“I’m just happy to be able to play basketball. I couldn’t play for a while.” Away from the field since the end of January, Bradley Beal savored his return to the game at its fair value on Wednesday evening during the first victory of his Wizards in Indiana (107-114).
We were able to witness the first steps of the “Next Gen” Wizards, with this major trio that he now forms with Kyle Kuzma and Kristaps Porzingis, two players he continues to discover. For its big first, the association worked rather well in Indianapolis, with two double-doubles for Kuz’ (22 points, 13 rebounds) and KP (15 points, 10 rebounds) while Bradley Beal lined up 23 points, 6 assists decisive and 5 rebounds.
What give him a glimpse of what the trio could give in the long term. “It was amazing. We like the aggressiveness of Kuz’. He is constantly progressing and learning. And KP is a ‘unicorn’. Its size, its touch have no equal. And we are going to need these two to continue to progress.
A trio still in the running
But the priority will be defense. And for Bradley Beal, it starts with Kyle Kuzma and him. “We have to keep this state of mind of wanting to defend every night. We’re going to have the majority of the toughest tasks on defense on some guys. Once Kuz’ and I are ready to defend, it sets the tone for everyone else.” he indicated.
For the rest, and the attack in particular, it will of course take time. The importance of the collective experience is not insignificant and as Wes Unseld Jr underlined, the balance between the forces present will be the key to success this season. For now, Bradley Beal continues to learn the specifics of Kristaps Porzingis’ game.
“Honestly, we are still getting to know each other. But we like the current state of our cohesion. I’m still learning the places where he prefers to have the ball, where he likes to play in isolation, and he does the same with me. But we know that we are going to be very difficult to defend, in particular due to the fact that many teams are going to switch, which will create a lot of “mismatches”. We will have to make the right choice, whether it is because he will be defended by a small player or I by a big one. We will try to keep the defenses on their toes knowing what our duo can do.”, added the Wizards captain.
The opposition should go up a notch this Friday night for the regular season premiere in Washington with the reception of Chicago.
| Bradley Beal | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2012-13 | WAS | 56 | 31 | 41.0 | 38.6 | 78.6 | 0.8 | 3.0 | 3.8 | 2.5 | 2.0 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 13.9 |
| 2013-14 | WAS | 73 | 35 | 41.9 | 40.2 | 78.8 | 0.7 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 3.3 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 0.3 | 17.1 |
| 2014-15 | WAS | 63 | 34 | 42.7 | 40.9 | 78.3 | 0.9 | 2.9 | 3.8 | 3.1 | 2.2 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 15.3 |
| 2015-16 | WAS | 55 | 31 | 44.9 | 38.7 | 76.7 | 0.8 | 2.7 | 3.4 | 3.0 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 0.2 | 17.4 |
| 2016-17 | WAS | 77 | 35 | 48.2 | 40.4 | 82.5 | 0.7 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 2.2 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 23.1 |
| 2017-18 | WAS | 82 | 36 | 46.0 | 37.5 | 79.1 | 0.7 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 2.6 | 0.4 | 22.7 |
| 2018-19 | WAS | 82 | 37 | 47.5 | 35.1 | 80.8 | 1.1 | 3.9 | 5.0 | 5.5 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 0.7 | 25.6 |
| 2019-20 | WAS | 57 | 36 | 45.5 | 35.3 | 84.2 | 0.9 | 3.3 | 4.3 | 6.1 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 3.4 | 0.4 | 30.5 |
| 2020-21 | WAS | 60 | 36 | 48.5 | 34.9 | 88.9 | 1.2 | 3.5 | 4.7 | 4.4 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 3.1 | 0.4 | 31.3 |
| 2021-22 | WAS | 40 | 36 | 45.1 | 30.0 | 83.3 | 1.0 | 3.8 | 4.7 | 6.6 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 3.4 | 0.4 | 23.2 |
| 2022-23 | WAS | 1 | 38 | 52.9 | 28.6 | 100.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 23.0 |
| Total | 646 | 35 | 45.6 | 37.2 | 82.1 | 0.9 | 3.2 | 4.1 | 4.2 | 2.2 | 1.1 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 22.1 | |
