Bradley Beal - Part II

[TheSecretWeapon]

Also, the Wizards aren't the best "mid range" shooting team. From 3-10 feet, they're below average in proficiency. From 10-16 feet they rank 7th. On 2pt jumpers from 16+ feet, they rank 9th. They do take the most 10-16 foot jumpers in the league. But, that's volume, not quality.

[BigA]

:lol: Gortat was actually very close to starting.. he was ~70k votes behind Melo

The entire population of Poland voting for him every day wasn't quite enough.

[Darko Miliminutes]

Chit's in his head right now. he was planning to be a star this year...hasn't worked that way. Life can be humbling at times, and he's getting his. With the head on his shoulders though, i have no less expectation for him, because of this season. This mature's him. At what age did all of us realize we were too cocky, and needed to sink back down to earth some?

Not worried at all about Beal. It's in his head right now. He has not been 'needed' like he was last post season either. He's got the get it done, when it needs doin gene. Patience, gentleman, patience.

[Dat2U]

Beal's 3rd year is a lot like Wall's 3rd year. Big expectations, small improvements, marginal regression in some areas and a lot of disappointed posters.

I suspect, much like Wall, the types of shots he's been encouraged to take is playing a huge role in his slow development... but also like Wall, his true breakout will likely come in another year or two where his strengths will begin to outsize any mid-range struggles he'll continue to have. Until then, folks will have to be patient.

[tontoz]

Beal is essentially a 3pt specialist who doesn't take 3s. That's the best way I can sum his current game up as.

Very odd. During the game last night, Denver's broadcast team mentioned the Wizards were the best "mid range" shooting team in the league and how it was a requirement/focus of Wittman's offense. Scott Hastings was almost giddy describing how Wittman's offense was "old school".

Scott Hastings is the Denver announcer, and he played with Wittman for 5 years in Atlanta. Wittman and Hastings have owned 10+ sports bars together off and on for the past 25 years (oddly Doc Rivers and Craig Sager also are part of the ownership group).

Just to hear such a close friend describe what we've all known, that those long Beal/Wall twos are actively coached/encouraged, is beyond frustrating.

Much like Wall is a mid-range specialist despite not excelling at the mid-range... for some reason though it's become his go-to shot.

It's not even Witt's offense... It's a re-calibrated version of Flip's offense. So the guy we fired almost a half-a-decade ago, were still using the framework of his offense.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolves/286038041.html

What other franchise does that? Fire the coach but keep the offense which never actually worked well.

I checked Wall's numbers earlier today out of curiosity. He is shooting 45% from 10-22 feet this month, 41% on the season. Best of his career.

Still taking far too many but at least he is making progress.

[stevemcqueen1]

Beal's 3rd year is a lot like Wall's 3rd year. Big expectations, small improvements, marginal regression in some areas and a lot of disappointed posters.

I suspect, much like Wall, the types of shots he's been encouraged to take is playing a huge role in his slow development... but also like Wall, his true breakout will likely come in another year or two where his strengths will begin to outsize any mid-range struggles he'll continue to have. Until then, folks will have to be patient.

Wall's third year was the one where he missed the first 30 something games and then blew up over the last two months and played like an MVP candidate. I'd say the disappointment really just stemmed from the injury that kept him out of the first half, not a lack of improvement.

Wall was a year older than Beal coming out of college though. He's also a bigger talent and should be expected to be better than Beal.

By the time Beal's 23, I think he'll be an AS like Wall too. You can already see his role expanding this year, see him making adjustments and working through the process of learning to be a primary offensive option. The results are up and down, but what matters is that his role keeps expanding.

[Ruzious]

Beal and Porter have virtually the same TS% and eFG - yet Porter can't get PT because of the perception that he can't put the ball in the basket, while Beal is perceived as a great shooter.

[Ruzious]

Beal's 3rd year is a lot like Wall's 3rd year. Big expectations, small improvements, marginal regression in some areas and a lot of disappointed posters.

I suspect, much like Wall, the types of shots he's been encouraged to take is playing a huge role in his slow development... but also like Wall, his true breakout will likely come in another year or two where his strengths will begin to outsize any mid-range struggles he'll continue to have. Until then, folks will have to be patient.

Wall's third year was the one where he missed the first 30 something games and then blew up over the last two months and played like an MVP candidate. I'd say the disappointment really just stemmed from the injury that kept him out of the first half, not a lack of improvement.

