payitforward wrote:stevemcqueen1 wrote:The movements Beal makes on the court used to remind me of Ray Allen. Just how smooth everything was. How he just kind of picked his way around the floor, searching for shots, moving off the ball. Everything looked effortless, not particularly explosive. Smooth handles, smooth footwork, upright posture, sneaky strength and speed.
But now Beal seems like a much more physical presence. I see the DWade comparison in him much more now. He had a strong body before, but it looks like he's grown stronger and he really wears opponents down like Wade does. He runs guys ragged when moving off the ball and he takes it to them. He's always been fearless in who he'll try and launch on, but now I feel like you want to get out of his way. And he wears guys out when he plays D. You see the blocks and the boards and the energy to run through screens all night and body up players and get into the paint.
The polish on his finishes is still not comparable to Wade. But he's gotten far better. If he keeps improving and gets nearly as skillful as Wall, he'll be an unstoppable inside out scorer.
I'm thinking the pre-draft knocks on Beal being undersized are going to end up being really wide of the mark. He and Wall are going to end up being one of the most physically imposing backcourts in the league.
Agree altogether about Beal -- especially size. He looks really big, and the kid is built like a linebacker! Well, upper body anyway. Likely still growing too; he just turned 20.
But it's too early to compare him to names that got to be names based on many years of consistent excellence. Anyway, to me, he just looks like Bradley Beal.
I agree. He's still defined by his potential and so people often make these kinds of comparisons to define him tangibly in the mind's eye.
Eventually he'll have enough production that you can just say Bradley Beal and people will know exactly what skill set you mean, just like we do for Allen and Wade.
The comparisons definitely aren't clean, players are so individual that they never are. I think it's important to note in a comparison to Allen that Beal has a long way to go before he'll be the kind of shooter Allen is. But Allen's the best. Similarly, in the Wade comparison, it's important to dsitinguish that, at one point, Wade was the best finisher at the guard position, maybe the best finisher in the game. And he was also
the most physically intimidating and well rounded guard during his prime. He's bigger than Beal. Important differences because Allen was basically the platonic ideal shooter at the SG position and Wade was the platonic ideal slasher.
But, some of the elements of what made Allen and Wade great shooting guards are there in Beal, even if it's to a lesser extent. The fact that he's got some of both makes it really easy to get carried away with his potential. With his athleticism and build and inside scoring ability, it's really really rare to also get such a great shooter.
