DCZards wrote:payitforward wrote:Beal brought it on both ends of the court last year & the year before. He's a good player. But, this business of pointing to the things that improve (3pt% has gone up recently) as if they mean he's improving as a player is silly. Guess what, his 2pt.% has gone down recently. Nobody mentions that....
Brad is playing at almost exactly the same level he did last year. Stack up the numbers for the 2 years, they're at almost exactly the same height. & neither is as good as 2016-7.
When he has another year as good as 2016-17 again, then we can say that he's at a higher level than he is now.
When I look at Beal's per 36 #s this year and compare them to 2016-17, I see a lower FG% (primarily because of his poor 3pt % shooting because his 2pt % is higher than in 2016-17)) and a lower FT%. But I also see a significant improvement in assists and rebounds. And, on the court, I see a player who has continued to improve his ability to get to the rim and score through contact.
Put those things together and I'd argue that Beal is a better basketball player this season than he was in 2016-17...despite the lower #s in some areas.
Just as Brad's rebounds & assists are up -- & so are his blocks; steals are slightly up as well -- it is also true that his turnovers are up & so are his fouls. If the things that are better work as indications that he's "a better basketball player," then the things that aren't as good as they were have to also be counted as indications in the opposite directions. That said, except for scoring, Bradley Beal is certainly putting up a little better numbers overall this year than he was in 2016-17.
That was true last year as well. In fact, overall in everything but scoring he's the same this year as last year, & both years are better in all that stuff than his overall best year of 2016-17.
But, his scoring efficiency is down. &, again, if you think what's gotten better should be taken into account, then what's gotten less good also has to be taken into account. Overall, 2016-17 remains Brad's best year as a pro. &, because it's a single year, it's an outlier. When he does it again, we can judge him to have become, overall, a better player.