Wall was a year older than Beal coming out of college though. He's also a bigger talent and should be expected to be better than Beal.

By the time Beal's 23, I think he'll be an AS like Wall too. You can already see his role expanding this year, see him making adjustments and working through the process of learning to be a primary offensive option. The results are up and down, but what matters is that his role keeps expanding.

How has his role expanded? He's actually scoring at a slightly lower rate than he did in his rookie year, his assist are slightly up, while his rebounding is slightly down.

[Dat2U]

Beal and Porter have virtually the same TS% and eFG - yet Porter can't get PT because of the perception that he can't put the ball in the basket, while Beal is perceived as a great shooter.

Both are recent 3rd picks in the draft but one is viewed & treated completely different from the other. Beal played 1700+ minutes in an injury shortened rookie year. Otto just cracked the 1,000 minute mark for his career halfway into his 2nd season. It's something I've wondered about since last season.

[Kanyewest]

Beal is actually a slightly more efficient scorer than least season but he's actually taking less shots per 36 minutes than at any point in his career. The rise in his TS% can probably be attributed to that a higher percentage of his shots are 3 pointers (31% compared to 30%), the rise in his free throw % (79% to 82%), and Beal is shooting 44% from 3 compared to 40% the prior season. Also, Beal's free throw attempts are virtually the same despite taking less shots per game.

Still, I'm surprised to see that Beal 2 point percentage is lower than at any point in his career. Hopefully Beal can improve this percentage or at least eliminate taking mid range jumpers early in the shot clock.

[Darko Miliminutes]

Pierce coming here kinda changed everything...Beal and Porter wise. After it was clear Ariza was gone, everyone started to imagine more from the youngs. Pierce came and starting being a veteran star, claiming big moments, and hitting big shots. Bad for Otto's minutes, bad for Beal's stats and expanding on his own big moment resume. It's great for the team that this is happening, and even great for both player's future. Just not real good for otto getting burn right now, and not real good for beal becoming that much bigger of an option, right now.

[nate33]

Beal and Porter have virtually the same TS% and eFG - yet Porter can't get PT because of the perception that he can't put the ball in the basket, while Beal is perceived as a great shooter.

Both are recent 3rd picks in the draft but one is viewed & treated completely different from the other. Beal played 1700+ minutes in an injury shortened rookie year. Otto just cracked the 1,000 minute mark for his career halfway into his 2nd season. It's something I've wondered about since last season.

Well, Otto was horrible last year. His ORtg was 86. He was unplayable.

I think it's fair to compare Otto this year versus Beal's rookie season. Beal finished his rookie year with 1745 total minutes for a bad team that had no other options at SG. Porter is on pace to play about 1300 minutes on a 50-win team with two solid veterans (Pierce and Butler) playing well at his position. I don't think it's fair to say that there is a significant double standard.

[hands11]

You guys are all nuts. Beal's just taking a little longer then you hoped. Pierce takin big shots, Rasual was making all those early on, Wall's stepped it up a bit, he missed first 9 games (not too relevant anymore). Do not bring in R. Allen, unless there's a true chance to win a 'ship this year (there's not), or if you instant gratification junkies have actually given up on Beal.

You impatient people, just remember that every time Beal screws up, that's actually progress. Age of a college junior/senior...

It would be much easier to buy into that optimism if we were seeing a gradual, tangible improvement from Beal year over year. But so far we haven't. He is pretty much the same exact player in each of his 3 seasons:


Granted, he is probably doing some subtle, intangible things better, like play man-to-man defense; but overall, there has been very little statistical evidence that he is improving all that much. At his age, there is still a possibility that he makes a dramatic leap, but I'm growing more and more skeptical that it will happen. He just seems to lack that one special gift that makes him an unguardable player. He must either learn to break people down off the dribble like Harden or Ginobili, or he's got to quicken his shot release like Thompson or Curry. If neither happens, then he's going to be a solid but unremarkable player who is unable to get his usage rate up to a star-caliber level.

For now, I would settle for him CONSISTENTLY tightening up his footwork and stopping that extra step sloppy crap and
learning to pump fake side step or pump fake draw a foul and
shot more 3s when you have the open look

Again. I don't like it but he is league of shot jacking 3s because 3 is more then 2 and as time has passed, more players on a team can shoot the 3.

