Bradley Beal - Part II

[Youheardme90]

If you think Klay Thompson is a better player than Bradley Beal, then you must be smoking drugs and not the good one.

[Illmatic12]

If you think Klay Thompson is a better player than Bradley Beal, then you must be smoking drugs and not the good one.

Thompson is definitely better right now. He used to be inconsistent like Brad but finally became a consistent every night player. He's also 25yo though (in 3 days) and Brad is still just 21.


It's safe to say that Beal is ahead of where Thompson was at, at that age. Klay had basically 0 handle until recently and Beal, while not elite there yet, is already developing PnR skills and ballhandling/finishing ability at a much younger age.

[Higga]

If you think Klay Thompson is a better player than Bradley Beal, then you must be smoking drugs and not the good one.

I love Beal but he's nowhere close to Klay Thompson right now. But I think he'll get there eventually. Just wish he were more aggressive and assertive. When he has open 3s in transition he needs to take them(and make them).

[tontoz]

If you think Klay Thompson is a better player than Bradley Beal, then you must be smoking drugs and not the good one.

I love Beal but he's nowhere close to Klay Thompson right now. But I think he'll get there eventually. Just wish he were more aggressive and assertive. When he has open 3s in transition he needs to take them(and make them).

He seems to be getting more aggressive here lately. It could just be a small sample size issue but over the last 5 he is averaging 20 ppg.

[Illmatic12]

If you think Klay Thompson is a better player than Bradley Beal, then you must be smoking drugs and not the good one.

I love Beal but he's nowhere close to Klay Thompson right now. But I think he'll get there eventually. Just wish he were more aggressive and assertive. When he has open 3s in transition he needs to take them(and make them).

He seems to be getting more aggressive here lately. It could just be a small sample size issue but over the last 5 he is averaging 20 ppg.

And interestingly Wall has turned it on as well during that same time period. He's averaging 20/10 over his last 5, on 46% fg/40% 3pt.

Beal in his last 5 is averaging 20ppg on 45%fg/41% 3pt. And he's driving to the hole with purpose and trying to finish over bigs.

I am almost positive that this has never happened before since we've drafted them. It's either Wall is hot and Beal is slumping (a good chunk of last regular season), or Beal is going off and Wall can't buy a bucket (ie most of the Bulls + Pacers series).

Much of this is coming during a losing streak, but I think what we're seeing is that Wall and Beal are gradually seizing control of the team from the old guys (which is what the Wizards have been waiting for). I think the fact that we're losing games caused them to say "eff it, we can't rely on these old lazy bums anymore so let's take control" - it makes you wonder if despite this losing streak, are we seeing an important turning point in the team's development?

[tontoz]

I love Beal but he's nowhere close to Klay Thompson right now. But I think he'll get there eventually. Just wish he were more aggressive and assertive. When he has open 3s in transition he needs to take them(and make them).

He seems to be getting more aggressive here lately. It could just be a small sample size issue but over the last 5 he is averaging 20 ppg.

And interestingly Wall has turned it on as well during that same time period. He's averaging 20/10 over his last 5, on 46% fg/40% 3pt.

Beal in his last 5 is averaging 20ppg on 45%fg/41% 3pt. And he's driving to the hole with purpose and trying to finish over bigs.

I am almost positive that this has never happened before since we've drafted them. It's either Wall is hot and Beal is slumping (a good chunk of last regular season), or Beal is going off and Wall can't buy a bucket (ie most of the Bulls + Pacers series).

Much of this is coming during a losing streak, but I think what we're seeing is that Wall and Beal are gradually seizing control of the team from the old guys (which is what the Wizards have been waiting for). I think the fact that we're losing games caused them to say "eff it, we can't rely on these old lazy bums anymore so let's take control" - it makes you wonder if despite this losing streak, are we seeing an important turning point in the team's development?

The bench sucks. If we can see it they surely can. Nene and Gortat aren't that good on offense. Pierce is good but old playing limited minutes. It makes sense for Wall/Beal to take on more of the load, both for the short and long term. It will be interesting to see how this plays out because those two are the most important guys for the future of this team.

[Darko Miliminutes]

I love Beal but he's nowhere close to Klay Thompson right now. But I think he'll get there eventually. Just wish he were more aggressive and assertive. When he has open 3s in transition he needs to take them(and make them).

