It’s highly unlikely that Michael Beasley will still be a member of the Phoenix Suns by the time training camps open at the end of September. But if he is still on the roster, the team’s newest veteran would be happy to take a crack at steering him in the right direction.
Caron Butler came to the Suns as part of the deal that sent Jared Dudley to the Clippers in exchange for Eric Bledsoe, a rising young talent still on his rookie contract who has all kinds of potential.
Butler was needed not for his talent on this rebuilding Suns team, but for his contract number in order to make the three-way deal that also netted the Clips J.J. Redick work from a salary standpoint.
Butler knows the situation in Phoenix — he may play plenty, and the team will try to win with the talent in place. But more important to the Suns at this point is the development of younger talent for the future, and Butler is more than happy to help in that regard.
From Jeff Caplan of NBA.com:
“He’s a guy that had an unbelievable collegiate career, who came into the NBA as a top-two pick, so the talent is there, it hasn’t gone anywhere. It’s like clay, it just needs to be molded right. Somebody needs to be around him, talking to him and telling him the right things and building him up and keeping nothing but positive energy around him and moving him forward instead of pulling him back.”
Butler, a raging success story born out of an unsavory childhood, arrested numerous times before he turned 15, said if Beasley remains with the team, and if the 6-foot-10, 235-pounder is willing, he will stick by the kid’s side, mentor him, attempt to reach him. At this point, save him from himself.
“I would stay in his ear, I would definitely stay in his ear,” Butler said. “I would continue to motivate him and I would challenge him night-in and night-out, in practice, just whatever I can do to make him better I would do as a human being, and obviously as a basketball player because I think he has tremendous upside still. He’s just 24 years old.”
Butler has been in the league 11 years, and given his upbringing, he could definitely be of value where Beasley is concerned.
More likely, however, is that Butler won’t get that chance.
The Suns haven’t made a sound since Beasley’s most recent arrest, and aren’t likely to until they announce they’re waiving him at some point before September 1. That’s the deadline for the team to be able to use the stretch provision to minimize the hit from a payroll and potentially a salary cap standpoint, but given the team’s current financial situation, they could wait even longer and just absorb the hit over the next two seasons.
It’s a positive that Butler is willing to take on this role during his time with the Suns. It just isn’t very likely that Beasley will be around long enough for him to have to do so.