By a very wide margin, the best teams shoot at least 20-21 threes a game. Its really only MEM and WAS who are any good that done. And of the two, MEM is shooting more then last year. We are shooting 4 1/2 fewer.

GS and ATL shoot over 25 a game

Looking over the game log for the last 8 games, here is the one game we shot over 17 or so and they went bat **** and shot 30 of them. http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400578925

Other then that, its around 15 a game which would be on pace for worst in the league.

Almost every team in the league is shooting more 3s this year. Here is the list of teams that aren't.

[hands11]

Here are teams shooting less 3s this year then last.

ATL down from 26.4 to 25.2 - they are still shooting 25.2

NY down from 24.9 to 20.6 - They suck
LAL down from 24.9 to 19.3 - They suck
BRK down from 23.3 to 20.7 - pretty bad
MIA down from 22.5 to 20.3 - MEH
MIN down from 21.5 to 15.2 - They suck
SAC down from 18.0 to 15.7 - MEH

WAS down from 20.3 to 15.8

So almost all those teams shooting less 3s are averaging down to around 20.

Expect us, MIN and SAC. Good company.

[FAH1223]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/jorgeccastillo/status/560163015362752512[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/Truth_About_It/status/560164707471208449[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/Truth_About_It/status/560165339200491520[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/Truth_About_It/status/560166306520260608[/tweet]

[Ruzious]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/jorgeccastillo/status/560163015362752512[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/Truth_About_It/status/560164707471208449[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/Truth_About_It/status/560165339200491520[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/Truth_About_It/status/560166306520260608[/tweet]

While he should clearly take more 3's - and part of that is coaching, it's completely on Beal that he's shooting such a low percentage on his 2's. He misses way too many open 2's that should be like layups for him. He needs to focus when he shoots them and stop being so bleeping lazy.

[queridiculo]

I'm sure defenders are feeling comfortable with letting him get to the midrange too

[miller31time]

It's sad that we have to rely on members of the media to put pressure on Beal to take more threes and less mid range shots. God knows our head coach won't do it.

[DCZards]

It's sad that we have to rely on members of the media to put pressure on Beal to take more threes and less mid range shots. God knows our head coach won't do it.

You may be right about Witt and the other coaches not putting pressure on Beal to take more 3s...then again you may be wrong. None of us know for sure what Witt is instructing Beal to do...at least I don't.

[Illmatic12]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/jorgeccastillo/status/560163015362752512[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/Truth_About_It/status/560164707471208449[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/Truth_About_It/status/560165339200491520[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/Truth_About_It/status/560166306520260608[/tweet]

While he should clearly take more 3's - and part of that is coaching, it's completely on Beal that he's shooting such a low percentage on his 2's. He misses way too many open 2's that should be like layups for him. He needs to focus when he shoots them and stop being so bleeping lazy.

Interestingly enough, this interview was just posted today and Bradley says here himself that often times when he receives the ball his feet are not set (BIG no-no for shooters)

@0:15

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xOLstmGat8[/youtube]

"It's just an instinct, however I catch the ball is how I shoot it"

You can't have an instinct for something you haven't practiced enough. This speaks to what I've said in the past, which is that even though Beal has great natural shooting ability he needs to develop a better routine for practicing in-game shots. You look at a great shooter like Ray Allen, he wasn't just like 'whatever' when it came to stuff like that, his footwork and technique were down to a science.

I think it's foolish to think that Beal can never improve on this though (not responding to you but I saw a post saying that on this page). The kid is obviously a great shooter. In fact I'd bet he swishes down all those midrange jumpers in team practices, scrimmages, pickup games etc. He just needs to understand that you can't just expect to go off natural talent in the NBA, you have to be diligent and develop a strict routine for working on the exact shots you take in the games. When he shoots threes he's locked in and automatic. But when he shoots the long twos, it's obvious that he just kinda lazily chucks them up there.

If he's gonna take a shot in a game, he should have taken it in practice 100s of times already from that exact spot. You can tell that Wall has done this with his midrange jumper, that's why he looks so much more comfortable/automatic shooting them than Beal. The thing is, Wall has been working on that shot for 4-5 offseasons now. Beal needs to match Wall's work ethic and put in that same amount of work, even if he thinks he is supposedly is a much better shooter than John is.