Bradley Beal

[DCZards]

Beal was foolish to tweet support of the Cardinals, WTF was he thinking.

The kid is St. Lou born and raised. I don't have a problem with him being a fan of his hometown team.

[DCZards]

Beal = Ray Allen, Wade, Jerry West? Nah, Mitch Richmond folks.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Beal was foolish to tweet support of the Cardinals, WTF was he thinking.

The kid is St. Lou born and raised.i don't have a problem with him being a fan of his hometown[team].

+1

On top of that it was a historic comeback, from down 6-0 to win. Beal's just 19 and probably doesn't see his role as Washington sports icon the way he will if he stays a Wizard long-term.

[hands11]

Beal = Ray Allen, Wade, Jerry West? Nah, Mitch Richmond folks.

So all these years later, we get a young Mitch Richmond instead of the old Mitch Richmond.

[closg00]

Beal was foolish to tweet support of the Cardinals, WTF was he thinking.

The kid is St. Lou born and raised.i don't have a problem with him being a fan of his hometown[team].

+1

On top of that it was a historic comeback, from down 6-0 to win. Beal's just 19 and probably doesn't see his role as Washington sports icon the way he will if he stays a Wizard long-term.

This is true.

[rockymac52]

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I am pretty comfortable saying Beal is a stud.

I always liked the pick, and was a huge advocate for Beal over MKG when that was the big debate, but even though I was high on Beal, I wasn't ready to label him as a future all-star. I thought he certainly had the potential to get to that level, but there was a decent chance he'd just be above average, and not quite good enough to be considered one of the top talents at his position. Now, I don't want to imply that all-star appearances are the end all stat, because that's the furthest thing from the truth. But what I'm getting at is that I love what I'm seeing from Beal so far, and I think he has star written all over him.

Here's why.

1. He is "NBA ready". It's just preseason, but you can clearly tell he belongs in this league, and that he deserved to be drafted as high as he was. He has plenty of room to improve across the board, but honestly, what rookie doesn't? That brings me to my next point...

2. He is truly an all-around player, with no glaring weakness. Seriously, what DOESN'T this guy do? He distributes and handles the ball better than you'd expect from his position. He rebounds and blocks more than you'd expect. He hustles and plays very good defense (I think his defense is actually incredibly underrated; I could see him being a lock-down defender in the very near future). He doesn't turn the ball over too much (not yet at least). He can score from inside and outside. He can get to the line and hit his FTs. He doesn't foul too much. Seriously, I don't know what he's missing. It's all there.

3. He is a play-maker. Surely you've seen some of his highlight reel finishes by now. He has the ability to take it to the hoop and make plays that most NBA players are incapable of making. He doesn't shy away from contact, and he knows how to use his size to his advantage. He isn't waiting around for someone else to do something. Instead, he's active, with or without the ball. A real team player.

4. He's doing all of these things and he's only 19 years old. He has yet to play a real NBA game. That's a nice reminder that we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves, and he still needs to prove he can do all of these things at the real NBA level, but that's only a matter of time. He's just getting started, and he's already good, IMO. He also seems like the type of player who is dedicated to developing his game, and is never satisfied. That bodes well for his ability to continue to improve over the coming years.

I love what I've seen from Beal so far. I'm as sold as one could possibly be after only 3 preseason games. This kid is going to be incredibly valuable to our franchise. I think there's a very good chance that in a year from now he is regarded as the best player on this team. I hope Wall develops a jumper and elevates his game to the next level and ends up being regarded as the best player on this team, but regardless, I think Beal might give him a run for his money. I'm very excited to see how the two of them play together.

[nate33]

Wow. Nice post, rockymac. That put me in a good mood. I have a hard time refuting any or your points, which puts me in an even better mood.

Beal's game reminds me a bit of Manu Ginobili. He's pretty good at everything without being undeniably awesome at any one skill.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Beal is to EG/Ted as Robert Griffin III is to Shanahan/Dan Snyder. Finally, the owners got one right.

Griffin is a superstar in the making. Beal is at least a future star as it seems right now to me. He has a chance to really improve the Wizards. Not like RG3, right away, but in time.

I am very pleased with everything about Beal's game and his demeanor so far.

[DCZards]

ccj, the best of Beal's game is yet to come....wait until he is out there with Wall.

[Knighthonor]

can the Wizards send Beal away to a good team, so Beal can develop in a good environment for a year and than be sent back to Washington with all his new developed skills with him?

win win.

[TheBigThree]

Coaching staff needs to do a better job of getting Beal shots. Only had 7 attempts before the game was out of hand and they had to start chucking.

