33. Bradley Beal
Bradley Beal is one half of a tandem that feels like it should be good enough to win an NBA Finals.
That was a bit confusing…Beal and John Wall definitely feel like they’re championship caliber. It’s the rest of us that aren’t totally sure.
When they’ve shared the court this season, Wall and Beal have produced a +5.8 net rating according to CleaningTheGlass.com, which would be fourth in the league. When Beal plays without Wall, the Wizards are slightly below-average. He does get credit for keeping Washington afloat during the two weeks Wall missed earlier in the year.
Still, it let us know that Beal is what we all figured he’d top out as: a really strong secondary piece, but not someone who’s likely to excel as a lead dog. Whether he can be the second-best player on a legit contender is a different story.
Beal’s shooting is down this year, but generally he’s really good from deep. He’s just not in the top tier with the Stephs and Klays of the world.
He’s also gotten a lot better at getting to the rim and finishing when he gets there. His contract is fair, but no one is going to call him underpaid.
Basically, Bradley Beal is what he is. And that’s fine with the Wizards. Even if a player has a definitive ceiling, there’s a value to knowing exactly what he’s going to bring on a nightly basis for the next half-dozen years.
It just means he doesn’t make the top 30 here.