Michael Beasley has rejoined the Heat after he was released from a drug rehab center yesterday, ready to put down the pot and pickup the pieces of his NBA career.
The troubled forward was expected to work out with teammates this morning at AmericanAirlines Arena, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
It's the first time Beasley will have worked with the Heat since spending the last month in the Houston treatment center after a disturbing series of events played out on Twitter in August.
Showing off his "Super Cool Beas" back tattoo in a photo on the social networking site, Beasley caused a stir when what looked like a bag of weed was spotted in the background of the pic.
Things got downright sad when Beasley began Twittering his feelings of depression:
"Y do I feel like the whole world is against me!!!!!!! Back on my FTW!!!!! I can't win for losin!!!!!!!!!!
Feelin like it's not worth livin!!!!!!! I'm done.
Local
not feelin this at all!!!!!"
The Twitter account was shut down, but the damage was done. Now Beasley goes to work hoping to put it all behind him and trying to make a bigger contribution than last year.
Beasley had 13.9 points per game last year, his rookie season, most of it spent as a backup. Beasley made more news for what happened off the court than what happend on it throughout the year, including getting fined $50,000 for a pot-scented partying incident during the NBA's symposium. He was constantly fined for unnamed off-court violations throughout the year, and teammates and coaches criticized -- sometimes publicly -- his poor concentration and lack of discipline.
Heat President Pat Riley said he thinks Beasley, the team's No. 2 overall pick in the 2008 draft, can do more.
"The last thing I'm going to do now is judge him harshly on what has happened," Riley said earlier this month. "I think we're going to get a great year out of Mike. We're in contact with him every single day. [The goal remains for him] to play a prominent role, a bigger role than he played last year."
Heat training camp opens one week from today, and the regular-season opener is Oct. 28.
