Patrick Beverley, global big men, Thunder

You have questions, David Thorpe and Henry Abbott have answers

I have never seen anything like Patrick Beverley. I'm absolutely obsessed. This man is an absolute weirdo. But so incredibly effective. Is annoying a skill set they test for in the NBA?
—TrueHoop Judy

HENRY: He’s a superhero of something. All-In Man? Even before the playoffs began, he was amazing me with that little viral video of his telling Jae Crowder how to guard James Harden. (It didn’t work, by the way.) What mostly struck me was the urgent energy of his movements—mouth, arms, and everything. He was dying to get his point across. There’s a hyperactive person inside me, a kind of alter ego, that I tend to think of as “caffeine, and lots of it.” It’s a part of me that fades in and out. With him, it’s the whole deal.

I did once ask an NBA GM why they bothered flying to see draft prospects in person, and the answer had a lot to do with this. They know the guy can shoot, but can he—in warmups—pound the floor with his fists, scream, and fire up the whole gym? Executives basically spend t…