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Beasley outpaced expectations as a freshman and could find himself the newest Pistons shooter

Malik Beasley’s last stop before flying to New York to sit in the NBA draft green room for tonight’s proceedings came in Detroit. Will he be flying back Friday morning to try on a Pistons uniform?

If so, it would sort of bring the Beasley family full circle.

Deena Beasley, Malik’s mother, grew up in Detroit before leaving to become a model and actress. Her biggest role, perhaps, was in the 2013 movie “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” Beasley grew up in Atlanta and spent his freshman season at Florida State, but he has plenty of cousins still in the area and mom’s told him all about her hometown.

“Toughness,” was the first word out of his mouth by way of relaying her reflections on the area and its people. “How you guys are trying to start new things and get better and better each day. Great city. They play tough. I love the city and the organization as a whole.”

If the NBA was in his future, it wasn’t supposed to be this soon. Beasley was a widely recruited player, but wasn’t tabbed a one-and-done type like Ben Simmons, Brandon Ingram, Jaylen Brown or Henry Ellenson. He was ranked No. 43 by Rivals.com, a four-star recruit. He wasn’t even the headliner of Florida State’s recruiting class; 6-foot-6 swing man Dwayne Bacon was a five-star recruit ranked 22nd in the country.

And while Bacon averaged 15.8 points to Beasley’s 15.6 to lead the Seminoles in scoring, it was Beasley’s .387 3-point stroke and scoring potential that caught the eye of NBA scouts coming to see Bacon. Word started spreading that those scouts were leaving with a greater impression of Beasley, one of only 19 players with green room invitations.

“During the middle of the season” is when Beasley first started to think he, too, could be a one-and-done player. “A lot of scouts were coming to my games and practice. Credit to my other players like Dwayne Bacon and Xavier Rathan-Mayes. People came to look at them, so I just took advantage by playing hard and being myself.”

Somewhere in there, Beasley began to notice pain in his lower right leg. It first flared in December and got worse. Beasley, who measured at 6-foot-4½ and 190 pounds at the NBA draft combine last month, after the season had the injury diagnosed as a stress fracture. The decision was made to reduce the risk of further injury by having surgery to place a metal rod in his right tibia.

He went through a limited solo workout for the Pistons on Tuesday, mostly shooting drills, but says he’ll be full go within two to three weeks. That would make it doubtful a team would want to throw Beasley into Summer League play, which starts July 2 for the Pistons in Orlando.

“It’s a little frustrating when I can’t play against other people,” Beasley said. “But everything happens for a reason, I believe. So I just take advantage of it and get better.”

He said he’s spent his down time doing more reading, currently working his way through a book, “Relentless,” written by the trainer made famous for his work with Michael Jordan, Tim Grover.

Beasley gets glowing reviews for his character. Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton, who coached in the NBA, called Beasley “a young man of tremendous character” and “an extremely hard worker.” In addition to his mechanically flawless shooting stroke, Beasley is a high-end athlete, maybe not quite as twitchy as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope but quick to the rim. He didn’t partake in athletic testing at the combine due to the April surgery, but he’s a sudden jumper based on the eyeball test.

The Pistons were one of his 13 visits to NBA teams with Orlando, which picks 10th, the closest he got to a team at the top of the draft. If he winds up in Detroit, he’ll find himself at the bottom of a depth chart that includes two other Georgia natives – Caldwell-Pope and Jodie Meeks, both of whom he’s come across back home – plus Reggie Bullock and Darrun Hilliard, with a little of Stanley Johnson at the position for good measure.

But Stan Van Gundy has said the Pistons will draft the best player without regard for position and isn’t counting on the 18th pick for any immediate help.

Neither will he ignore a rookie he deems ready to contribute. And Malik Beasley, as his freshman season at Florida State proved, doesn’t adhere to timetables.