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Bradley Beal Thinks He and John Wall Are Best Backcourt in NBA
June 9, 2017
Bradley Beal was oozing with confidence throughout the Washington Wizards' second-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics, and he's still exuding it weeks into the offseason.
In a post on his blog Friday, Beal asserted he and John Wall currently comprise the NBA's best backcourt.
"If we want to be the best backcourt in the NBA, we've got to show up every night and prove it, constantly put the work in, and continue to challenge each other to get better," Beal wrote.
"And that's how we feel right now. We are the best backcourt in the league. That's just the confidence and the approach that we have. We know that there's a handful of talented guards in the league, and we're not taking anything away from them. But we feel like we're the best backcourt, and you'll never hear us say anything different."
The Golden State Warriors (Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson), Portland Trail Blazers (Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum), Boston Celtics (Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley) and Toronto Raptors (impending free agent Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan) would likely disagree with Beal's assessment, but the Wizards 2 can certainly make a compelling case.
Just take a look at the numbers Wall and Beal posted during the 2016-17 season:
- Bradley Beal: 23.1 PPG, 3.5 APG, 1.1 SPG, 48.2 FG%, 40.4 3P%, 20.1 PER
- John Wall: 23.1 PPG, 10.7 APG, 2.0 SPG, 45.1 FG%, 32.7 3P%, 23.2 PER
Examined more in-depth, Wall was the only player this past season to average at least 20 points, 10 dimes and two steals. Beal, meanwhile, joined McCollum as the only two snipers to average at least 20 points on better than 48 percent shooting from the field and 40 percent shooting from three.
The icing on the cake, then, would be the Wizards' net rating of plus-4.3 points per 100 possessions and team-best offensive rating of 112.9 during the 2,362 regular-season minutes Wall and Beal shared the floor.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.