He seems to be getting more aggressive here lately. It could just be a small sample size issue but over the last 5 he is averaging 20 ppg.

And interestingly Wall has turned it on as well during that same time period. He's averaging 20/10 over his last 5, on 46% fg/40% 3pt.

Beal in his last 5 is averaging 20ppg on 45%fg/41% 3pt. And he's driving to the hole with purpose and trying to finish over bigs.

I am almost positive that this has never happened before since we've drafted them. It's either Wall is hot and Beal is slumping (a good chunk of last regular season), or Beal is going off and Wall can't buy a bucket (ie most of the Bulls + Pacers series).

Much of this is coming during a losing streak, but I think what we're seeing is that Wall and Beal are gradually seizing control of the team from the old guys (which is what the Wizards have been waiting for). I think the fact that we're losing games caused them to say "eff it, we can't rely on these old lazy bums anymore so let's take control" - it makes you wonder if despite this losing streak, are we seeing an important turning point in the team's development?

I like this notion!

And, i'm beginning to believe that those times that bb3 does play real well, it's when the team needs it to compete. Part of his maturation will be that consistency. And then comes not waiting for a need to even arise, and just taking it to them. But Beal "taking it" to anyone, is almost as much a game plan issue, as it is his own developing abilities issue. The patient fans are going to be rewarded once Wall realizes that doing everything he can, to put Beal in positon to be a stud, will advance his own brand, and rack up the W's.

[dckingsfan]

I don't know, kinda think Wall puts everyone in a place they can succeed most of the time... including Bradley. Bradley just doesn't have what it takes yet... just give him time and he will get there.

[hands11]

I love Beal but he's nowhere close to Klay Thompson right now. But I think he'll get there eventually. Just wish he were more aggressive and assertive. When he has open 3s in transition he needs to take them(and make them).

He seems to be getting more aggressive here lately. It could just be a small sample size issue but over the last 5 he is averaging 20 ppg.

And interestingly Wall has turned it on as well during that same time period. He's averaging 20/10 over his last 5, on 46% fg/40% 3pt.

Beal in his last 5 is averaging 20ppg on 45%fg/41% 3pt. And he's driving to the hole with purpose and trying to finish over bigs.

I am almost positive that this has never happened before since we've drafted them. It's either Wall is hot and Beal is slumping (a good chunk of last regular season), or Beal is going off and Wall can't buy a bucket (ie most of the Bulls + Pacers series).

Much of this is coming during a losing streak, but I think what we're seeing is that Wall and Beal are gradually seizing control of the team from the old guys (which is what the Wizards have been waiting for). I think the fact that we're losing games caused them to say "eff it, we can't rely on these old lazy bums anymore so let's take control" - it makes you wonder if despite this losing streak, are we seeing an important turning point in the team's development?

Seizing control ?

What in the hell are you talking about.

The vets on this team PP included are 100% behind these guys and constantly say, we go as they go.

Where did you come up with the story line about Wall and Beal needing to seize control because they were losing ?

[Ruzious]

Karma's a B for Beal. A couple of losses ago, he complained about the toughness of the team and the need to fight through aches and pains. Now, he's out with a toe problem.

OT, but I'd really like to strangle Buck the next time he talks so glowingly about how great the Wiz reserves are. They've been terrible!!! Every time Seraphin makes a basket, both Buck and Chenier have a verbal orgasm and go on about how much he's improve and how confident he looks. That's got to stop. Positivity is fine, but outright falsehoods are... lies.

[stevemcqueen1]

Posted this on a different forum:

I think it's important to put Beal's age into context to appreciate how special he actually is.

Here is a comparison of the AS wings drafted since 2008 + Beal in their age 21 season. Except it's age 22 for Butler because he was still at Marquette at 21.

http://bkref.com/tiny/LiTCO

None of them were All Stars in their age 21 season, and Beal is the only one in his third year. His game compares pretty well to any of them in how complete it is, and DeRozan was the only one playing as many minutes and about as big a role for his team as Beal is.

