Wizards Badly Need Bradley (Beal To Return)

By Mark Vandeusen | Feb 24, 2015

Feb 4, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal (3) reacts in the fourth quarter of their loss to the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena. Hawks won 105-96. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports /

The Washington Wizards desperately need a lift. The return to action of Bradley Beal would be a huge step in the right direction.

The Wizards are 2-8 in their last 10 games. Their record now stands at 33-23, good for fifth place in the Eastern Conference. Washington is dangerously close to falling behind the sixth-place Milwaukee Bucks, who are 31-25. ESPN’s Marc Stein dropped the Wizards all the way down to No. 18 in the latest edition of his NBA power rankings.

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In its first game back after the All-Star break, Washington lost at home to the Cleveland Cavaliers by a score of 127-89. It was the franchise’s worst defeat in D.C. since November 1975. Two days later the Wizards fell in Detroit, 106-89. Washington isn’t going to win very often if it can only muster 89 points per game.

With Beal out of the lineup, the Wizards have failed to hit the 100-point mark in any of their past four outings.

The Washington offense starting trending in the wrong direction long before Beal’s absence began. Neil Greenberg of The Washington Post notes: “The Wizards scored 103.9 points per 100 possessions through January, but have managed just 98.8 in February.”

And from Grantland’s Zach Lowe:

Wiz 4-10 in last 14 games, 22nd in points per possession during that stretch. Shooting 31.5% from deep.
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) February 23, 2015

Only five weeks ago the Wizards led the NBA in three-point accuracy, shooting 38.9 percent as a team. They’ve now fallen back to fifth, at 36.8 percent. Over its last six contests (of which Beal played a total of 11 minutes) Washington hit just 30.3 percent of its long-range attempts.

With Beal sidelined, the Wizards have resorted to starting either Otto Porter Jr. or Garrett Temple in his place. In that time Porter is averaging 5.8 points while shooting 16.7 percent (2-for-12) from beyond the arc. Temple has been a little better, scoring 6.2 points per game and connecting on 60 percent (6-for-10) of his threes.

Combined, the two are putting up 12 points a night and hitting 36.4 percent of their three-pointers. However, they’re also playing a total of 44 minutes per game–significantly less efficient numbers than Beal’s 15.0 PPG and 43.6 percent three-point shooting over a 33.4-minute season average.

The return of Beal will obviously be a big boost to Washington’s struggling offense, but when can the club expect him back?

What started as an inflamed right big toe became a stress reaction in his right fibula. On Saturday, Beal resumed basketball activities for the first time since exiting a game against the Charlotte Hornets on Feb. 5.

J. Michael of CSNWashington.com writes:

"Beal, who didn’t practice Monday, believes he’s closer to returning than not but there’s still no date or timetable.“A few days ago I was going through a lot of drills on the floor, running and jumping a little bit,” Beal said of what he did Saturday before the team left to play the Detroit Pistons. “It felt pretty good. There’s no soreness. It’s just a matter of time now."

Beal also said, “I think I’m close. How close I am I have no idea. Hopefully I think we can ramp some things up and see how I feel.”

As positive as his words sound, the lack of a timetable for Beal’s return has to be considered quit discouraging for Wizards fans. The fact that he did not practice on Monday is a bad sign as well.

With every passing day Beal sits, Washington’s darkening postseason outlook becomes even more gloomy.

Next: Can Wizards' trade deadline acquisition help fix their issues?

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