Can't wait to see him out there with Wall and Nene, though.

[dandridge 10]

Coaching staff needs to do a better job of getting Beal shots. Only had 7 attempts before the game was out of hand and they had to start chucking.

Can't wait to see him out there with Wall and Nene, though.

I think it is partly on Beal too. I think he is a bit too passive at times. However, I'm not going to complain. The kid still looks great and will become more agressive as he gains more experience.

[hands11]

Coaching staff needs to do a better job of getting Beal shots. Only had 7 attempts before the game was out of hand and they had to start chucking.

Can't wait to see him out there with Wall and Nene, though.

I think it is partly on Beal too. I think he is a bit too passive at times. However, I'm not going to complain. The kid still looks great and will become more agressive as he gains more experience.

He needs more FTs. 13 pts in 30 minutes isn't enough. Only 2 FTAs.

Webster had 10 FTAs in 28 minutes and ended up with 18 pts

[nate33]

He needs more FTs. 13 pts in 30 minutes isn't enough. Only 2 FTAs.

Webster had 10 FTAs in 28 minutes and ended up with 18 pts

Beal is averaging 6.9 FTA's per 36 minutes so far this season. That would rank him 10th in the league in FTA per minute last year.

(Caveat: people typically foul a lot in the preseason so it's probably unsafe to make extrapolations like this, but it's pretty difficult to argue that he isn't getting to the line much.)

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Coaching staff needs to do a better job of getting Beal shots. Only had 7 attempts before the game was out of hand and they had to start chucking.

Can't wait to see him out there with Wall and Nene, though.

I think it is partly on Beal too. I think he is a bit too passive at times. However, I'm not going to complain. The kid still looks great and will become more agressive as he gains more experience.

Beal is making me wish John Wall were healthy. They are going to be fun to watch for years to come!

[dandridge 10]

Coaching staff needs to do a better job of getting Beal shots. Only had 7 attempts before the game was out of hand and they had to start chucking.

Can't wait to see him out there with Wall and Nene, though.

I think it is partly on Beal too. I think he is a bit too passive at times. However, I'm not going to complain. The kid still looks great and will become more agressive as he gains more experience.

Beal is making me wish John Wall were healthy. They are going to be fun to watch for years to come!

Agree. Wall is going to get Beal even more open looks.

Another thing that occurred to me last night is how important Nene, Okafor, Seraphin, and Booker will be to Beal's growth this year. All four of these players can set pretty nasty picks, and this should get Beal a lot of open looks. For whatever positives McGee and Blatche had, setting picks wasn't one of them. I think Beal is the perfect compliment to the type of talent that we have on this team.

[dobrojim]

^ I can't say I have a firm recollection of Okafor's pick setting ability but
clearly Veen, Nene and Book have both the physique and the mindset to
offer this for Beal and other shooters we may have as well. Okafor's a smart
guy so I think you're probably right about him as well.

It's hard not to be giddy about what we've seen from BB so far. The one
issue that remains to be seen is whether/assuming BB does turn out to
be really good from the get-go, as a 19 yo, how difficult/likely it will
be for him to improve and improve significantly on that.

One of the first posts, back in the WizListserv days, that I remember reading
from Kev was a prediction that Gil would become an absolute stud, his argument
based on how good he was at a relatively young age. I doubt the history of players
like that has changed much since then. But it's always about the specifics when it
comes to the specifics (profound eh?). So how good might a Wall/BB backcourt be
when they are 29/26 (or whatever it is, they're 3 years apart in age?) assuming
a career trajectory not intercepted by injury. Fingers crossed, knock on wood, usual caveats...

[fishercob]

Beal had a very rough start against Miami last night and didn't shoot all that well (9 points on 9 shots). But he rebounded to hit a dagger three down the stretch and finished with 4 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals and a block in 24 minutes. I find that very encouraging. It's difficult to not be excited by the kid.

[nate33]

Beal had a very rough start against Miami last night and didn't shoot all that well (9 points on 9 shots). But he rebounded to hit a dagger three down the stretch and finished with 4 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals and a block in 24 minutes. I find that very encouraging. It's difficult to not be excited by the kid.

Agreed. Never in a million years would Nick Young have been able to help out so much on a day when he wasn't hitting.

On a bad day, Beal still posted on a per 36 basis: 13.5 points, 6 boards, 3 assists, 4.5 steals and 1.5 blocks.

[dobrojim]

that late 3 was very encouraging

nothing but net

boom.

early in the game he just got in foul trouble. He seems like a smart
kid so I'd shrug and call that growing pains.