Rook Check: Michael Beasley Adjusts Quickly to Coming Off the Bench

Rook Check takes a look at the progress of NBA Rookies throughout the season.

Normally we like to wait a little bit between filing Rook Check reports on a single player, but the situation with Michael Beasley deserves an update. The other day I mentioned that Beasley was moved to the bench, after starting every game up to that point this season. He didn't seem to take it well (at least performance-wise), finishing with zero points in just 13 minutes.

Coach Erik Spoelstra seemed to indicate afterwards that Beasley might be in that spot for a bit, and the rookie responded by very quickly figuring things out. The very next night in Los Angeles against the Clippers, Beasley came off the bench once more, but this time he delivered by scoring 24 points in 27 minutes, on 10-of-16 shooting.

As far as whether he'd prefer to start or come off the bench, Beasley is playing the role of good teammate, which is always nice to see.

"I would take [Friday's] game where I was 0 for 5 and no points and the win before I would take this," he said after Saturday's 97-96 loss to the Clippers.

"If that's where I need to play -- sixth, seventh, eighth [man] -- it doesn't really matter," Beasley said.

I don't think we'll see him moved all the way down to eighth, especially when the team's options ahead of him are limited at best. And if he continues to put up these kinds of numbers, unless there's a matchup situation like there was Friday night in Phoenix, he'll probably be back in the starting lineup sooner rather than later.