NBA: What Does the Future Hold for Michael Beasley?

It's June 26th, 2008.

The place is Madison Square Garden.

Michael Beasley sits with his family, anxiously waiting to hear his name called by NBA Commissioner David Stern. The nervousness ends quickly as he is selected second overall by the Miami Heat. Everybody is ecstatic: Beasley, the organization and most of all, the fans. They get the nation's leading rebounder and third-leading scorer from a season ago, as well as an individual with a lot of charisma and a good sense of humor.

Beasley is obviously thrilled. He is selected by a team that's only a couple years removed from winning a championship, with a superstar in place (Dwayne Wade).

Many thought this duo would be a force to be reckoned with in the NBA for years to come. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

In his rookie season, Beasley defined the term "inconsistent." He underachieved by almost anyone's standards, averaging slightly less than 14 PPG, more than 12 points fewer than he averaged his freshman year in college. Heat fans at least saw a little light at the end of the tunnel, as he dropped more than 20 in his last five games of the regular season.

Sadly though, things did not get much better in the 2009-10 season, as Beasley could only muster 14.8 PPG—a slight statistical improvement from a year before. He remained inconsistent, and the term "lazy" was being thrown around. Everyone was disappointed, and with the gigantic pool of free agents coming in the summer of 2010, and the Heat looking like a potential player for some of the biggest names in that class, the future of Michael Beasley was in question.

From the Dwyane Wade re-signing, to the signing of Chris Bosh, to the infamous televised "Decision" of LeBron James, the Heat had a brand new team; a team that did not have Michael Beasley in its plans. Heat GM Pat Riley made Beasley available—very available. Eventually, Timberwolves GM David Kahn made the move to bring him in for a measly second round pick.

Wolves fans were excited to see what they could get out of him. With Al Jefferson recently dealt to Utah, there was an opportunity for him to step up and take on the major scoring load. Early on in the 2010-11 NBA season, that's exactly what he did.

In the beginning of that year, before Kevin Love truly took off in what became an All-Star year for him, it was Michael Beasley's team on offense. A top 10 scorer for a good part of the beginning of the year, he broke his former career high of 29 points multiple times, including a 42-point, dominant performance over the Sacramento Kings, as well as a quiet 35-point night at home against the Knicks.

How could 35 points be quiet, you ask? Well, a certain Kevin Love dropped 31 points and 31 rebounds that night.

Point being, he was off to a great start. Scoring efficiently, playing defense, even taking a vocal leadership role on the team. That came to an end as the consistency and defensive effort suddenly came to a halt. Which leads to the question in the title of the article: What does the future hold for this talented, but inconsistent forward?

The 2010-11 season was a much improved one for Beasley, as he put up over 19 PPG, ranking second on the Wolves. One thing that people tend to forget about this man is that he is still only 22 years old. Anybody who puts up almost 20 PPG at that age is usually labeled as impressive—not underachieving.

The thing he has to work on before anything else is his passing ability. Everybody knows he can score. If he can work on seeing the double team, and kicking it to the open man, that will open a lot of doors for him, and probably make it easier for him to score more efficiently.

Secondly, he needs to hone his skills defensively. And that's not just speaking to his footwork or knowledge of that aspect of the game. It includes effort. He looked too complacent at times, and it really hurt the Wolves on numerous occasions.

With that said, based on his play in the past, if he can get his offense down on a consistent basis, the defense will come. He always played better and worked harder on D when his shot was on target, which will likely be a part of his game until the day he retires.

It's hard to gauge what next season will look like for him, but the assumed arrival of Ricky Rubio to Minnesota will definitely help. We all know of Beasley's athleticism, and combined with Ricky's passing abilities, the slashing Beasley could see his point totals go up simply because of an upgrade at point guard.

Combine Kevin Love's offensive rebounding prowess, and Wes Johnson typically waiting from the three-point line—thus staying out of Beasley's way as he slashes to the paint—and the offensive balance is in Beasley's favor.

With all that said, the future looks promising for Michael Beasley.

Assuming he keeps his head straight, and David Kahn looks to improve the roster with talented complementary players, it should be an interesting 2011-12 NBA season for Beasley, and the rest of the Timberwolves (assuming we have a season, of course).