Beal's one of the only one and done wings to actually end up being any good in a minute. The only one and done wings to make at least one AS appearance since they instituted the age limit are Durant and DeRozan. And DeRozan was a 20 year old rookie. Before them the only one and done wings in the past 15 years to make an AS game are Luol Deng, Melo, and Gerald Wallace. LeBron would be another of course, if he had gone to college for a year. As is, he was a 19 year old rookie. Luol Deng didn't make the AS game until his 8th and 9th seasons. Wallace made his first and only AS appearance in his 9th season.

LeBron made the AS game in his second season when he was 20. Durant made it in his third season when he was 21. Melo made it in his fourth season when he was 22. So basically if Beal makes it in his fourth season at age 22, only LeBron and Durant will have made it quicker.

I think Beal makes it next season. I think the lightbulb has turned on for him the past month regarding the level of aggression and activity he has to play with and the game is slowing down for him bit by bit. I think he's going through a similar phase of development as Paul George at the same age in terms of learning to handle the ball and trigger plays for the offense as well as be the volume scorer. Paul George was an AS in his age 22 season and then made a huge leap in his age 23 season. I think that's what we can realistically expect from Beal.

And really, most one and done wings don't end up being good. OJ Mayo, Eric Gordon, and Tyreke Evans ended up being pretty disappointing. Michael Beasley was a huge bust. Xavier Henry hasn't done anything in the NBA. Avery Bradley is good, but a role player who today isn't as good as Beal is. Austin Rivers was a big bust. Josh Selby and Archie Goodwin and Quincy Miller were three hyped up wings that got exposed before the draft and fell pretty far. None of them have done anything in the NBA. MKG is pretty disappointing. Mo Harkless is alright relative to the expectations he had coming in but he's nowhere near as good as Beal. Shabazz Muhammad got exposed some before his draft too, and though he's playing pretty well now, he's not nearly as good as Beal either. He's also a year older than Beal despite getting drafted a year later.

Beal is so far ahead of his peers in the NBA that none of them are actually considered his peers. He's also way ahead of most of the other wings that came into the league around him after two or more years of college, like Terrence Ross, Jeremy Lamb, Ben McLemore, Dion Waiters, Jimmer Fredette, Alec Burks, Evan Turner, Wesley Johnson, and Al Farouq-Aminu.

Really the only other young wings drafted since 2010 that are good are Paul George, Klay Thompson, Gordon Hayward, Harrison Barnes, Jimmy Butler, and Kawhi Leonard. Those are roughly his peers, along with whoever ends up being good from the 2014 class. All of them except the 2014 draftees are older than Beal too.

I have a theory for why the bust rate on young wings is pretty high and why all but the generational talents like LeBron and Durant take so long to get good: wings have to score and it's hard to score well in the NBA. Wings have to be able to handle and shoot but also play defense and not stop the ball. Most of the guys that get drafted high can either shoot or dribble but not usually do both at a high level. It's usually the shooting that holds young players back. And most struggle on defense. So most have trouble locking down big roles for good teams over more polished vets. Beal was fortunate to get drafted by a team with a great high usage PG that could minimize his weaknesses handling the ball. And fortunate that his competition for SG minutes was light. And even still, he wouldn't be the second most important player on a potential 50 win team at age 21 if he didn't come in as a brilliant shooter with a pretty well rounded game. Beal is special and he's in the right situation to get him to reach his potential.

[Kanyewest]

Posted this on a different forum:

I think it's important to put Beal's age into context to appreciate how special he actually is.

Here is a comparison of the AS wings drafted since 2008 + Beal in their age 21 season. Except it's age 22 for Butler because he was still at Marquette at 21.

http://bkref.com/tiny/LiTCO

None of them were All Stars in their age 21 season, and Beal is the only one in his third year. His game compares pretty well to any of them in how complete it is, and DeRozan was the only one playing as many minutes and about as big a role for his team as Beal is.

Beal's one of the only one and done wings to actually end up being any good in a minute. The only one and done wings to make at least one AS appearance since they instituted the age limit are Durant and DeRozan. And DeRozan was a 20 year old rookie. Before them the only one and done wings in the past 15 years to make an AS game are Luol Deng, Melo, and Gerald Wallace. LeBron would be another of course, if he had gone to college for a year. As is, he was a 19 year old rookie. Luol Deng didn't make the AS game until his 8th and 9th seasons. Wallace made his first and only AS appearance in his 9th season.

