Joking Aside, Timberwolves Are Better With Beasley Over his last season and change in Minnesota, forward Michael Beasley has developed a deserved reputation as a somewhat counterproductive offensive player. There is no disputing his ability to score in volume; a No. 2 overall pick by the Heat in 2008, Beasley put up 21.4 points per 36 minutes last season as the Timberwolves" primary offensive option, placing him in the N.B.A."s top 15 per-minute scorers. But there's certainly something to be said about the way he creates his scoring opportunities. According to Synergy Sports Technology, 31.4 percent of the possessions that Beasley used last season (either by way of shot attempt, drawn foul, or turnover) came in isolation - a recipe for disaster given how involved he was in the team's possession-by-possession offense. The Wolves did not exactly have many superior offensive alternatives, but Beasley's ball-stopping may have been the final blow to an offensive system that was structurally unsound. His reputation as a black hole (the ball goes in to him, but never comes back out) has persisted into this season, so much so that when Beasley missed his first of 11 games because of a foot sprain, cracks with Beasley as the punch line soon followed. Via Jerry Zgoda of The Minneapolis Star Tribune in early January: Timberwolves Coach Rick Adelman emerged after Sunday's 93-72 victory ended their two-game losing streak and remarked how the ball moved better offensively against the Wizards that afternoon than it had before in this still young season. So with the starting lineup modified to compensate for the absence of injured Michael Beasley, just why was that? "Um," Wolves forward Kevin Love said, "Mike being out?" He smiled as he said that and then added "I'm just kidding" twice. Picking on Love for his zinger in good humor would be foolish, but there was a modicum of truth - or at the very least, perceived truth - beneath his playful jab. That said, it is important that perceptions of Beasley's offensive detriment do not get too far out of hand. The Wolves are not, as has been suggested, better without Beasley; the Wolves" offense may be a bit more fluid when he sits, but the skill that produced Beasley's volume scoring last season is still present and still valuable. All available on/off data from this season - while admittedly noisy - points to Beasley as providing a net benefit to Minnesota's offense and overall performance while he is on the court without doing any damage whatsoever to the team's assist numbers. As an extension of that discussion, here's a look at how the Wolves performed offensively with Beasley in and out of the lineup: The difference isn't at all profound, but if anything, one could point to the radical highs in Minnesota's offensive efficiency that coincided with Beasley's two best scoring games of the season: a 19-point performance against the San Antonio Spurs on Jan. 2 and, more recently, a 34-point showing against the Houston Rockets on Jan. 30. Beasley may struggle with consistent application of the Wolves" offensive principles, but he has shown signs - both in those two games and throughout the season - that he is capable of growth as a player and flexible enough to be used in a variety of roles. Earned repute is a hard thing to shed in the pro sporting sphere, and Beasley has been made a victim of the preposterous "he is who he is" line of basketball analysis. It can be better described as "he is who he was." Beasley did indeed hunt shots last season, and he still isn't moving the ball as well as he should this year. He is not at all a perfect player, and he is not without fault. But none of that dooms him to a completely static N.B.A. life, nor does it prevent him from finding that tricky equilibrium of utility and restraint. Beasley is 23 years old. His college career was dominant but incredibly brief, and devoid of proper development. He has had just two seasons under a competent N.B.A. head coach (Erik Spoelstra), but that coach hasn't yet shown an ability to cultivate young talent. That makes this season the first real developmental opportunity of Beasley's young career (as well as his first season as a part of a functional offense), and though his production and efficiency have shrunk a bit this year, Beasley isn't the possession-killing monster he used to be. Here is a comparison - using data from Synergy Sports Technology - of how Beasley is using his possessions this season compared to last: Although Beasley's efficiency is down on both of these play types, he actually ranks 27th in the league on post-up plays (from 20th last season) and 59th on isolation plays (from 74th last season). In basketball, usage and efficiency have a negative relationship; the more possessions a player uses, the less efficient he will generally be. But Beasley provides an example of how that truism can apply between play types as much as it applies between players. Consider Beasley the post-up threat, Beasley the spot-up shooter and Beasley the isolation scorer as separate entities. The more the Wolves use any one of those dimensions of Beasley's game, the more opponents will be able to predict and counter the corresponding action. That's particularly damaging to isolation play - a scoring avenue that is inefficient by nature but made even more so by having an entire team defense geared to stop a tunnel-visioned iso scorer. Thus, for a player as multitalented as Beasley, the best practice is likely to be a healthy balance between scoring approaches, provided that his teammates can set him up with open jumpers (they can) and space the floor effectively for him to work in the post (they can ... sometimes). Beasley appears to be moving closer toward that ideal as a natural byproduct of his evolving role in the Wolves" offense, even if he has not demonstrated any radical change on an individual level. Which brings up another important point: Beasley isn't the only one learning. Rick Adelman is piecing together his rotation on the fly, and has done plenty of experimenting thanks to the Wolves" rash of injuries and persistent first-quarter struggles. He is still not using Beasley in optimal fashion, if only because no one knows exactly what that optimal fashion is at the moment. All we do know is that Beasley is a profoundly weird basketball player, and though it is difficult to pinpoint a perfect role for him with absolute certainty, his offensive potential is unmistakable. Beasley can do more, and will - provided he isn't burdened with the label of being this or that by those that matter, and that he works with his coaching staff to find his own comfortable zone of N.B.A. effectiveness.