Coming of age: Michael Beasley now 21, and growing

"My name is Paul. My sobriety date is August 6, 2009."

He leaves out the middle part of the traditional Alcoholics Anonymous greeting of "and I am an alcoholic," because his demons were not merely limited to a bottle.

Paul, in this case, is Paul Smith.

Only Paul Smith isn't Paul Smith. And he hardly can be as anonymous at this moment as he'd prefer to be.

Not with the tattoos, the ever-present smile and a reputation that precedes his entrance into this bastion of privacy.

"I use my alias because my middle name is Paul and my family name is Smith," he says, "so you put two and two together."

Paul Smith is Michael Beasley. And Michael Beasley has grown plenty since August 6, from the six-week substance-abuse rehab in Houston to a new starting role with the Miami Heat.

Saturday, he took the next step, one with as many potential traps as any during this winding journey from prep prodigy to one-year college wonder to No. 2 overall 2008 NBA Draft pick to shockingly immature rookie.

Saturday, as the Heat took flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles, the wonderfully skilled 6-foot-9 power forward turned 21.

He's legal. All restrictions have been lifted, except those now self-imposed, a moral compass that includes those AA meetings in Miami as well as ongoing league-administered counseling.

"I've already done everything people want to start doing at 21," he says. "It's not like, 'Oh, I'm 21, so I get to do this, I get to do that.'

"I've been there, done that."

The next visit to those South Beach clubs won't be the first.

"It's the first legal time," he says, having famously spent up to $20,000 during nights on the town as a rookie. "But it's not a big deal to me anymore. I'm sober."

So instead of the clubs, there might be a visit to a church, a community center, a classroom, anywhere where stories can be shared, perspectives gained.

"I go to listen to some of the stories, people who were on top, fell way to the bottom and they're climbing back up," he says of those AA visits. "There's so many inspirational, so many touching stories out there."

Does he feel self-conscious? To a degree, yes, which is why Paul Smith mostly sits and listens.

"Everybody's got a sobriety date," he says, "even if you're not in an AA meeting or not in a rehab. Everybody has a sobriety date. A sobriety date is basically the last time you had a drink or the last time you did any type of drug."

His is 8-6-09.

Teammates know that, especially the youthful teammates who also have come of legal age while in the league.

They know where he's been, from the pungent marijuana odor in that hotel room during the 2008 NBA rookie symposium in New York to the treatment missteps that lengthened this past summer's stay in Houston.

"He gets it now," says teammate Daequan Cook, who also turned 21 in the middle of his second NBA season, two years ago. "Just because you're legal, don't start doing the things you can't do.

"He's more mature, but that spotlight is on him. Now we'll all be able to go out together, keep an eye on him."

Temptation, Beasley says, will not be an issue.

"I know some people that smoke and drink," he says. "But it's my life. Life has options.

"I let them live their life. I'm here trying to live for me."

Coach Erik Spoelstra has seen Cook and forward Dorell Wright come of legal age while with the team. He appreciates the significance.

"I think for anybody, your 21st birthday is one that you remember," the 39-year-old second-year coach says. "But the professional athletes that come in at such a young age, it is different. You come in at 18, 19 years old and the doors are already open to an adult world, a world that's much different than people who are going to college and hanging around other peers of the same age.

"So Michael, as we know, he's grown significantly in the last 12 months."

It was alongside teammate Mario Chalmers that Beasley first was busted by the NBA for violations of its rookie policies. Both were fined. Their friendship, though, has endured.

Together they take this next step.

"Of course, we're going to go out sometimes," Chalmers, 23, says. "That's what everybody does. At the same time, you've got to be smart about it. Mike don't drink. He likes to relax and just chill out. He knows what he can and can't do."

But, as of Saturday, the options increased.

"I encourage the fact that sober living is positive," Beasley says. "Now there's less stress, no more looking over your shoulder."

And with that, Paul Smith walks away, into a city where there are so many more stories to be shared.