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Musings: Beasley Heads to China, Shved and Sixers come to MPLS, Preseason Scores/Notes from Thursday

Michael Beasley has taken his talents to China. Alexey Shved is in town facing his old team. New Timberwolf, Thaddeus Young, must bring Flip Saunders scouting report for tonight's game against the Sixers (Huh?).

By ZacharyBD
Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Michael Beasley, who didn't travel to the first two-preseason games with the Memphis Grizzlies, has left training camp and signed a contract with the Shanghai Sharks of the China Basketball Association. Drafted 2nd overall in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Miami Heat, Beasley (dubbed also "B-Easy," and, "Super Cool Beas") played two seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves beginning in 2010, before he signed with the Phoenix Suns as a free agent in 2012.

Having not received a contract working out with the San Antonio Spurs a few weeks ago, Beasley signed a non-guaranteed deal with the the Grizzlies prior to training camp. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, Beasley hadn't been well enough to travel with Memphis on its current two-game preseason road trip, and, as one team official said, "That was going to make it much harder for him to make the team."

Beasley joins Jordan Crawford and Andray Blatche among former NBA players headed to China this summer. The Shanghai Sharks are owned by former Houston Rockets center Yao Ming. Beasley is the second notable-free agent signed by the Sharks. Another NBA journeyman, Delonte West, was the first.

Beasley will be eligible to sign with an NBA team, if there is one who desires his services, when the CBA season ends in February.

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Yes, yes it does. The Timberwolves host the Philadelphia 76ers tonight at Target Center. The game will air on Fox Sports North and WCCO-830. There are many running, preseason narratives at play, here. Let's start with Thaddeus Young.

Flip Saunders expects Young to give him the whole scouting report for the game today. Young spent the first seven years of his NBA career with the Sixers. Here's the quote from Mr. Ratke's report from yesterday's practice on Timberwolves dot com.

"Coach (Saunders) was telling me before that I got to give him the whole scouting report tomorrow," Young said. "... It's definitely a good situation (in Minnesota). I like being here with these guys and having fun and just want to continue to get better with this team."

It's in Ratke's practice report we're told Anthony Bennett, who did not play in the Wolves first preseason game, is questionable for tonight's matchup against the Sixers. Bennett practiced fully on Thursday. For what it's worth: I expect him to play.

Michael Carter-Williams, still recovering from shoulder surgery performed in May, has not participated in any contact basketball the past five months- according to CSN Philadelphia. He will not play tonight against the Timberwolves. Carter-Williams will likely also miss time during regular season. He is 23 years old.

"He gets through all the shooting we are doing well," Sixers coach Brett Brown said. "He puts up shots and he seems to be doing things pain-free. That is obviously the barometer of when he can come back. He has passed all the tests to date, but I think it is still a ways away."

In relief of Carter-Williams, Alexey Shved will probably see significant minutes tonight playing against his former team. He averaged 6.5 points and 1.5 assists (both per game averages) during his two seasons with the Timberwolves. On Wednesday, Shved posted 11 points, shooting four-of-seven from the field, in addition to eight-assists- one, shown below, initiated a thundering alley-oop play to Nerlens Noel.

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Other NBA News

Thursday's Preseason Scores

Detroit Pistons defeat Milwaukee Bucks, 94-80.

  • Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (DET): 20 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds. Shot six-of-nine from the field and seven-of-nine from the free throw line. He played just over 33 minutes.
  • Andre Drummond (DET): 15 points, 16 rebounds. Shot 4 of 10 from the field and 7 of 12 from the free throw line. (24 minutes)
  • Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL): Six points, seven rebounds while shooting 3 of 6 from field. (21ish minutes)

Houston Rockets defeat Memphis Grizzlies, 113-93.

  • James Harden (HOU): 21 points, 6 of 12 shooting from the field and a perfect six-of-six from the free throw line. (21 minutes.)
  • Terrence Jones (HOU): 15 points, four-of-nine shooting from the field and six-of-seven from the free throw line. (24 minutes.)
  • Jon Leuer (MEM): 8 points, two-of-four shooting from the field and four-of-six from the free throw line. (15 minutes.)
Look at the box score for this game. The Grizzlies, essentially, left me no choice- I had to post Leuer's (Minnesota native) stat line. There was nobody else worthy of mentioning.

Utah Jazz defeat Portland Trail Blazers, 109-105.

  • Jazz Starters: 91 points.
  • Trey Burke (UTA): 22 points on 9 of 16 shooting from the field. He attempted, and made, one free throw throughout the entire game. (34 minutes.)
  • LaMarcus Aldridge (POR): 24 points on 10 of 14 shooting from the field. (24 minutes.)
  • Steph Curry/Klay Thompson (GSW): 55 points. 15 of 22 shooting from the field, 8 of 10 from three point range)
  • Carlos Boozer (LAL): 16 points on 6 of 14 shooting from the field.
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