Bradley Beal - Part III

[doclinkin]

But, imo, Beal has meant much more to the DC franchise—both on and off the court. If he remains a Wizard, I fully expect BB's number to someday hang in the rafters at the Cap One Arena.

Rafters, sure.

Jerseys though: How many Bradley Beal jerseys do you see in the stands in opponent stadiums?
How many at home games?

I like Beal, he is a good guy and great teammate and a low profile star. Arenas at his peak was an event. He was one of the rare DC players who had fans in every stadium around the league. Peak Arenas was a superstar. His play was riveting. He was worth a great deal to the franchise because he literally was worth more. He sold tickets, merchandise, advertising, national broadcast games. He redeemed the team at a time when we had bad fan karma for how the MJ situation played out. Beal has been a near all star, a near all NBA player, even when his numbers suggest otherwise. He can be damned good and coveted by every team in the league and still overlooked. Yes he hasn't had the teammates Gil had. Still, how often do you look up and realize oh hey Beal has 30. He can score the quietest 30 you've ever seen. If it was Gil you knew it. He would get in duels, he would light up opponents, he would pick rivals and attack them. What notable duels has Bradley had. He is most noted not for walkaway three pointers, but for his "c'mon man" stance when a fan dissed him.

Given a chance to build a team, I'd pick Brad. He has shown progress and skill and character and reliability and all the positive qualities.

But if I had to pick a player to win one game against all odds, against a team everyone said we couldn't beat, I'd pick peak Gil, no question.

Honestly I wish all three would have their jerseys hung in DC.

[Shanghai Kid]

But, imo, Beal has meant much more to the DC franchise—both on and off the court. If he remains a Wizard, I fully expect BB's number to someday hang in the rafters at the Cap One Arena.

Rafters, sure.

Jerseys though: How many Bradley Beal jerseys do you see in the stands in opponent stadiums?
How many at home games?

I like Beal, he is a good guy and great teammate and a low profile star. Arenas at his peak was an event. He was one of the rare DC players who had fans in every stadium around the league. Peak Arenas was a superstar. His play was riveting. He was worth a great deal to the franchise because he literally was worth more. He sold tickets, merchandise, he redeemed the team at a time when we had bad fan karma for how the MJ situation played out. Beal has been a near all star, a near all NBA player, even when his number suggest otherwise. He can be damned good and coveted by every team in the league and still overlooked. Yes he hasn't had the teammates Gil had. Still, how often do you look up and realize oh hey Beal has 30. He can score the quietest 30 you've ever seen. If it was Gil you knew it. He would get in duels, he would light up opponents, he would pick rivals and attack them. What notable duels has Bradley had. He is most noted not for walkaway three pointers, but for his "c'mon man" stance when a fan dissed him.

Given a chance to build a team, I'd pick Brad. He has shown progress and skill and character and reliability and all the positive qualities.

But if I had to pick a player to win one game against all odds, against a team everyone said we couldn't beat, I'd pick peak Gil, no question.

Honestly I wish all three would have their jerseys hung in DC.

I agree with all of this.

One great example of Gil's relevancy is that if we recall, Vince Carter was voted in as an All-Star starter by the fans a good amount of years in a row. Gil was the one to finally get voted in over VC by the fans in 2007. I always thought that was a big deal for a Wizards player to get more fan votes than Vince Carter.

[DCZards]

But, imo, Beal has meant much more to the DC franchise—both on and off the court. If he remains a Wizard, I fully expect BB's number to someday hang in the rafters at the Cap One Arena.

Rafters, sure.

Jerseys though: How many Bradley Beal jerseys do you see in the stands in opponent stadiums?
How many at home games?

Theatrics, highlights, popularity. Yes, it’s Gil hands down.

Substance, dependability, heavy-lifting. That’s what I want most from a franchise player. And that’s Beal hands down.

[DCZards]

Here's one of my most memorable Gil moments...and it didn't take place on the court:

When Arenas was with the Zards he often attended Mystics games...as I often do. At this one particular Mystics game, when Gil headed to the locker room tunnel at halftime, fans rushed to the rail to get his autograph.

Arenas spent the ENTIRE halftime patiently signing autographs and interacting with fans. It was beautiful thing.

[Kanyewest]

Arenas meant more to the franchise than Beal currently does. And to the game itself. His ascension prefigured the Stef Curry types of today and necessitated the inclusion of Combo guards in team construction where before that they were labeled as 'tweeners' and were generally used as 6th men for instant offense. Peak Arenas' startling efficiency helped jumpstart the stat driven era, where the Daryl Morey's of the nerdiverse saw Gil hitting outside jumpers, interior shots, and freethrows and realized that was all that any team should be trying for. Gil + Antawn was the future whether we knew it or not. Beal has benefitted from this emphasis and has been very smart in building his game to take advantage of it, but Arenas woke a moribund franchise from the post MJ depression and helped ignite the league, making it watchable again. He was also the first star to take full advantage of the internet.

I disagree that Arenas has meant more to the franchise than Beal.

Gilbert benefitted significantly from playing alongside Antwan Jamison and Caron Butler, two highly respected, hard working professionals who helped shoulder the load both on and off the court. The presence of Jamison and Butler--and their leadership--allowed Arenas to be the flaky, mercurial talent that we all know and love.

Beal has not had anywhere near that level of support. In fact, Brad has had to pretty much singlehandedly carry the Zards for almost two years now. He's been the only reason that many fans even go to home games, because not only does he score 30 pts a game and piles up rebounds and assists...he also gives fans hope that the Zards can actually win the game

Gil was no doubt an awesome talent. I enjoyed immensely watching him play at our Chinatown arena. I loved when GA would go to Barry Farms and ball with the locals.

But, imo, Beal has meant much more to the DC franchise—both on and off the court. If he remains a Wizard, I fully expect BB's number to someday hang in the rafters at the Cap One Arena.

It's tough to compare to be honest. When Beal was younger (although slightly younger than a prime Gilbert) he also had arguably better teammates than Arenas (2014- Wall, Gortat, Ariza, and Nene 2015- Wall, Gortat, Pierce, Porter or 2017 - Wall, Porter, Gortat ). But his teammates have fallen off a bit recently for sure.

However, Beal is also a bit older than 25 year old Arenas and in the hypothetically Arenas would have been even better if it wasn't for that unfortunate injury. Would Arenas have benefited from playing fewer minutes per game - his 40 mpg totals look ridiculous now. At the same time, Beal has stayed healthy and followed the doctor's orders and for the most part has been a healthy player in his prime.

Arenas also did a good job in the community as well. I'll give props to both here.

As far as a national perspective, I think Arenas is still ahead of Beal as far as their peaks go. A couple of my friends who weren't even Wizards fans rooted for Gilbert to succeed- not only because of his blog and his style of play. That being said, Beal is at the tipping point now of being recognized as a superstar player and I hope that peak comes to fruition in DC.