Pat Beverley, keeper or deep sleeper?

Three drafts ago, Miami was seen as getting the steal of the draft in Mario Chalmers. Many clamored that the Heat came away with the steal of this year's draft in Da'Sean Butler, while some others argued it a slimmed down Dexter Pittman could be that guy. My claim is that Miami may have landed the steal of the 2009 draft, but we just don't realize it yet. Who is Pat Beverley? Well, let's take a look at his journey and try to see why Pat Riley decided to give him the 15th guaranteed contract on the roster.

As a senior at Chicago Marshall High in 2006, Beverley led the state in scoring with 37.3 points per game, as he also averaged 8.0 steals, 6.0 assists and 6.0 rebounds while leading his team to a third-place finish in Class AA with a 35-3 record. Beverley shot 56 percent from the field, 44.8 percent from 3-point range and 91.2 percent from the foul line on his way to receiving the 3rd most votes for Mr. Basketball behind Jon Scheyer and Sherron Collins and ahead of Derrick Rose (5th) and Evan Turner (15th).

A year later he was named the Southeastern Conference's Newcomer and Freshman of the Year after ranking among SEC individual leaders in nine of 13 categories. He was 16th in the SEC in scoring (13.9), tied for 29th in rebounding (4.5), 15th in assists (3.14), sixth in steals (1.74), third in free-throw percentage (.812), eighth in 3-point percentage (.386), 11th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.57), 12th in 3-point goals per game (2.09) and fourth in minutes played (34.37).

Beverley decided against summer vacation and instead led the USA Basketball Under-19 team to a silver medal finish in the World Championships at Serbia. The U.S. went 8-1 with Beverley leading the team in scoring (13.0), assists (3.2) and steals (3.4). He tied for second in rebounding (5.3), was second in three-point shooting (.394, 13-33) and third in free-throw shooting (.750, 18-24).

The World Championships might have tired him a bit, because as a sophomore his numbers dipped to 12.1 points, 2.4 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.5 blocks per game. However, he still became the first player under 6'4" to lead the Razorbacks in rebounds (6.6 per game). He would soon face a one year suspension due to academic dishonesty and decide to take his talents back to Eastern Europe and turn pro in the Ukraine.

In 46 games for Dnipro Dnepropetrovsk he averaged 16.7 points per game, hitting on 45 percent of his two-point field goals and 38 percent from 3-point range. He nabbed 7.0 boards, dished 3.6 assists, and came away with 1.3 blocks and 2.2 steals per game. Those figures placed him among the leaders in the league in scoring average (6th), rebounds (3rd), blocked shots (6th), steals (2nd) and assists (10th). His impressive all around contributions caught Pat Riley's eye, who traded for him on draft night in 2009. He spent last season in Greece playing alongside the likes of Josh Childress at Olympiakos and filled the roll of back up point guard and defensive specialist.

Assuming Beverley makes the roster this season, he will be hard pressed to get meaningful minutes with Chalmers, Arroyo and Eddie House ahead of him in the rotation. I had previously written that he could be a defensive stopper at the point guard position and I stand by that assessment. He is not the type of passer that Rajon Rondo is, but if he is half as opportunistic as Rajon was when a Big 3 came to his town, he could find himself back in the mix when Team USA tries to assemble a new group after the 2012 Olympics. The sky is the limit with Pat.