NBA Draft 2012: Bradley Beal Should Be Charlotte Bobcats' No. 2 Pick

With the No. 2 pick of the 2012 NBA draft, the Charlotte Bobcats select:

Bradley Beal, shooting guard from the University of Florida.

What are the chances that his name is the second one called come draft day?

Anthony Davis is going No. 1—there is no doubt about that at this point. The rest of the draft will rely heavily upon who the Charlotte Bobcats end up selecting with this year’s second overall pick.

All of the talk has been about forwards Harrison Barnes, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and even Kansas’ Thomas Robinson as the leading choices.

It’s amazing how everyone seems to overlook the little guy.

Bradley Beal, the 6’4” freshman from Florida, may not be the favorite to go No. 2, but he is arguably the Bobcats' best option.

Beal is a natural shooter who possesses the unique ability to create quality looks. He’s very consistent and has some serious range, leading many people to compare his skill set to the NBA’s all-time three-point leader, Ray Allen.

Even though his quick release and super-smooth shot are ideal for spotting up, he is not afraid to attack the hoop and blow by defenders who over-pursue him, too.

He is the kind of player that doesn’t need to be at the center of your offensive game plan, but can turn into a defense’s worst nightmare if they don’t keep a close eye on him.

The young shooting guard may worry some with his smaller stature, but his 6’7” wingspan and quick feet on defense certainly make up for what he lacks in height.

As a freshman at Florida last season, he averaged nearly one block per game. He also led all guards from the six major conferences in rebounding, with 6.7 boards on average.

Not bad for one of the smallest and least experienced guys on the court.

Although the Charlotte Bobcats are ideally looking for that well-groomed franchise forward like Anthony Davis, they simply won’t be able to find one in this year’s draft. Those dreams went out the window when the Hornets stole the top spot.

They do need to add another shooter, however, to help take some of the pressure off of players like Gerald Henderson and Kemba Walker.

With point guard D.J. Augustin’s future in Charlotte looking dim, the Bobcats are going to need to add some help at the guard position from both a ball-handling and scoring perspective as well.

After finishing last season with a 7-59 record and claiming the worst winning percentage in NBA history, Michael Jordan and Co. realize that this rebuilding process is going to take some time.

This is precisely why Bradley Beal is their guy.

He compliments the youthful backcourt of Charlotte very well and will have plenty of time to develop alongside their key players while emerging as one of the NBA’s biggest long-range threats.

The team will have a decent amount of cap space to make some acquisitions in the upcoming years to help fill in the gaps where necessary.

They also have the 31st pick of the 2012 NBA draft where they can make an effort to add some down-low presence to support rising star Bismack Biyombo.

With Bradley Beal’s natural talent and high basketball IQ, his upside makes him a can’t-miss pick with the Bobcats’ No. 2 spot.

The NBA draft is set for June 28th this year, which also happens to be Beal’s 19th birthday. Regardless of where he is picked, his birthday is sure to be a memorable one.

Athletic, all-around shooters like Bradley Beal don’t come along as often as you’d like to think.

Despite all of the great forwards that are sitting atop this year’s big board, not one of them outside of Davis has as much promise or potential to be an NBA star as Beal does.

If Michael Jordan is smart, he’ll make sure he adds Beal to this struggling team’s future come draft day. 

If he’s really smart, he’ll try to make this birthday boy a Bobcat for life.