Washington Wizards: Ranking The Top 5 Shooting Guards In Recent Franchise History
By Ben Mehic
3) Bradley Beal
At only 23, Bradley Beal comes in as the third best shooting guard to play for the Washington Wizards.
Due to his large contract and history of getting hurt, Beal is one of the more polarizing players in the league.
One could argue that the Wizards comically overpaid Beal and the dollar figure will come back to haunt them later (he’s now the highest paid player in the team’s history) or that because of his injury history, the Wizards should have let Beal test the market.
While there are a few questions that need to be answered about Beal and his contract, one thing that isn’t in question is his talent and potential.
Beal now has the opportunity to build on what has been a solid (but not spectacular…yet) career. Beal not only has one of the prettiest jump shots in the league, when he is completely healthy and focused, he becomes one of the best two guards in a league full of excellent shooters.
He’s sneaky athletic and can play multiple positions including running point for stretches in games when John Wall was out.
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Throughout his career, Beal has really stepped up in the playoffs for the Wizards.
It’s the main reason why Beal is rated so high on this list.
His stats across the board all increase and the Wizards look like contenders once Beal is confident and catching fire.
Behind the play of Wall and Beal, the Wizards handled the Chicago Bulls rather easily and took the first seeded Indiana Pacers to six games in the semifinals in the 2014 NBA Playoffs.
This pattern was replicated during the 2014-15 season where the Wizards made the playoffs with the best regular season in 30 years but weren’t favored or expected to beat a good Toronto Raptors squad.
With Beal rolling, the Wizards ended up sweeping the favored Raptors.
We saw a side of Beal that he rarely showed during the regular season – a focused, trash talking player that wasn’t afraid to make big statements or have the ball in his hands during key moments in the series.
Beal was not only playing well on the offensive end, but also on the defensive side where he contained Toronto’s All-Star two guard DeMar DeRozan.
He is such as polarizing player because while everyone can’t deny his talent on the court, there have been questions about his demeanor and body language during games.
It was revealed this week that Beal and Wall don’t exactly see eye to eye on the floor. I did a write up earlier in the year that Beal might be a better player if he just claimed the villain role, and lately it looks as if he is doing just that.
A lot of people believe that the friction between Wall and Beal comes mainly from the Beal side of things because he believes that he’s better than he actually is.
That is exactly how you want your franchise two guard to act.
Beal has to believe that he’s the best player on the floor to be successful.
Beal was looking like he was about to take a big leap into superstardom last year before injuries sidelined him.
In a post-game interview after he led the Wizards back to victory in a hot fourth quarter, he mentioned that “nobody can stop me, plain and simple.”
All of the pieces are in place for Beal to finally have the breakthrough season that most have been waiting for.
Next: 2) Hamilton