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Being a top-five pick in the NBA Draft doesn’t guarantee a player anything in this league. Talent and potential can only get you so far before you have to produce and prove your worth as an NBA player.

Many times, the road of a top pick is filled with pitfalls and potholes that could seal the end of a career in this league. After two years with the Minnesota Timberwolves, new Phoenix Suns offseason acquisitions Michael Beasley and Wesley Johnson could be at a crucial point in their young NBA careers.

“I think we have some talented guys,” Suns head coach Alvin Gentry said. “Obviously, you look at some of the guys we’re talking about: Michael Beasley was the second pick in the draft, Wesley Johnson was the fourth. We have to try and get those guys to that level of where they were drafted. They’ve had their moments, but I think consistency has been the problem they run into.”

While each has shown flashes of being solid contributors in this league, both have much to prove heading into their first season with the Suns. In both Beasley’s and Johnson’s favor is that the Suns organization is focused on moving forward and not looking back at past mistakes.

“That’s what we’re hoping and what we’re preaching is that you have a chance to redeem yourself and rectify anything that may have been a negative in the past,” Gentry said. “I told them, the legacy that we have, that started on the first day of training camp, was moving forward. We’re not looking back, we’re not speaking of anything of where they were last year or what they did. You get to come here on a clean slate and move forward from there. That’s really the way that we’re approaching the whole season and I think we’ve been very competitive from a practice standpoint, because we’re pretty deep at all the positions, so the practices have been pretty intense.”

After averaging a career-high 19.2 points per game in 72 starts for the Timberwolves in 2011, Beasley regressed this past season in Minnesota. The 2008 second overall pick primarily came off the bench for the T-Wolves last year, starting just seven games in what was his worst pro season. In 2012, Beasley averaged career-lows across the board in points (11.5), shooting percentage (44.5 percent) and rebounds (4.4).

“In Michael’s case, the teams that he’s been with, obviously he’s had some bright spots,” Gentry said. “He’s averaged 19 points in this league, you got to be a pretty good player to do that. So I think with him, what we’re trying to search and find is the consistency of doing that night in and night out.”

When listening to Beasley discuss the next situation with Phoenix, it’s apparent that he’s ready to leave his experiences in Minnesota behind and to move on with the Suns. There’s little doubt that Beasley is taking a me-against-the-world mental approach heading into the new season.

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