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I wanted to repost here what I said in the Sacramento game thread:

nate33 wrote:Wow, Beal has been the perfect basketball player on offense tonight. It's not just that he is making shots. He is making every right decision. I just love his bball IQ. He continues to run the offense and make the pass to the post. Every shot he takes is within the flow. Just beautiful.

And he kept it up all night. He just fits in so perfectly and he made no mistakes. He finished with 6 assists despite rarely holding the ball for more than 1 second at a time. This is the part I like most about Beal. Yes, going 6 of 7 from 3-point range was awesome, but I was more impressed with his decisions.

The one downside is that I really haven't seen him create any shots on his own (except for the game winner against OKC). I'm not sure if it's because he can't, or if it's because he innately understands that one-on-one shot creation is typically a low-percentage endeavor. Either way, he hasn't shown to me that he can really be the type of closer that this team so desperately needs. He's only 19 so he might certainly add it to his repertoire, but for now, I don't think it's there.

I think to take that next step, he's got to get to the foul line more. That stat hasn't picked up in January. He's been steady at 3 foul shots a game all season.

I guess that's the "Ray Allen" comparison we were waiting to see come into fruition. Late stage Celtics Ray but still Ray nonetheless. I wouldn't worry about the foul shots. This is the type of player Beal is, which is the perfect ying to John Wall's Yang.

nate33 wrote:I wanted to repost here what I said in the Sacramento game thread:

nate33 wrote:Wow, Beal has been the perfect basketball player on offense tonight. It's not just that he is making shots. He is making every right decision. I just love his bball IQ. He continues to run the offense and make the pass to the post. Every shot he takes is within the flow. Just beautiful.

And he kept it up all night. He just fits in so perfectly and he made no mistakes. He finished with 6 assists despite never holding the ball for more than 2 seconds at a time. This is the part I like most about Beal. Yes, going 6 of 7 from 3-point range was awesome, but I was more impressed with his decisions.

The one downside is that I really haven't seen him create any shots on his own (except for the game winner against OKC). I'm not sure if it's because he can't, or if it's because he innately understands that one-on-one shot creation is typically a low-percentage endeavor. Either way, he hasn't shown to me that he can really be the type of closer that this team so desperately needs. He's only 19 so he might certainly add it to his repertoire, but for now, I don't think it's there.

Beal's passing into the post was what really stuck out to me also. Like you said, he doesn't hold the ball longer than 2 seconds, and usually gets it down to the post player in a position where they can immediately make a move to the basket, completely in flow.

I can see why OKC wanted him to replace Harden. Can you imagine Beal working in between Westbrook and Durant?

Which makes me realize, we really need to upgrade the SF position. Wall, Beal, and the big rotation of Nene, Okafor, and Seraphin is solid. There is a gaping hole at the SF position. Is Shabazz a fit? If Beal is the ultimate team player I feel like Shabazz would be the anti-Beal, but maybe they would play well off each other. Any other SF prospects expected lottery picks?

Gay? Jk...

Mr. Grundle wrote:Beal's passing into the post was what really stuck out to me also. Like you said, he doesn't hold the ball longer than 2 seconds, and usually gets it down to the post player in a position where they can immediately make a move to the basket, completely in flow.

I can see why OKC wanted him to replace Harden. Can you imagine Beal working in between Westbrook and Durant?

Which makes me realize, we really need to upgrade the SF position. Wall, Beal, and the big rotation of Nene, Okafor, and Seraphin is solid. There is a gaping hole at the SF position. Is Shabazz a fit? If Beal is the ultimate team player I feel like Shabazz would be the anti-Beal, but maybe they would play well off each other. Any other SF prospects expected lottery picks?

Yes, a more one-dimensional create-his-own-shot type of scorer at the SF position would probably be a good fit. Shabazz might work well.

With the guys we have on the roster now, I think I feel most comfortable with Jordan Crawford as the guy who should control the ball in a last-second situation - assuming we lack the time to run a proper play through Nene.

Mr. Grundle wrote:

nate33 wrote:I wanted to repost here what I said in the Sacramento game thread:

nate33 wrote:Wow, Beal has been the perfect basketball player on offense tonight. It's not just that he is making shots. He is making every right decision. I just love his bball IQ. He continues to run the offense and make the pass to the post. Every shot he takes is within the flow. Just beautiful.

And he kept it up all night. He just fits in so perfectly and he made no mistakes. He finished with 6 assists despite never holding the ball for more than 2 seconds at a time. This is the part I like most about Beal. Yes, going 6 of 7 from 3-point range was awesome, but I was more impressed with his decisions.

The one downside is that I really haven't seen him create any shots on his own (except for the game winner against OKC). I'm not sure if it's because he can't, or if it's because he innately understands that one-on-one shot creation is typically a low-percentage endeavor. Either way, he hasn't shown to me that he can really be the type of closer that this team so desperately needs. He's only 19 so he might certainly add it to his repertoire, but for now, I don't think it's there.

Beal's passing into the post was what really stuck out to me also. Like you said, he doesn't hold the ball longer than 2 seconds, and usually gets it down to the post player in a position where they can immediately make a move to the basket, completely in flow.

I can see why OKC wanted him to replace Harden. Can you imagine Beal working in between Westbrook and Durant?

