Two kinds of players rise up the draft board every year — big men and pure shooters.
Florida’s Bradley Beal is the best pure shooter in the draft and he could go as high as No. 2 to Charlotte, although the Wizards are reportedly high in him for the No. 3 pick because they want an Eric Gordon like shooter next to John Wall. DraftExpress has him at No. 4 to Cleveland where they have the same idea with point guard Kyrie Irving. Notice the theme with those last two — they have point guards who can create and are looking for quality scorers to put around them.
Comparing Beal to Gordon is pretty high praise — before he got injured last year Gordon was the best young two guard in the league. Other people are throwing around the Ray Allen comparison (including Beal himself), but I hate when guys get compared to legends. We’re a long way from there. But the guy can shoot and at the end of the day the goal of the game remains to put the leather thing through the round thing.
Beal has wowed people in his early workouts — which is good because his regular season numbers don’t blow your doors off. He shot just 33 percent from three for the Gators last year, which is pedestrian at best. But scouts saw past that because he shot well in high school and his form was always good. The ball just wasn’t going in the basket but the issues were seen as fixable ones, not deep rooted.
Plus, Beal is a good athlete at 6’4” with solid handles who can put the ball on the floor and get into the lane. He’s not a full time-point but he can run the show a little if a team needs it. Also he averaged 6.7 rebounds per game this season, so he can get some boards. He’s an iffy defender, but all rookies are, if they think he will work on it he can become solid on that end as well. He has the tools.
If Beal struggled at the draft combine and in team workouts after he had an off year in college teams might hesitate, but reports are he is shooting lights out in workouts and if that’s true he will go high.
If you wonder where he gets drafted, that really depends on what happens with the Bobcats at No. 2. Do they take Michael Kidd-Gilchrist? Thomas Robinson? The Bobcats have needs everywhere and just need to take the best player out there, they can’t worry about fit. (Really, teams should not draft for need anyway, talent wins and if you’re overstocked with great players at a position that can be fixed easily.) The Wizards have Wall at the point and Nene in the paint but could add anywhere else, which includes Beal to play the two. Beal will not fall past four, where the Cavaliers would love to pair him with Kyrie Irving.
Bottom line, there is not a team in the top four that couldn’t use a guy who can flat out shoot the rock. DraftExpress says the “low end” for Beal is Gary Neal, and San Antonio has shown that’s not a bad bottom. The ceiling is much higher, especially on a team where a point guard can create shots for him.
