No talent is enough when you are still failing more often than not

This is former NBA and Notre Dame player Tim Kempton, the Phoenix Suns radio analyst, talking about Michael Beasley (my posting this is not to bash Beasley but instead to point that all the talent in the world can be negated not only by attitude but also by simply not bothering to understand team offensive and defensive concepts. A couple of splashy dunks means nothing if you are hurting your team on the other plays -- a concept many fans fail to see because they are awed by the spectacular too often displayed on Sports Center and via so-called player highlight videos):

“...The question was which Michael Beasley would show up,” Kempton said. “There were some nights sporadically you would see why people were still willing to take a chance. Some nights, he was caught in the AAU syndrome of, ‘Give me the ball, get out of the way and let me do it myself.’ Sometimes, he would be a ball stopper and everyone would stand around watching him make a play. That would frustrate his teammates and the coaching staff.”

Kempton found it troubling that Beasley couldn’t make it work on a bad team that needed offense. “For someone that can score, it was the perfect scenario for him here,” he said. “But he doesn't understand positioning. He doesn’t understand, ‘I don't need to take 15 dribbles to take a shot. If I could get it closer to the basket, I could get an easier shot.’”

And Kempton said his defense remains deficient. “He's one of those AAU kids of the system - much more talented than other players - so there wasn't a defensive system he had to think about,” he said. “[His inability to] grasp team concepts frustrated the Suns staff. If teams wanted a basket, they would go right at Beasley. He didn’t understand what was going on, didn't understand scouting reports, didn't understand team concepts.”

Kempton added that Beasley “is a good kid. He obviously has all the talent in the world to be in the NBA, but will his brain and maturity catch up to that talent, with all the chances he has already had? I don’t know if he can get away from those demons...”

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/2013/09/mike-wallace-has-points-to-make-beasley-evaluation-ross-pursuit-canes-marlins.html#storylink=cpy