Which makes me realize, we really need to upgrade the SF position. Wall, Beal, and the big rotation of Nene, Okafor, and Seraphin is solid. There is a gaping hole at the SF position. Is Shabazz a fit? If Beal is the ultimate team player I feel like Shabazz would be the anti-Beal, but maybe they would play well off each other. Any other SF prospects expected lottery picks?

Otto Porter is going to be a very solid NBA 3, the problem is he's also like Beal in that he produces primarily within the flow of the offense and isn't the pure shot creator this team needs. I think Beal is going to add the ability to create with the ball in his hands, and Porter will improve in that area as well imo, but we need a guy that it comes naturally to. A guy with elite shot creating ability at the three, and Shabazz will develop into that imo. They need a give me the rock, I'll get us a bucket in the half-court type of player who is able to produce relatively efficiently in that type of situation down the stretch of close games.

In this draft, Shabazz is really the only 3 that has that ability from what I've seen. Doesn't mean he's the only kid that can help the Wizards in this draft, but he's the only kid that if we added him to the club from this draft that I'd feel completely comfortable with this team's direction going forward. Wall, Beal, Muhammad would be a VERY strong core and would undoubtedly give us the most promising group of young players we've had since Webber and Howard. There might even be more upside with this club in that hypothetical.

Wall, Beal, and Muhammad would be certainly stronger than the core we have now but in the grand scheme of things? They're a poor, poor imitation of last year's OKC squad and that team lost the finals. They're a poor, poor imitation of Run-TMC and that team never made the finals. They're on par with the early 2000's Milwaukee trio or our own trio of the mid 2000's. We might sneak into the 2nd round once or twice but so could a team built entirely around just Vince Carter.

pancakes3 wrote:Wall, Beal, and Muhammad would be certainly stronger than the core we have now but in the grand scheme of things? They're a poor, poor imitation of last year's OKC squad and that team lost the finals. They're a poor, poor imitation of Run-TMC and that team never made the finals. They're on par with the early 2000's Milwaukee trio or our own trio of the mid 2000's. We might sneak into the 2nd round once or twice but so could a team built entirely around just Vince Carter.

I'm not willing to go that far in terms of projecting the absolute ceiling of that group. Doesn't it matter what auxiliary pieces we surrounded them with in that hypothetical? Doesn't it matter what the relative strength of the conference is during the period when we are primed for contention?

As it pertains to the examples you listed, the Bucks of the early 2000's were a legitimate contending team in the East, Oklahoma City lost in the Finals, but they're a favorite to win it this season, and I disagree that that triumvirate wouldn't have the ability to be better than our Gilbert lead group, primarily because I think their positive offensive contributions would be just as high (with Wall obviously being more of a shot creator and less of a scorer than Gil), while being much, much better collectively on the defensive end than the hideousness we saw from the Arenas bunch.

That hypothetical core obviously wouldn't guarantee a championship (and tbh, it's statistically unlikely that 85% of the league wins a championship in the next 10 years), but it would give us a group that is very competitive and perhaps could slip through the East in a given year depending on certain variables.

For those who missed the game.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBE1iIBbU40[/youtube]

My favorite play is 1:10 into that video John 2 Beal

His second three (about the 0:45 mark) is the most impressive highlight. he gathered his feet and got his balance incredible quickly. Watching it in real time, I noticed how quick he got the shot off and just figured he;d be short b/c there's no way he could gather himself that quick.

I wish the video showed his assists too.

he should definitely be in the discussion for ROY, at least
as of right now.

nate33 wrote:After tonight's 0-3 performance from the 3-point line, Bradley Beal now owns the distinction of being the worst 3-point shooter of all time among anybody in history who has averaged at least 5 attempts per 36 minutes. His percentage is now .269.

He hasn't made a 3-pointer in his last 5 games and has missed 17 in a row.

Wow, things have sure changed in hurry. In the 8 games since I made this post, Beal has made 22 out of 36 three pointers. He has boosted his 3P% for the season from a low of .269 to his current .354

dobrojim wrote:he should definitely be in the discussion for ROY, at least
as of right now.

He is. NBA.com has him ranked 2nd behind Lillard on the rookie ladder.

That Rookie Ladder thing is such a joke. NBA oughta be embarrassed to have that up on their site.

He's at least in the discussion for ROY now. He's a distant #2, but has plenty of time to close the gap.

GhostsOfGil wrote:

dobrojim wrote:he should definitely be in the discussion for ROY, at least
as of right now.

He is. NBA.com has him ranked 2nd behind Lillard on the rookie ladder.

It was always about his 3 ball. He was doing most other things well.

How he has turned his 3 ball around is amazing. You don't see that happen very often.

Wall has helped for sure but he starting shooting it better even before Wall returned. I know expect them to go in where before you expected him to miss.

Beal has been a legit stud lately and Wall return has really filled a hole they had. Now if Wall can just find an outside shot or two that works for him and learn to stick to that, his efficiency will go up like his assists have.

hands11 wrote:It was always about his 3 ball. He was doing most other things well.

Actually, I was more concerned about Beal's ability to hit the midrange jumper (especially off the dribble) than I was about his 3 ball. So it's good to see he's also hitting the 12-18 foot jumper more consistently.