3 Reasons Wizards guard Bradley Beal will bounce back next season
Reason Bradley Beal will bounce back next season: Supporting cast
The most important factor in Bradley Beal’s ability to bounce back next season is his surroundings. Not talent vs talent (although one could argue next year’s group is more talented than last year’s was), but in terms of the fit around Beal on the court.
As mentioned on the last slide, Beal had an outlier of a bad shooting season last year. He wasn’t aided at all in terms of the space he had to operate on most nights. Moving forward, Beal will be able to do less creating for others while also having a lot more space to operate both as a ball handler and when playing off-ball.
Not only is he getting a better shooter next to him in the backcourt with new teammate Monte Morris, but Kristaps Porzingis at the five is also going to do wonders for Beal’s ability to get shots from everywhere on the court. Remember, KP and Beal have yet to play an NBA game as teammates.
Porzingis shot just 31 percent from deep last season in total, but he was much better than that as a Wizard. With Washington, the big man hit 36.7 percent of his threes in 17 games. He’s a 35.3 percent three-point shooter for his career.
If any of the younger Wizards take a step forward that all fans are hoping for, that’s just icing on the cake. Beal’s fit on this team, alongside his increased and recharged motivation plus getting back to the normal things he does on the court make him a lock to have a bounce-back season next year.