Bradley Beal

[nuposse04]

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if beal averaged 20 ppg+ this season. He averaged 17.5 in feb and 15 in jan and march. Add a new dimension to his game he could due for a break the **** out season.

[jivelikenice]

Beal focused on his ball-handling to take some pressure off Wall and those who have witnessed voluntary workouts rave about his improved offensive arsenal. The 20-year-old Beal recently stated that his confidence is “still sky high.” Now, Beal has to show how that translates to regular season production.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wiz ... ning-camp/

Biggest takeaway for me is he says he's a legit 6'5 now. Good size for a 2 guard. Thats big for him. His height did seem to be an issue at times early last season.

[nate33]

Beal focused on his ball-handling to take some pressure off Wall and those who have witnessed voluntary workouts rave about his improved offensive arsenal. The 20-year-old Beal recently stated that his confidence is “still sky high.” Now, Beal has to show how that translates to regular season production.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wiz ... ning-camp/

Biggest takeaway for me is he says he's a legit 6'5 now. Good size for a 2 guard. Thats big for him. His height did seem to be an issue at times early last season.

Where does it say he's a legit 6'-5"?

[nate33]

Where does it say he's a legit 6'-5"?

Nevermind. Found it here.

Martell Webster sported a new look, with his beard shaved and hair cut closely. Bradley Beal admitted that he possibly grew an inch over the summer and thinks he is now “a legit” 6-feet-5.

[payitforward]

Biggest takeaway for me is he says he's a legit 6'5 now....

Not to mention he just turned 20 -- he could keep growing for another year maybe more.

Maybe he'll wind up our "franchise big man?"

[Illuminaire]

He already plays more like a SF... come on Bradley, four more inches and you can be the stretch-four Wall's been clamoring for! ^_^

[dobrojim]

kudos to BB on an excellent game vs MIA.

nice to see/hear he worked on his handle. His stroke was in midseason
form last night

also nice to hear (again) about him growing an inch. Every little bit helps.

[GhostsOfGil]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LHkbS0SbQ[/youtube]



1:46 - perfect PnR.
1:53 - beautiful escape dribble.

[tontoz]

Beal is the only guy on the team that i actually expect to play well. Everyone else seems like a question mark or a scrub.

[Dat2U]

Beal looked liked the real deal last night. I was really impressed. He does look noticeably bigger and more explosive as well. On the Comcast SHD (shi**y HD) feed I had trouble telling the difference b/w Wall & Beal slashing to the basket at times, both looked extremely quick. It's obvious to tell that Beal's been working on his ballhandling, the ball looks like it's a natural extension of his hands and his first step looks quicker. That's type of improvement you want your young guys to make from year to year. I may have to revise the win total up a few games. I expected Beal to improve, but he looks like he's ready to take a bigger jump than I anticipated this season.

[verbal8]

A more efficient, lower usage Gordon would not be bad either. Basically if you took Gordon's skillset and cut out his five worst shots a night, that's a pretty good player.

That's not how I see it. I did call him a volume shooter, and that's why he puts up so many points, which in turn is why he's overrated. But, in fact, he's a pretty efficient scorer. Leaving out last year when he was clearly not the old Eric Gordon, if you took away his 5 worst shots a night (lets say he missed 4 of those), the guy would be shooting over 60% -- I'll say that's "pretty good"!!

Both Harden and Gordon are very good at getting to the line. His improved ball handling should help with that. If he produce like Eric Gordon with better rebounding and fewer turnovers, he will be a great help to the Wizards. I don't see him ever being able to generate the assists that Harden does, but playing with Wall he doesn't need to be a ball dominant player.

[Ruzious]

Beal looked liked the real deal last night. I was really impressed. He does look noticeably bigger and more explosive as well. On the Comcast SHD (shi**y HD) feed I had trouble telling the difference b/w Wall & Beal slashing to the basket at times, both looked extremely quick. It's obvious to tell that Beal's been working on his ballhandling, the ball looks like it's a natural extension of his hands and his first step looks quicker. That's type of improvement you want your young guys to make from year to year. I may have to revise the win total up a few games. I expected Beal to improve, but he looks like he's ready to take a bigger jump than I anticipated this season.

+1. He's the Wiz' blind squirrel pick. With good health, I think we have an all-star shooting guard. I don't expect he'll be the creator that Harden is, but other than that, the ceiling keeps rising.

[nate33]

I really like that Beal is hitting the 3-pointer from the elbow, rather than just from the corner. Last year, the team had deadly 3-point shooting from the corner but still had a little difficulty spreading the floor because neither Webster, Ariza nor Beal shot all that well from 23'-9". If you could guard the corners, you could afford to let those guys shoot from the elbow or the top of the key where their percentages were down around 30%.

It's going to be damn near impossible to stop a Wall/Nene pick and roll if Webster and Ariza are on the corners and Beal is at the elbow.

[Severn Hoos]

So I've seen the name Harden pop up a time or two, and of course, Beal would have been the key piece in the theoretical (or not so?) trade possibility with the Thunder for Harden. So I'll ask the question - when you consider age and salary, is it possible that it was a good non-trade in the end? Considering that we would have had to probably send other assets (if only to match salaries), and it would have capped us out, and the fact that Beal is only 20 - maybe we will be glad it didn't go through?

Put another way, if they do the unthinkable and parlay this summer's potential cap space into a difference-maker, might we be better off with Beal and _____ than if we had just had Harden alone?




I know, go ahead and flame me, daring to tempt the curse o' les boulez and all that.....

[barelyawake]

Hoos, I made the exact same point at the time and was laughed at. Of course, I agreed then and agree now.

[TGW]

Of course Harden would have been a better deal. You always go for the guaranteed instead of the unknown. We can only with Beal gets even close to Harden's level of productivity.

[nuposse04]

Harden is easily the better offensive player (right now) but my only issue with that whole hypothetical scenario is the fit. Beal looks REALLY good running with Wall. While I'm sure Wall wouldn't mind playing with a guy that can take some pressure off of him, Wall is most effective with the Ball. I wouldn't be surprised if Beal eclipses 40%+ from 3pt land next season for the whole season. I've also never thought Harden was any good defensively, I think Beal has a chance to be pretty damn good defensively, maybe not all defensive team caliber but he is no one to be slept on.

[Dat2U]

Hoos, I made the exact same point at the time and was laughed at. Of course, I agreed then and agree now.

It's still a no brainer. Harden was arguably a top 5 player last season. Outside of Lebron, KD, Paul and maybe Parker, who had a better season as a high usage star?

Beal looks to have made wonderful progress this offseason. Plus he's a great fit with Wall, but will Beal ever be as good as Harden is now? Saying he will is basically saying he's on a fast track to superstardom (and I hope your right ) But that's a mighty strong claim to make.

[hands11]

Hoos, I made the exact same point at the time and was laughed at. Of course, I agreed then and agree now.

I don't remember being a laughing stock but I took the same position. No Beal for Harden. Non deal starter. I guess some might have disagreed in a laughing stock way, but that usually the case from the outrage machine we have here.

Clearly Harden is more established at this point but Beal is dirt cheap when you project his production compared to Hardens and the team needs the cap to keep building. Well at least Beals year two projected production and forward.

I loved Beal as our pick and wanted to see what he would become. It was a risk but I felt it was worth taking.

So will management get any credit if it ends up they made the right decision. I doubt it.

[barelyawake]

No Dat, the argument is Beal plus cap better than Harden. I love Harden. But, Beal plus cap is better.