LeBron made the AS game in his second season when he was 20. Durant made it in his third season when he was 21. Melo made it in his fourth season when he was 22. So basically if Beal makes it in his fourth season at age 22, only LeBron and Durant will have made it quicker.

I think Beal makes it next season. I think the lightbulb has turned on for him the past month regarding the level of aggression and activity he has to play with and the game is slowing down for him bit by bit. I think he's going through a similar phase of development as Paul George at the same age in terms of learning to handle the ball and trigger plays for the offense as well as be the volume scorer. Paul George was an AS in his age 22 season and then made a huge leap in his age 23 season. I think that's what we can realistically expect from Beal.

And really, most one and done wings don't end up being good. OJ Mayo, Eric Gordon, and Tyreke Evans ended up being pretty disappointing. Michael Beasley was a huge bust. Xavier Henry hasn't done anything in the NBA. Avery Bradley is good, but a role player who today isn't as good as Beal is. Austin Rivers was a big bust. Josh Selby and Archie Goodwin and Quincy Miller were three hyped up wings that got exposed before the draft and fell pretty far. None of them have done anything in the NBA. MKG is pretty disappointing. Mo Harkless is alright relative to the expectations he had coming in but he's nowhere near as good as Beal. Shabazz Muhammad got exposed some before his draft too, and though he's playing pretty well now, he's not nearly as good as Beal either. He's also a year older than Beal despite getting drafted a year later.

Beal is so far ahead of his peers in the NBA that none of them are actually considered his peers. He's also way ahead of most of the other wings that came into the league around him after two or more years of college, like Terrence Ross, Jeremy Lamb, Ben McLemore, Dion Waiters, Jimmer Fredette, Alec Burks, Evan Turner, Wesley Johnson, and Al Farouq-Aminu.

Really the only other young wings drafted since 2010 that are good are Paul George, Klay Thompson, Gordon Hayward, Harrison Barnes, Jimmy Butler, and Kawhi Leonard. Those are roughly his peers, along with whoever ends up being good from the 2014 class. All of them except the 2014 draftees are older than Beal too.

I have a theory for why the bust rate on young wings is pretty high and why all but the generational talents like LeBron and Durant take so long to get good: wings have to score and it's hard to score well in the NBA. Wings have to be able to handle and shoot but also play defense and not stop the ball. Most of the guys that get drafted high can either shoot or dribble but not usually do both at a high level. It's usually the shooting that holds young players back. And most struggle on defense. So most have trouble locking down big roles for good teams over more polished vets. Beal was fortunate to get drafted by a team with a great high usage PG that could minimize his weaknesses handling the ball. And fortunate that his competition for SG minutes was light. And even still, he wouldn't be the second most important player on a potential 50 win team at age 21 if he didn't come in as a brilliant shooter with a pretty well rounded game. Beal is special and he's in the right situation to get him to reach his potential.

True Beal is young. I didn't realize that so few one and done wings have made that all star game. But we probably also have to put T-Mac and Bryant into the mix. I'm not sure where the one and done point guards belong on this list given that Kyrie Iriving is more a wing that a distributor and even someone like Derrick Rose and Westbrook were more efficient offensively than Bradley Beal.

I am concerned about Beal at this point though because he does not get to the free throw line and he isn't automatic even when converting mid range jumpers. DeRozan is a good example of someone who people wrote off prematurely and is now an all star caliber player (at least in the Eastern Conference) so perhaps Beal can follow the same path.

Right now there are glaring weakness in his game including his lack of a mid range jumper, a lack of handle which makes it harder to get to the rim (may also be a lack of size and athleticism compared to the likes of Kobe/T-Mac/Westbrook/Wall etc). Still, the potential is there- if he can knock down 3 pointers consistently, there is no reason why he shouldn't be able to improve his mid range game, or at the very least eliminate a lot of those shots.

[payitforward]

9 months from now, Bradley Beal will be the age Dwyane Wade was when he was drafted.

[queridiculo]

The question to me with Beal is the same question I had about him when he was drafted.

Can he improve his ball handling enough to exploit defenders crowding him on the perimeter.

So far the answer has been a resounding no, and unless he manages to improve that aspect of his game, he won't be the start the Wizards were hoping to add when they turned down the Harden deal.

[nate33]

Posted this on a different forum:

I think it's important to put Beal's age into context to appreciate how special he actually is.

