Bradley Beal

[tontoz]

Is it really necessary to pollute the Beal thread with Vesely talk? Vesely is a bust.......

[Nivek]

Update on Beal over at the blog.

Through the first 51 games of his career, he's about average for a teen rookie guard. Overall, he has basically the same score as Harden did at the same point in their careers. At the same point, Beal rates better than several young PGs who became good (Bibby, Rondo, Holiday, Baron Davis), as well as a couple SG types -- Kobe and JR Smith.

Beal has steadily improved his long-range shooting. He's doing just fine in his rookie season, still with LOADS of room to improve.

[dangermouse]

So he's in the rookie challenge game today right?

Is it back to rookie's vs sophomores? or is it still that stupid draft the players thing by barkley and co.?

[montestewart]

So he's in the rookie challenge game today right?

Is it back to rookie's vs sophomores? or is it still that stupid draft the players thing by barkley and co.?

The latter. Here are the teams:

Team Shaq
Damian Lillard (Portland)
Kyrie Irving (Cleveland)
Andre Drummond (Detroit)
Klay Thompson (Golden State)
Harrison Barnes (Golden State)
Chandler Parsons (Houston)
Dion Waiters (Cleveland)
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Charlotte)
Tyler Zeller (Cleveland)
Kemba Walker (Charlotte)

Team Chuck:
Anthony Davis (New Orlenas)
Kenneth Faried (Denver)
Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio)
Bradley Beal (Washington)
Ricky Rubio (Minnesota)
Tristan Thompson (Cleveland)
Nikola Vucevic (Orlando)
Brandon Knight (Detroit)
Isaiah Thomas (Sacramento)
Alexey Shved (Minnesota)

It's nice to see Beal playing with all the shoulda-coulda-woulda been Wizards

[dangermouse]

This will be my first look at MKG.

My money is on Team Chuck. Sure Shaq has Kyrie and Lillard, but there's only 1 ball.

Davis, Faried, Leonard, Beal, Rubio.... thats some starting lineup. Barkley might seem dumb but i think he might secretly be a genius.

[DCZards]

^^^^^ I dunno. Guard play and long range shooting usually rules in these type of "all-star" games and I have to give Team Shaq the edge with Irving, Lillard, Walker, Thompson, Parsons and Waiters.

[Halcyon]

Beal getting some love for actually playing hard in the game.

[dangermouse]

Team Chuck stroking it from deep. Looks over already, and the second half usually sees more defense.

[dangermouse]

Is this the unofficial Rising Stars thread now?

Because Kyrie is working Brandon. AWESOME.

[montestewart]

^^^^^ I dunno. Guard play and long range shooting usually rules in these type of "all-star" games and I have to give Team Shaq the edge with Irving, Lillard, Walker, Thompson, Parsons and Waiters.

I thought the same before the game, but sharing the ball, rebounding, and hitting threes won out over fancy one-on-one spectaculars (which were pretty fun to watch anyway). Irving looked spectacular, but I'm still waiting to see whether he can do more than look fantastic on a losing team.

To think, we could have had Faried and either Leonard or Vucevic, rather than Vesely and Singleton. Yikes! Vucevic hit an apparently stress-free 3. A 7-foot bruiser with range!

Beal didn't steal the show, but he played hard and looked comfortable, like he belonged, and he didn't do anything to embarrass himself. Couple of nice passes, took it to the rim, hit from outside. He looked good.

PS: I liked the way Davis didn't seem to get that you're supposed to show off.

[dangermouse]

I think Vucevic had a couple of threes. His stroke looks good. I wouldnt be surprised if he took one every few games now.

[GhostsOfGil]

Is this the unofficial Rising Stars thread now?

Because Kyrie is working Brandon. AWESOME.

That entire 4 minute stretch was just embarrassing for Brandon Knight. Kyrie flat out owned him.

[TheKingOfVa360]

Whitman needs to tailor the offense around Beal next season. This kid should be shooting 15 times a game. He's one of the few players on this team that can score.

[TheKingOfVa360]

Whitman needs to tailor the offense around Beal next season. This kid should be shooting 15 times a game. He's one of the few players on this team that can score.

[willbcocks]

Thank god we have Beal. He is a legit, core player. And, thankfully, he is the youngest player on the team with a long rookie deal ahead of him.

One of the reasons I did not like the Nene/Okafor/Ariza deals is we were putting all of our eggs in the John Wall basket. With only Wall and Beal as potential core pieces, we needed Wall to become a superstar, not just a star. And right now, projecting him as just a star is optimistic, and I don't think anyone sees him as a superstar.

What we probably should be doing is tanking and trading away everyone except for Beal. Then we rebuild with him and our first rounders for the next two years. Painful as heck, but what other options do we have? Beal + Unknown + Unknown + 2-3 more years of misery sounds more appealing to me than our current team.