Michael Beasley Wants to Know How Old You Want Him to Be

While I maintain that I'd prefer Derrick Rose over Michael Beasley when the Bulls make the first pick in the draft next month, I'd also like to reiterate the fact that it's not because I think Beasley won't be a good, possibly great, NBA player. It's just that my philosophy is, when you have a chance to take a player that could be a great point guard (he's been called Jason Kidd with a jumpshot, man) you can't pass it up.

No matter how many mediocre point guards you already have on your roster. Four mediocre point guards don't equal one great one.

So, while I have no problem with Beasley, I'd just prefer Rose. For those out there that do have a problem with Beasley, their problems and concerns seem to focus on Beasley's "character issues." Issues that were well documented in a Washington Post article in 2007.

What Michael Beasley wants to know, is how we'd like him to act.

"I just turned 19 years old in January," Beasley said. "How mature do you want me to be? I'm still a kid. I'm not 20 yet. I'm not legal. I can vote, but that's about it. On the basketball side of things, I'm 30 years old. Off the court, I don't know how old y'all want me to be. Do you want me to act 25? 30? 40?. I'm 19. I'm a kid. I'm going to live my life. I'm going to mess up. I don't know as much as you do or him. I'm learning day by day. I hear a lot about character issues. But I've yet to hear what those character issues are. Until I hear somebody tell me, I don't feel the need to change."

It's rather refreshing to hear a young player like Beasley come out and say things like this, and it shows that he's not an idiot. He gets what's going on.

He also makes some very good points. He is a kid, and much like every single one of us at his age, he's going to make some mistakes. Of course, the teams that are thinking about drafting him have every right to have some concerns about his behavior.

It's not as though John Paxson or Pat Riley think Beasley is going to autograph their cars or anything, they just want an idea of what they're getting in Beasley. Whether it's fair or not, there have been plenty of young players to enter the league who have been a lot more trouble than they're worth. So when a couple of guys like Paxson and Riley have their jobs on the line, and the organization they work for are putting millions of dollars on the line, they want to know what they're investing in.

By being so open about his feelings and what he thinks, Beasley is doing everything he can to let them know.