Not to say he’s not playing — Beasley actually leads the team in minutes at more than 32 per game. But for the longest time, the sharpshooter seemed to have a cap set around 35 minutes, which many times he didn’t even approach. This while other teams were playing their top guys 37-38 minutes or more in search of victories.
Timberwolves coach Ryan Saunders has complimented Beasley’s condition, too, but the extended minutes weren’t following. Until Friday, when Beasley played 37 minutes in the loss. After the game, Beasley said he feels like he’s in “the best shape of my life.”
“I feel like I need to be used more because I don’t feel like I get tired,” Beasley said. “If I do, I tell the team to come get me.”
Beasley said he feels he can go beyond 37 minutes. He was asked if he has had conversations with the coaching staff about his minutes, and if he feels his message has been received.
“I don’t know if it’s been received or not,” he said, “but I know I’m in great shape, and I know that I can play more.”
Two days later, Beasley said he didn’t want his words “to get mixed up at all.” He said Saunders has been doing “a great job” working with him on his workload to adjust it to the way he likes.
“I appreciate that, Coach,” Beasley said.
Beasley thought the media took his “words wrong.”
“I just want to be able to do the best I can for the team. I feel like I’m in shape,” Beasley said. “My main thing to Ryan is ‘I can help the team out right now. I’m not as tired as you think I am, and I think he realized that, and we’re going to be good. We’re not worried about that. We’re worried about getting wins at the end of the day.”
Beasley played the first 14 minutes of Friday’s game as he was rolling offensively. He said longer stints help him because he’s a “rhythm guy” who can score in bunches.
“So sometimes you’ve got to just let me ride it out to get that two or three minutes, because also now guys are starting to double team and put a little bit more pressure on me, so I’ve got to see what they’re doing in the first three minutes,” Beasley said. “I like to read and see what they’re doing, so I can get my teammates involved.”
Still, Saunders didn’t make it seem like such starts to the game will be the norm moving forward.
“But he was going last game and I say it every shootaround, the game tells you what to do,” Saunders said. “The plan wasn’t for Malik to play the first 14 and a half minutes of the game. But the way he was shooting the ball, the way he was moving, it calls for that. The game told us what to do there.”
Saunders didn’t seem overly impacted by Beasley’s comments from Friday.
“I know everybody wants to play 48 minutes a game. I got a roster full of guys who wanna play 48 minutes a game,” Saunders said. “He’s been doing everything that’s asked of him. It’s natural for guys to want more, and I think that’s a good thing. You don’t want guys to be coming out and saying, ‘Oh man, I just wanna play less,’ or, ‘I don’t wanna be doing this,’ so it’s natural. He’s a competitor, he’s a fighter. But I know it comes from a good place.”
"help" - Google News
February 15, 2021 at 07:00AM
https://ift.tt/3jWfEuT
Malik Beasley wants to play as much as possible to help the Timberwolves win - Grand Forks Herald
"help" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2SmRddm
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Malik Beasley wants to play as much as possible to help the Timberwolves win - Grand Forks Herald"
Post a Comment