Questions (About Beasley)

The Miami Heat's training camp opens a month from Friday. It appears as if Heat President Pat Riley has his rotation intact, and the only plausible move from now and training camp would be for a back-up point guard. Even if that back-up is Allen Iverson, it won't move Miami into the Eastern Conference's elite. The elite, or upper class of the East, consists of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Orlando Magic and the Boston Celtics. That's the way it was last year and -- barring a major injury to a key player on any of those teams -- it won't change this year. Those three teams are still leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the East, and they will be fighting throughout the entire 82-game season to jockey for position.The rest of the East? Everything is questions, questions and more questions. That includes Michael Beasley, who has had some disturbing news surrounding him. More on that later. The Heat will still be in the spot it was last season: the middle class. Joining Miami will be Detroit, Atlanta and Toronto. The Pistons acquired Ben Gordon, a flat-out scorer, and Charlie Villanueva, another 6-foot-11 power forward that can do anything from posting up to shooting three-pointers, this off-season. The problem with Detroit? It still has to find out where the minutes will go in the back-court among Gordon, Rip Hamilton, Will Bynum and Rodney Stuckey. Who will be the point guard? Furthermore, the Pistons' center lineup consists of Chris Wilcox, a washed-up Ben Wallace and Kwame Brown. Detroit could very well be the fourth-best team in the East, but there are some questions that need to be answered first. The Hawks kept free agents Mike Bibby and Marvin Williams while adding a proven scorer in Jamal Crawford. Atlanta also added a promising young point guard in Jeff Teague during the Draft. Joe Johnson, Josh Smith and Al Horford will return and it still has numerous offensive weapons. Keep in mind that if Dwyane Wade didn't have back spasms during Game 4, Miami could have gone up 3-1 in that series, though. The Heat has a superstar in Wade. Johnson proved during the 2009 playoffs that he has a long way to go before he can be considered a superstar. Raptors President Bryan Colangelo wisely used the cap space that Riley gave him in the Jermaine O'Neal trade last February. He obtained a crafty, versatile forward in Hedo Turkoglu. Toronto still has a quality point guard in Jose Calderon and an All-Star in Chris Bosh. But Colangelo also got depth. He acquired a sharpshooter in Marco Belinelli, a solid point guard in Jarrett Jack and a high-energy guy in Reggie Evans. There's a lot of promise there, but still some questions. The Raptors could be fighting for the fourth seed or fighting for the eighth seed in March and April. Miami's chances largely rest of how Beasley and Jermaine O'Neal can be going into this season. Can Beasley, O'Neal and Wade combine to average 65 points on a nightly basis? Well, before we can even consider this question, we have to address the news surrounding the Heat's 2008 first-round pick first. It all started Friday afternoon, when Beasley posted unsettling updates on his now-defunct Twitter page. Examples include, "Y do I feel like the whole world is against me...I can't win for losin," and "Feelin like it's not worth livin!!!!!!! I'm done." The product out of Kansas State also posted a photo on his Twitter account showing off a tattoo on his back. In the background, two plastic baggies can be seen. Some have speculated that it could be drugs, although the photo itself is rather hazy.But it all came to a head a few hours ago when Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Beasley has checked into a rehabilitation center in Houston, Tex. Wojnarowski's sources told him that Heat officials encouraged him to check into the center for possible substance or psychological issues. I'm not going to speculate about what might have happened, but I hope that Beasley can move past his struggles and be healthy. In the lead-up to the 2008 Draft, questions arose whether Beasley was mature enough to resist the temptations of South Beach. The NBA fined him $50,000 for being in a room where marijuana was found at the League's rookie symposium last summer. He reportedly snuck out of the room when officials arrived at the scene, leaving Darrell Arthur and teammate Mario Chalmers to face the punishment alone. It was also reported that Beasley and Chalmers were fined numerous times throughout their rookie seasons. Can Beasley be a mature NBA player and Wade's sidekick? It's a question that Riley has asked since he got the second pick in the 2008 Draft. Questions, questions and more questions. Riley wants an answer. It could determine where Miami falls among the rest of the East's middle class.