Absolutely love how both of you just focused on the Ariza thing. Just forget the rest of my post about how fools use AS without context. Ariza is playing in a 1-2-3-3-5 system? He still logs minutes at the 4 position no matter how you slice it. It's the age old question of whether Tim Duncan is a power forward or center. We all know he's a power forward, but he is constantly asked to play the center position and battle against centers because there is usually no one else capable of playing center on the Spurs. Ariza is tasked to do the same. He is tasked to play the 4 in instances this current season because no one else is capable of playing the 4 position for Houston. Capela was tasked to play the 4 position for a period of time because no one was capable. Omer was tasked to play the 4 position because Jones couldn't handle Aldridge. Whether it's a 1-2-3-3-5, 1-2-3-3-4, 1-2-3-5-5, or 1-2-3-4-4... it is all the same. That is our line up but they are still playing small or big because it doesn't mean our line up resembles and matches the line up of our opponent. CONTEXT. No one is debating that Beasley didn't play the majority of his minutes at 4 with Miami, but I am debating that he was due to circumstance. A poster previously stated that the only other 4 that was in those early Miami teams was Udonis Haslem. The fool replied that it was because Miami felt they only needed two power forwards and deemed Beasley the 4. While this could be true it doesn't mean it is exactly correct. Yes, Miami could have tried to mold Beasley into a 4, but that's because he is a forward and doesn't have a set position. Giannis doesn't have a set position. Basketball has turned into this game where players are asked to be as diverse as possible and play as many positions as they can. Porzingis will most likely strive as a 4, but since he is 7 foot 3 he is asked sometimes to play the 5. Jabari and Carmelo are two players who can play both positions. We all know that Melo is more suited for the 3 position, and 'Bari will likely be better used as a 3 yet is playing heavy minutes at the 4. LeBron in Miami was asked to play the 4 position with Bosh playing the 5 position. That was the scheme and strategy of their offense, but we all know they were both playing out of position. Goran Dragic played SG in Phoenix.. Bledsoe as well sometimes... we all know they're point guards. Players are asked to be diverse in their playing style and they were asked to play different positions. This is what happened to Michael Beasley in both stints with Miami and in his current stint in Houston. He can obviously play the 4 just like Anthony can play the 4. They both can be effective, but their natural positions are the 3. They're small forwards. Big bodies that are quick, not as tall, and can create offense off the dribble. This is what Beasley does. This is what Melo does. Show me MULTIPLE average power forwards who can score in the way Beasley does. Show me multiple 4s who can drive past his man, spin around the defense, and do a quick fade away over multiple defenders that isn't an all-star. Beasley is a tweener who can play both forward positions, but he is more suited to be a 3. He has just been asked by 2 teams in his career to play extensive minutes at the 4. One being Miami where he played 4000 plus minutes his first two season and the other is Houston. Everywhere else he has primarily been playing the 3 with minutes also going into the 4 because he is asked to. Just because a person says that a player is a 3 it doesn't automatically means he can play out of position. If a player from 1-4 can't play out of position in today's league he is almost useless compared to the ones who can effectively. There are so many players who are asked to do different things because that is how the league is set up. Remember when Paul George was asked earlier this season to play the 4? Is he really a 4 because Vogel is demanding him to play that position? Or how about when George played the 2 when Danny Granger was on the team? Was he really a 2? No, he was just asked to play out of position because that is what the scheme called for. In those 4 seasons that Beasley didn't play with Miami minus one season Beasley was slotted as the SF 60 percent of the time and the PF 36 percent of the time. Those are 250 games he was primarily a SF out of 437 total NBA games. That means out of 437 NBA career games 57% of the time he was a SF. That includes 3 seasons that he didn't nearly play a lick of time at the 3 spot which means that the entire thing is highly skewed and some toddler is on bball ref having fun picking and choosing things. Last time I checked 57 percent is the majority of 100 percent which means.... he has played more games as a 3! Want to do minutes? 5883 minutes in those 4 seasons had him primarily as the 3 out of a total 10718 career minutes. Math says that is 54.8%.... still the majority out of 100 which means he was played the 3 more despite logging heavy minutes at the 4 with Miami Context, people. Context. That's all you need from me in order to take your word seriously. To answer your question HP, I'll ask you another question. Since when does basketball only consist of offense? I guess since there's 2 SFs on the floor they're both going to guard the same player, right? How about we agree on this. In Beasley's time in Miami he was a 4 because that's what the recipe called for.. Everywhere else he has primarily been a 3.
I don't understand your math. 51% of the time he has been a PF and 33% a SF BREF already calculates this Who cares where he starts. And in today's NBA he's definitely a PF.
You don't understand my math because you don't even know how Bball ref does its math. Please tell me how they do their math? I told you my math. I did games at sf primarily/total games and I also did minutes at SF primarily/total minutes. Tell me how basketball-reference does their calculations. Please tell me. Let me know or else I'll go on and continue saying what I'm saying. You're using things without context because You don't know how they work. Also, you again ignore a point I made which is how these percentages are skewed because in his first two seasons with Miami he was called to play the 4 with almost 0 minutes at the 3. If remove those two seasons where he played 4000 plus minutes, he is then playing 55 percent of the time at sf Crazy how that happens when a player's minutes are skewed to only play the 4 and 5 in 4000 plus minutes of a 10,718 minute career. 2 seasons is all it takes to skew something. cooooonnnnneeeeexxxxxxxtttttttt. Context, breh.
Why are you removing the first two seasons? Bref just takes the total minutes played at each position and divides by total minutes
Because those two seasons ....... skew? the rest of his career? Are you not getting this? How many times have I said the word skew in the last two pages lol. Are you hard headed? I conceded that Michael Beasley was playing the 4 in his first two seasons. Anyone who says he wasn't the 4 those two seasons is blind, but as the rest of his career? He transitioned from playing heavy minutes at the 4 to becoming a 3 man who also plays minutes at the 4. Why is that so difficult for you to understand? Why is it also difficult for you to understand that he played 4000+ minutes in his first two seasons which is almost half of his entire career (40%.) Hypothetically, if Beasley played the same amount of minutes for his entire career (2000+ each season) then his average of all seasons combined would have him playing SF more than PF. It's almost if a player can't transition positions as his career progresses? I guess a man's past really does follow you for your entire life and dictates who you forever will be.
This transition never happened Miami- PF Minny- SF but 40% PF Miami- PF Houston- PF Overall 33% SF Why are you over weighting Minnesota minutes?
Holy crap. You're incredibly hard headed. Sorry, guys. I'll stop this discussion that is going no where this clueless guy. I just want to end on one final note which requires no reply from you. Beasley's career started with heavy minutes and with him playing pf. As his career progressed, he started playing less minutes, but also was the SF. This skews the entire thing because he isn't getting as much playing time as he used to in Miami. That's why it jumped from 33 to 55 percent. You won't understand. You don't need to understand. I just need the unfortunate people reading our post to understand. Sorry guys I derailed the thread by calling out Mr. C on his bs. D-mo is back out of the dog house and the team is dominating as they should be against the depleted Grizzlies. Let's hope this is a boost in not D-Mo's confidence but JBB's confidence in D-mo.
Either way, Beasley playing pf isn't going small and never has been unless he plays C Minny played him at SF out of necessity or stupidity
Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 13 seasons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Johnson I guess Wikipedia has it wrong too huh. hahahaah
