The Miami Heat took Michael Beasley with the No. 2 overall pick in 2008, something they no doubt regret with hindsight given how well players taken later have played since then. Like, for example, one Russell Westbrook, who has set the NBA ablaze this season by averaging a triple-double.
David Fizdale, now head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies but a longtime Miami assistant, regaled reporters with a story about how the two players prepared for pre-draft workouts in 2008.
Via Twitter:
Fizdale tells it like it is and gives respect when respect's due. Peep this story on Westbrook and Beasley from the 2008 predraft workouts. pic.twitter.com/MF9xD5fbyZ
— Michael Wallace (@MyMikeCheck) December 29, 2016
I thought he was already on his way to this. I’ll never forget the year they were drafted. We had to drag [Michael Beasley] out of the bed in Vegas to get him to the gym to work out. Russell Westbrook had already been in that same gym for two hours, full sweat, and he asked Beas, ‘Where you been?’ ... and he went a whole ‘nother hour going at the same speed you see him play. So what I’m seeing now is just a byproduct of the work that this kid has put in.
Poor supercool Beas.