Here is a comparison of the AS wings drafted since 2008 + Beal in their age 21 season. Except it's age 22 for Butler because he was still at Marquette at 21.

http://bkref.com/tiny/LiTCO

None of them were All Stars in their age 21 season, and Beal is the only one in his third year. His game compares pretty well to any of them in how complete it is, and DeRozan was the only one playing as many minutes and about as big a role for his team as Beal is.

I gotta say, that list isn't very encouraging. Beal is the worst 2pt shooter but shoots a ton of them; he's the second worst at getting to the free throw line; and has the 2nd worst ORtg. He's also one of the worst rebounders. He ranks well is 3P%, but even in that, he's not particularly adept at getting 3-pt attempts up. He is a good passer. I'll also point out that his numbers haven't changed much since his rookie season.

[Dark Faze]

I'd have to agree with Nate. Beal hasn't even managed to match Walls rookie PER of 15 and this is his third year. I'm still optimistic because he compares pretty favorably to Klay Thompson, but I'm going to be concerned if he doesn't finish the second half of the season strong.

[TheSecretWeapon]

When I ran comps for Beal after last season, the list wasn't all that impressive, and didn't include on stevemcqueen's list. They were mostly good players, but much more in the "shooting specialist" mold than the All-Star type. The best of the group was Jason Richardson, which would definitely be nice. But, the list included: Brandon Jennings, Mike Miller, OJ Mayo, Quentin Richardson, Michael Finley, Calbert Cheaney (ugh), Jamal Crawford and Dennis Scott.

My approach looks for similar production in a bunch of categories at similar age.

Haven't run it for this year because I made an improvement in my spreadsheet for this year that means I have to go back and fix all the previous years, and I just don't have the time.

[Ruzious]

Beal was at his best during the second half of his rookie season - when he really was playing like a future star - and everything looked rosey. He hasn't played at that level with any consistency since then.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Posted this on a different forum:

I think it's important to put Beal's age into context to appreciate how special he actually is.

Here is a comparison of the AS wings drafted since 2008 + Beal in their age 21 season. Except it's age 22 for Butler because he was still at Marquette at 21.

http://bkref.com/tiny/LiTCO

None of them were All Stars in their age 21 season, and Beal is the only one in his third year. His game compares pretty well to any of them in how complete it is, and DeRozan was the only one playing as many minutes and about as big a role for his team as Beal is.

I gotta say, that list isn't very encouraging. Beal is the worst 2pt shooter but shoots a ton of them; he's the second worst at getting to the free throw line; and has the 2nd worst ORtg. He's also one of the worst rebounders. He ranks well is 3P%, but even in that, he's not particularly adept at getting 3-pt attempts up. He is a good passer. I'll also point out that his numbers haven't changed much since his rookie season.

At this point I don't think Beal is any better than Rip Hamilton or young Courtney Alexander.

The last time the Lakers played the Wizards I noticed that Kobe Bryant is still quicker and appreciably better than Beal. That bothered me to see that.

[AFM]

Posted this on a different forum:

I think it's important to put Beal's age into context to appreciate how special he actually is.

Here is a comparison of the AS wings drafted since 2008 + Beal in their age 21 season. Except it's age 22 for Butler because he was still at Marquette at 21.

http://bkref.com/tiny/LiTCO

None of them were All Stars in their age 21 season, and Beal is the only one in his third year. His game compares pretty well to any of them in how complete it is, and DeRozan was the only one playing as many minutes and about as big a role for his team as Beal is.

I gotta say, that list isn't very encouraging. Beal is the worst 2pt shooter but shoots a ton of them; he's the second worst at getting to the free throw line; and has the 2nd worst ORtg. He's also one of the worst rebounders. He ranks well is 3P%, but even in that, he's not particularly adept at getting 3-pt attempts up. He is a good passer. I'll also point out that his numbers haven't changed much since his rookie season.

At this point I don't think Beal is any better than Rip Hamilton or young Courtney Alexander.

The last time the Lakers played the Wizards I noticed that Kobe Bryant is still quicker and appreciably better than Beal. That bothered me to see that.

Kobe can dribble. I'm sure Beal would beat him in a foot race, and is definitely more explosive.
But he can't dribble for shiet.