Suns GM: Michael Beasley’s talented, needs to grow up

New Phoenix Suns general manager Ryan McDonough has plenty on his plate over the next few months.

At the top of the list is obviously hiring a new head coach and scouting players for the upcoming June draft, but there’s a big item that might have moved up to the No. 3 slot this week.

Scottsdale Police
announced Tuesday that they were investigating Suns forward Michael Beasley for an alleged sexual assault dating back to an incident on January 13, 2013. While no charges have been filed as of yet, it wouldn’t be Beasley’s first run-in with the law since coming to the Valley last summer.

The Suns forward was cited back in January for multiple offenses, including driving with a suspended license, driving with excessive speed, driving with expired registration and failure to display a license plate on the rear of the vehicle.

In regards to Beasley’s current legal situation, McDonough said he plans to simply let the process play itself out.

“I’m still gathering information about Michael,” said McDonough. “I can’t comment on the situation specifically, because I don’t have enough information yet.

“We are going to let the facts come out, gather the information, and figure out what really happened.”

The facts on the court are a different story.

The former No. 2 overall pick was rather enigmatic during his first season with the Suns. On the year, Beasley averaged career-lows in points per game (10.1), rebounds per game (3.8), field goal percentage (40.5) and three-point percentage (31.3).

“With Michael, he is a talented player,” said McDonough. “I’ve been watching him play for a long time. I remember seeing him in 2004 at an Adidas camp. Michael was a child prodigy with a lot of ability.

“Now he still has a lot of ability, but he has some growing up to and some maturing to do. There are talented aspects of his game. I’ve seen Michael Beasley dominate at the high school level, and I saw him dominate big time at the college level at Kansas State. So there is that ability there.”

When asked if Beasley was worth the hassle of keeping around for the foreseeable future, the Suns GM didn’t commit either way but said he wants to see if he can help the talented forward grow.

“Like I said, Michael has made mistakes and has some growing to do, but he is a talented young player,” said McDonough. Whoever the next coach is, he and I are going to try and help him see the value of hard work and hope he learns from those mistakes.”

Beasley is set to make $6 million in 2013-14, but the final year (2014-15) of his three-year contact is not guaranteed.