Deep Dive: Why Malik Beasley's Role Is Hard To Fill
Minnesota's sharpshooter has fallen off, but filling his role is easier said than done.
The ice is melting beneath Malik Beasley’s feet. It’s been thin all season, as he searches for some semblance of consistency in a full-time bench role that has him launching (and missing) more of his field goals from deep than ever before. However, the trade deadline is creeping closer by the minute, and Beasley figures to be firmly on the table as the Minnesota Timberwolves front office brass look to upgrade their roster and make a push at a solidified playoff place.
In theory, moving Beasley makes sense. He has connected on just 34.2 percent of his long-range jumpers and 37 percent of his total field goals thus far this season, he hasn’t been able to add anything to his already scarce ball-handling and playmaking package, and his improved defense from early in the season has waned considerably over recent months. In practice, moving Beasley — who is set to be paid a guaranteed $14.3 million this season and $15.4 million next season — is a tough proposition.
It’s not just because his recent play has submarined his value into the murky depths of overpaid and underperforming players, although that would be weighing heavy on the mind of any front office considering dropping the 25-year-old into their project and fostering him in a different environment. Even if Minnesota can find a taker for the hot-and-cold gunner, replacing the shooting gravity and defense-warping presence he still commands on the court is much more difficult than substituting in a player who can better his raw percentages. Not every shooter is a floor-spacer. Not every player who can knock down jumpers commands the undivided attention of the defense.
Hell, the Wolves have a player in Jaylen Nowell who can theoretically bring a more well-rounded and less volatile output to a backup guard role. Nowell can splash triples too and can do it off-the-bounce, something that Beasley struggles mightily with. He can get jiggy off the dribble inside the arc, and his patented teardrops and pull-up mid-range jumpers quickly becoming a staple of Minnesota’s bench production.
Nowell doesn’t have the same prestige around the league as a damaging off-ball mover and off-movement shooter, though, he doesn’t receive the defensive attention that Beasley does when running off screens, and thus he doesn’t do what Beasley does to open up things for his teammates — even when Beasley’s shooting has been like throwing darts in a tornado. Nowell has and will continue to have a crucial role on this team (likely in a pseudo-point guard role) but the Timberwolves front office will need a certain archetype to replace their supposed sharpshooter.
Beasley’s rare-but-important positive impact on the team as a whole shows up most glaringly when the team is deploying set plays right out of head coach Chris Finch’s playbook. Because of his ability to run off screens and crumble defensive shells into oblivion, most of those sets are designed with Beasley as one of or the lone centerpiece. When Beasley can force heads to turn his way and defenders to panic, other players can benefit from his gravity.
Here, Naz Reid benefits from Beasley sprinting through an expansive ‘Double Drag Ghost Cross Exit’ set. There are plenty of moving parts, from D’Angelo Russell loping into an on-ball ghost screen to Jarred Vanderbilt setting the second drag screen and then pivoting into a corner exit screen. However, none of it deforms New Orleans’ defense like the threat of a Beasley corner triple does, leaving Reid standing wide open at the face of the rim while defenders get their wires crossed chasing Beasley.
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