Beal or Westbrook for Season MVP?

[J-Ves]

Let’s pretend we never made the Wall trade. I bet we are trying to figure out who we are going to get with a top 5 pick currently. Beal is phenomenal but he is worshipped on this board and I don’t understand it.

Just sayin’ the wiz are 1-8 without Beal.

The wiz without Beal are likely worse than the Wizards without Westbrook.

[nate33]

Let’s pretend we never made the Wall trade. I bet we are trying to figure out who we are going to get with a top 5 pick currently. Beal is phenomenal but he is worshipped on this board and I don’t understand it.

Without Westbrook last season, this very same team was on pace to win 29 games over a 72-win season (before Beal and Bertans pulled out of the bubble). And that was without Gafford, Neto and Lopez. (Instead we had Wagner, IT and Pasecniks.)

This season, with Westbrook, they look like they'll win 34 or so.

[payitforward]

If you go with Best player it should be Beal.

This is the numbers from this season:
https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1=bealbr01&p1yrfrom=2021&player_id2=westbru01&p2yrfrom=2021#stats-per_minute

Advanced:
https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1=bealbr01&p1yrfrom=2021&player_id2=westbru01&p2yrfrom=2021#stats-advanced...

These two links display exactly the same set of tables of data.

Apparently, it looks to you like Beal's numbers are better than Westbrook's -- is that right? That's not how it looks to me. To me, it looks like Russ's numbers are better than Beal's overall.

Of course, if you leave out assists & rebounds (or simply don't value them in an objective way -- i.e. a way that correlates to their impact on winning/losing basketball games), then Beal's far better scoring numbers make him grade out above Russ easily.

But, if you do value assists & rebounds objectively, then overall Russ's numbers are better than Brad's.

That doesn't make Brad any less good than he is, of course! But, it does let you have an accurate picture of just how good a player Russell Westbrook is.

[payitforward]

Let’s pretend we never made the Wall trade. I bet we are trying to figure out who we are going to get with a top 5 pick currently. Beal is phenomenal but he is worshipped on this board and I don’t understand it.

Without Westbrook last season, this very same team was on pace to win 29 games over a 72-win season (before Beal and Bertans pulled out of the bubble). And that was without Gafford, Neto and Lopez. (Instead we had Wagner, IT and Pasecniks.)

This season, with Westbrook, they look like they'll win 34 or so.

Well... that might be a little unfair, nate -- for example, we did have Thomas Bryant.

In any case, somehow this is turning into a debate about Beal vs. Westbrook -- as if there were some need to critique one of them at the expense of the other. Or praise one of them at the expense of the other. I don't see any utility to doing that.

To me, what's special about this year for Brad is how incredibly efficient he's been -- given his extraordinarily high usage. Especially since, for reasons I don't at all understand, he seems to have lost his touch from the 3 point line.

Brad is taking almost 19 2-pointers per 40 minutes this season -- that's a huge number. Yet, he's shooting them at 53.6%. Plus he's getting to the line 8.5 times in those same 40 minutes & making over 89% of his FTs.

That's @ a .615 TS% on 2-pointers & FTAs only! Which is absolutely incredible for a guard at that level of usage. Really over the top. All the more in that every team's #1 defensive goal playing the Wizards is to prevent Bradley Beal from scoring.

Obviously, he's able to do this, b/c he has so many ways to get his shot. Brad's amazing & a lot of fun to watch.

But, fantastic as all that is, Bradley Beal is still not as great a player as Russell Westbrook! What Russ has been doing since early April is flat out incredible. He's been playing like a superstar at the apex of his career.

I've been a Wizards fan for a quarter century, maybe a little more. I have never had this much fun watching my team. We are formidable. I guarantee you that no one wants to play us. No one.

Let's enjoy this.

[NatP4]

It’s a good question. The team MVP is Tommy Sheppard if you ask me. Beal is every bit the leader and competitor that Russ is, but Sheppard finally got John Wall out of the way. The team culture is completely different now.

For all of his flaws, Westbrook only wants to win, and never takes a night off in terms of his effort.

Beal and Westbrook have great chemistry and really enjoy playing together. I feel no need to compare them. They both have been absolutely dynamic and great unselfish leaders.

Tommy Sheppard built this thing out of the dumpster fire that Ernie Grunfeld left.

[DCZards]

In any case, somehow this is turning into a debate about Beal vs. Westbrook -- as if there were some need to critique one of them at the expense of the other. Or praise one of them at the expense of the other. I don't see any utility to doing that.

Yup...has about as much utility as the Rui vs. Deni thread.

[payitforward]

In any case, somehow this is turning into a debate about Beal vs. Westbrook -- as if there were some need to critique one of them at the expense of the other. Or praise one of them at the expense of the other. I don't see any utility to doing that.

Yup...has about as much utility as the Rui vs. Deni thread.

Right! Or debating Chandler Hutchison vs. Garrison Mathews. Or Jerome Robinson vs. Garrison Mathews.

[Tyrone Messby]

Amen, payit. This is the most fun I’ve had watching the team since the Gil/Caron days. That Pierce year was pretty fun too though. Westbrook has turned into my favorite player and I couldn’t stand him prior to joining the Wizards. And Beal is an absolute beast. Gafford has been an incredible pick up. So many things to be happy about.

[payitforward]

Ain't it the truth!

Now, pick a stud at our spot in the draft. Buy a high R2 pick & score with that one too. & keep it going!