Wizards vs Utah Sat 7PM @ the Booth

[willbcocks]

is Harrison barnes better than Bradley Beal?

Yes. I really think the board fell into group think with Beal. Barnes was more productive than Beal in college, but as usual we overrate potential, because Beal is 19 and has a nice looking jumper. I think Beal will be a good player, but I would have picked Drummond or Barnes over him.

100%. The concerns about Beak were the following:
1. Height
2. Ability to attack off the dribble
3. His actual shooting % in college
4. Aggressiveness

All of these concerns have been validated. His height is affecting his ability to get off shots. He's no effective driving to the hoop. He has a nice looking shot but it doesn't translate to a high fg% because he just plain misses or doesn't get an easy shots. He's tentative....None of this should be a surprise. We convinced ourselves he was better than he was and blamed his deficiencies on him being a freshman. If he had gone back to college like Perry Jones did, the questions would have arose...He benefited from being young and the sample size not being big enough.....

I think #3 and #4 are valid, but I haven't seen anything to worry about his height. He's blocked some shots and he can get his shot off fine. Can he get off a 3 with a big man up in his grill? No, but we don't want him to.

He's also shown a decent ability to drive the ball. In the last game, he made some very nice moves to the basket, and since the first game he's gotten much better at not picking up his dribble. This is all clearly an improvement since college, so it bodes well for further improvement in the future. His larger problem has been finishing at the rim--he's struggling so far. And yes, this is partially because of his height. But this is part of the process of a guard transitioning from college to the NBA, and it's far too early to write off his ability to get the cup.

As for his outside shot, it's looked pretty but been average. This is a real concern. It needs to look pretty and go in a lot for him to be an impact player.

[DANNYLANDOVER]

is Harrison barnes better than Bradley Beal?

Yes. I really think the board fell into group think with Beal. Barnes was more productive than Beal in college, but as usual we overrate potential, because Beal is 19 and has a nice looking jumper. I think Beal will be a good player, but I would have picked Drummond or Barnes over him.

100%. The concerns about Beak were the following:
1. Height
2. Ability to attack off the dribble
3. His actual shooting % in college
4. Aggressiveness

All of these concerns have been validated. His height is affecting his ability to get off shots. He's no effective driving to the hoop. He has a nice looking shot but it doesn't translate to a high fg% because he just plain misses or doesn't get an easy shots. He's tentative....None of this should be a surprise. We convinced ourselves he was better than he was and blamed his deficiencies on him being a freshman. If he had gone back to college like Perry Jones did, the questions would have arose...He benefited from being young and the sample size not being big enough.....

Thank you. DMVLegend and I were pretty much the only ones that wanted Drummond pre-draft. The thing is that Beal didn't make that much of an impact in college, save for the tournament games. If you are drafting based on potential, at least, make sure that the player has the physical attributes to match his potential. Beal is not very athletic for someone undersized, rarely finishes at the rim with contact, doesn't have good enough handles or a great first step. Barnes has all of those, and Drummond might be raw, but his physical traits and defensive instincts means his floor is a decent starter.
Anyway, we have Beal now, I just hope he gets it together soon enough. As it is looking right now, he'll end up being only a spot-up shooter at best, and you can find those in the 2nd round of any draft.

[DANNYLANDOVER]

I don't agree with people calling Beal a bust we just 8 games in a lot of rookies have slow start that's to be expected main reason we drafted Beal in to play with wall and wall not here. I will hold off my judgement to we get a healthy Wall and them 2 play together for at least 2 years. Beal game will come on at some point he still learning. Wall going to make the game a lot easier for him. He has shown flashes of what he can do that's a good thing.

Personally, I don't think he's a bust...yet. My issue is with people who said Drummond was gonna be a bust, but Beal would be an all star. They were both average in college, and were only rated highly based on potential. The only distinguishing stat Beal had in college was rebounding from a SF position.
My draft motto would be, don't draft a SG with a top 5 pick, unless they are very physically gifted. No undersized SG at the top of the draft, they rarely win you championships.

[closg00]

I don't agree with people calling Beal a bust we just 8 games in a lot of rookies have slow start that's to be expected main reason we drafted Beal in to play with wall and wall not here. I will hold off my judgement to we get a healthy Wall and them 2 play together for at least 2 years. Beal game will come on at some point he still learning. Wall going to make the game a lot easier for him. He has shown flashes of what he can do that's a good thing.

Personally, I don't think he's a bust...yet. My issue is with people who said Drummond was gonna be a bust, but Beal would be an all star. They were both average in college, and were only rated highly based on potential. The only distinguishing stat Beal had in college was rebounding from a SF position.
My draft motto would be, don't draft a SG with a top 5 pick, unless they are very physically gifted. No undersized SG at the top of the draft, they rarely win you championships.

Amen, but there is still plenty of room for Beal to be a very good SG for us.