NBA

Michael Beasley’s Kicked His Weed Habit, Says T’Wolves GM David Kahn

Minnesota Timberwolves GM David Kahn got himself talked about last week for comparing Chris Webber to Darko Milicic, which didn’t sit too well with Webber. Now, he’s said something else that will probably get laughed at a lot, no matter how true it might be.

Kahn, in discussing Michael Beasley – like Milicic, a new acquisition for his team – said that:

“He’s a very young and immature kid…”

No argument there. How did this youth and immaturity manifest itself?

“…who smoked too much marijuana…”

And there’s what the main takeaway of all this will be. Of course, Beasley smoking copious amounts of weed will also surprise no one…but there’s just something about a clean-cut authority figure formally talking about “smoking marijuana” like that that will never NOT be funny.

Then you’ve got the fact that a certain high-profile sportswriter enjoys bagging on Kahn to begin with. Surely, he’s licking his chops at this new ammo.

But, as SBNation’s Andrew Sharp says: hey, Kahn might be right about this one. He’s right that Beasley is young – he’s got time to come into his own. And it’s not like his performance has been so awful – he averaged 14.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game this past season. Not quite what you’d like to see for a #2 overall pick, but enough to give one hope that substantial talent is lurking in there.

The real key, of course, is if Beasley is truly done smoking. Kahn says he is, and if he’s right, he might have gotten a steal. We’ll personally believe it when we see it, and we’re given pause by Kahn praising Beasley for “hir[ing] people to help him grow up,” which seems like a strange concept.

But overall, we’re in agreement with Sharp in that trading for Beasley is “a solid gamble.” If he comes reasonably close to fulfilling his potential, David Kahn is going to look good, critics be damned – as long as he doesn’t compare Beasley to, say, Charles Barkley.

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