via stats.NBA.com), which accounts for more than half of his 10.6 points per game, and he is finding his offense within the rhythm of the team's system—a team offense that is ranked first in Hollinger's efficiency ratings on ESPN. 

That was only one of the fears of Beasley's rearrival in Miami. If you remembered his first tenure with the Heat, you'll recall how he couldn't find a way to get in tune with the rest of his teammates. He was solid playing with the ball—at least before he shot 27.5 percent from three in his second season with Miami—but would often wander when playing without. 

Now he's moving the ball and scoring in high-percentage areas and getting open for jumpers. Per Synergy, Beasley has been one of the league's most efficient players, scoring 1.12 points per possession, ranking him 15th in the league.

Beasley also ranks ninth in the league in effective field-goal percentage, currently at 63 percent according to Basketball-Reference.com, making him one of four Heat players within the top 15 in that category. 

As far as moving the ball, Beasley is averaging over 16 passes per game, per SportVu (via stats.NBA.com), in under 15 minutes of action. He's been passing, and he's doing it as a part of an elite bench that has not just been sustaining leads but building on them.

Five of the top six players in net rating (the disparity between offensive and defensive rating) on this Heat team come off the bench: Beasley, Norris Cole, Rashard Lewis and Chris Andersen. Those five have been critical to the Heat's 10-3 start, even going as far as closing out games that were still in doubt without a member of the "Big Three" on the floor.

Beasley seems to have had the most effect if you go by the numbers. Per SportVu, the offense is generating 118 points per 100 possessions with Beasley on the floor, which comes out to 117 minutes, and only 110 points per 100 possessions when off. 

Clearly Michael Beasley is doing something right...or at least doing everything he hasn't been doing in his first five years as a professional basketball player. 

It helps to have the influence of an environment that's packed with veterans who have been playing the game for over a decade. The Heat possess the league's oldest roster with an average roster age of 30, and Beasley, surprisingly, is the youngest at 24 years old. 

The Heat locker room is none like Beasley has been a part of before. He had yet to spend time with a roster composed of veterans with championship aspirations.

Look at his past teams. Two years with a Miami team that was content with a No. 4 seed and a first-round exit, two Minnesota teams that missed the playoffs in the West and a Suns team that won 25 games and fluctuated Beasley's role from starter to reserve. 

The past four years have been rough for him. His PER has gradually dropped since his rookie season. He has been traded and waived, and he is playing on a contract that doesn't become official until January. What better way for him to possibly revive his career than join a roster composed of seasoned players who probably experienced ups-and-downs at some point in their careers. 

It's the mental part of the game that Beasley has failed at. He's still a stellar athlete who could have came into the league and averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds, but the other, even more significant part of the game—that mental component which distinguishes great players—he has yet to master.

What better franchise than the Heat? There are 14 other players purely motivated by winning, otherwise they would have taken larger deals elsewhere. Focus is never brought into question once the postseason begins. 

It's already been said that a few Heat players, including Udonis Haslem and LeBron James, have taken Beasley under their wing. They want him to fit in with the team because they recognize he has the potential to give them what they haven't had coming off the bench: a versatile dual-threat who can rebound, a player who can create for himself.

It's a turn away from the players who usually inhabit the bench: spot-up shooters and shot-blockers. 

Beasley's role will continue to fluctuate with Miami depending on matchups. He's already gone from playing 20 minutes one night to seven minutes the next, only to play 23 minutes in the very next game. That, too, comes with being a Heat reserve, being open to a role that heavily depends on matchups. 

But Beasley will adjust, because he has to. He's living on a non-guaranteed deal. There weren't exactly many offers coming in after his second arrest for marijuana possession.

This stop in Miami represents the crossroads of his career, and it's solely up to him on which path he chooses.