Sunday, May 9, 2010

Miami want Beverley in their summer league team

The good news for Heat 2009 second-round draft pick Pat Beverley is that his Euroleague team, Olympiakos, will play Sunday for the European club championship against the Barcelona team that features 2009 NBA lottery pick Ricky Rubio.


The not-as-good news is that it is questionable whether Beverley, the athletic, defensive-oriented guard out of Arkansas, will play in that title game.

Beverley played just four minutes in Friday’s 83-80 overtime semifinal victory over Partizan Belgrade, going scoreless with three rebounds.

With numerous NBA scouts looking on, including representation from the Heat, Beverley spent most of the game in Paris as a spectator, with OlympiakosNBA veterans leading the way. Former Nuggets forward Linas Kleiza paced Olympiakos with 19 points and former Hawks swingman Josh Childress added 17.

In 17 previous Euroleague appearances this season, Beverley averaged 3.1 points on .667 shooting, in an average of nine minutes per game. In lower-level Greek League competition with Olympiakos, Beverley averaged 5.5 points on .676 shooting.

Heat President Pat Riley said last week that the goal is to have Beverley on the Heat’s summer-league roster in Las Vegas in July, with an eye toward casting him as a defensive stopper next season.

He hasn’t played a lot of minutes for ‘em, but he’s been on the best team in Greece,” Riley said. “He’s learned a lot. He’s had some good games. They use him as their defensive stopper all the time.
“It’s going to be interesting with Patrick when he comes back here.”

Beverley’s Greek League season continues May 16, with a semifinal-round playoff game.


source : blogs.sun-sentinel.com

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