Heat sign former No. 2 pick Michael Beasley to 10-day contract

The Miami Heat just got cooler. Super cooler.

Out of nowhere, the Heat announced Thursday that they have signed former No. 2 overall pick Michael Beasley to a 10-day contract.

The man with Supercool Beas tattooed across his back has returned from a stint with Yao Ming's Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association, cause for a great deal of excitement. In 37 games with the Sharks, Beasley averaged an obscene 28.7 points, 10.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.9 steals, shooting 51.3 percent from the floor and 35.4 percent from long range.

He also made waves in China by dropping 59 points in the CBA All-Star Game, trying to eat a basketball and paling around with Yao and fellow former-NBA player Delonte West, who had a cup of coffee with the Sharks.

This is quite the heat check, pun intended, for Pat Riley and the Heat organization. After scooping reclamation project Hassan Whiteside off the scrap heap and turning him into a terrifyingly effective player, Miami signed former potential lottery pick and Beasley's college teammate Henry Walker to a 10-day contract, immediately turning him into a clutch 3-point bomber.

In Beasley, the Heat are once again betting on talent and organizational culture over track record.

Miami made Beasley the No. 2 pick out of Kansas State in 2008, paying the Minnesota Timberwolves to take him after two seasons to clear cap space to put their Big Three together. Beasley signed with the Phoenix Suns as a free agent and played one season before getting waived on the eve of a second. The Heat then gave him another spin in 2013-14, with Beasley starting strong but eventually falling out of favor with LeBron James and company.

This offseason, Beasley worked out for the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs before signing a non-guaranteed deal with the Memphis Grizzlies. Uncertain of his status on the roster, Beasley left the Grizzlies to sign what was believed to be a $1.15-million deal in China.

Beasley has never struggled to score in his six seasons in the NBA, he's just had difficulty doing so efficiently at times. In 409 career games, he's averaged 13.2 points and 4.9 rebounds in 24.9 minutes, shooting 45 percent from the floor and 34.8 percent from 3-point range with a player efficiency rating of 15.1, almost exactly the league average.

The bigger concerns for Beasley have been on the defensive end and off the court. He was fined by the league after being involved in a drug-related incident at the NBA's Rookie Transition Program in 2008, was fined by the Heat multiple times as a rookie, checked into rehab in 2009 and was bought out and waived by the Suns with two years remaining on his deal following an arrest on suspicion of marijuana possession.

A childhood friend of Kevin Durant, Beasley appears to have stayed out of trouble in the time since he left the Suns, and there were no reports of him having off-court issues during his latest Miami stint.

This time around, the Heat will hope that Beasley can play a combo-forward role, stretching the floor as a four and providing additional scoring from the wing. With Chris Bosh out for the season and Josh McRoberts having only a slight chance of returning this year, Miami could use help at the forward position, and Beasley's talent warrants a 10-day roll of the dice.

It's also incredibly fun.

Less fun is the fact that Beasley has played more games than the player selected ahead of him in the 2008 draft, Derrick Rose.