Michael Beasley's contract now guaranteed, Rockets to keep him
Houston will keep Super Cool Beas for a cool $1.4 million
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1 min read
Michael Beasley's $1.4 million salary with the Houston Rockets became fully guaranteed on Monday, as pointed out by ESPN's Marc Stein, and the team apparently wants to keep him around. Beasley, 27, signed with the Rockets in March after winning the MVP in the CBA with the Shandong Golden Stars.
In 20 games with Houston, Beasley averaged 12.8 points and 4.9 rebounds in 18.2 minutes, with a true shooting percentage of 56.3 percent. These were by far the best per-minute numbers of his NBA career, and if he can sustain them, this deal will be a bargain.
The Rockets knew how to use Beasley last year. When he was on the court, he was there to get buckets. He had a usage rate of 29.7 percent, per Basketball-Reference, which was the same as Carmelo Anthony's and slightly higher than Kyrie Irving's and John Wall's. Houston gave him the green light to shoot whenever he wanted, and he did so with confidence.
The problem with Beasley is that his 3-point shot is erratic and his defense is inconsistent. With Mike D'Antoni at the helm, he might be asked to trade in some of his long 2s for 3s. There's also bound to be competition for minutes at both forward positions, and, given how poor the Rockets were defensively last season, showing effort on that end might be the only way for him to guarantee himself a spot in the rotation ahead of guys like K.J. McDaniels, Montrezl Harrell and Sam Dekker.
