How Mandated Secrecy Made Michael Beasley a Bigger Story

With any news story, crucial unknown details lead to inflation of attention. Michael Jackson's death was (rightfully) huge news. But the uncertainty about the circumstances has kept it in headlines for weeks. When there's a combination of secrecy and interest, you end with a slow leak of rumors and details, and this can keep a story like Michael Beasley's rehab stint in discussion constantly.

Just in the last two days, TrueHoop's Henry Abbott and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Ira Winderman reported a new detail: Beasley was already taking part in an outpatient treatment program stemming from his 2008 rookie camp incident when a violation landed him in a mandatory 30-day inpatient treatment program (where he is now). This is a fact folks with the league and the players union have known since the story first broke ... but we're finding out five days later, sparking a new round of conjecture.

While understanding the need for privacy, I must wonder if there's a better way.

In most cases, the privacy standards mandated by the league's collective bargaining agreement work to the players' benefit. The league doesn't release positive marijuana tests on a first or second offense, and the NBA is not allowed to disclose what players are in the league's substance abuse treatment program. As players could lose endorsement dollars (or fans) with a positive drug test, it's in their (the players') best interest that this info doesn't get out. And for all we know, there could be a ton of first-time weed offenses every year (especially if Josh Howard is to be believed).

But the privacy standard didn't work for Beasley -- it, in fact, worked against him. For two days, all the world had heard about Beasley were those 140-character cries of distress (or disbelief, depending on the nuance you read them with). After that, we had an avalanche of info leaks with the barest sourcing or, in all honesty, credibility. No one seemingly knew what was up, and everyone thought the worst. A player with a reputation for immaturity makes some vaguely suicidal Tweets, immediately switches to radio silence, and pops up in rehab two days later. It's easy to think the worst.

But, if the latest info is to be believed, there really wasn't a big crisis. Ever. Beasley messed up last summer, and had to do the outpatient treatment program. During that program, Beasley messed up, and had to attend the inpatient treatment program. There's no longer the sense Beasley was on the verge of self-destruction, or that this is a rescue ... or even that Beasley needs to be rescued. This all looks incredibly unextraordinary now, which is two miles and a furlong off the sentiment from all of last week.

I don't precisely know what the solution here is -- can NBA officials seriously ask Beasley's camp to hold a press conference and explain what's up? Should the union step in and tell Beasley's agent that the hush-hush is doing more harm than good? Have reporters just been too unwilling to listen to those closest to Beasley (such as his father, who seems pretty vindicated all of a sudden)? It's a mystery wrapped in a riddle, but that doesn't mean the whole cost-benefit structure of the league's privacy policy shouldn't be discussed in the process of the 2011 CBA negotiations.