:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/819835/20121003_mjr_su5_048.0.jpg)
Long before the NBA free agency period arrived in July, I thought Michael Beasley was a guy the Suns should target. Look it up, fool, if you don't believe me! Anyway, in Phoenix the talented forward with the troubled past would be partnered up with Alvin Gentry who I consider the perfect coach for young Michael.
Just like all the great dads, Gentry shows just the right balance of fatherly love with stern hand. His players WANT to please him. And he's had plenty of experience with mercurial players having coached a young Lamar Odom as well as his time with Amare Stoudemire.
Here's how Amare described Alvin back in 2009:
Amare introduces Terry Porter to the underside of a bus - Bright Side Of The Sun
"[...]You want a coach that you can really hug and hold and high five and really have fun with. That makes it fun play. You can high five and hug your team mates. You don't want to have fear of your coach. You want to be respectable with him but you also want to be a friend with him."
Guys like Matt Barnes, however, would surely tell you that Gentry isn't afraid to lay the wood to his players when needed. I've personally heard Angry Alvin through the closed practice doors enough times to know that Gentry isn't just Mr. Nice Guy with his players.
That's exactly what Beasley needs. He needs a coach who will love him and build his confidence but will also get on him and make him want to change his ways.
Maybe it won't work, but I 100 percent believe that Alvin Gentry is Michael Beasley's best hope for turning his career around.
From Paul Coro's camp report we are seeing the first signs:
Phoenix Suns' Michael Beasley working on consistency, defense
"It makes me feel good, not just as a player but as a person," Beasley said. "It makes me feel like somebody believes in me. I feel like us as players, from one to 432 (in the NBA), that's all we need."